J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Volume 1

"With a book and a movie that awesome, you'd expect something better..."

I am a Lord of the Rings FREAK. Ask anyone I know. I can tell you the exact amount of time it took for Bromoir to die in the movie. I can tell you how many days Frodo lived with the Morgul Blade wound in the book. I can recite the 'One Ring to Rule them all' poem. So naturally when I saw the name ''Lord of the Rings'' in a list of Roms, I had to have it. So I downloaded it. And here's what I think of it.

Graphics: 5/10. The graphics are fairly good. The backgrounds are spectacular. Unfortunately the characters could use some work. None of them have faces, and the hobbits all look alike. (The only way you can tell Pippin from Frodo is that Pippin has his hood up). And the enemies tend to be exactly the same, only different colors. Not much creativity put into that area there. The dying is great though. They turn into skeletons and wither away into dust. Which is so anime-type dying. And awesome.

Music: 9/10. The music's just about the only good thing about this. I love Gaelic, flutey type music like that, so sometimes I would just turn the thing on to listen to the music.

Play Control: 4/10. Not very good. You only have one attack. No others, which is very annoying. And you also have a defense that isn't very good either. After a while, some of the characters begin to wander off the screen, since they're all on the screen at once, unlike an RPG where characters either only show up during, or follow you in a prefect and straight line. Also, there's no reviving. When Characters die, they STAY dead. And when you need them later in the game, you have to restart. Which really stinks.

Story: 2/10. Interplay seriously screwed up the story line here. Before you even leave Hobbiton, you have to Save Pippin from wolves and go through a maze of caves to find the Gaffer's Glasses. (How we got there, we shall never know...) And the game ends at an abrupt halt in the mines of Moria. And there isn't a Boromir. And since when do we need Gateway Gems? There also isn't any other 'volumes'. Just volume one. Talk about bad!

Saving: 1/10. There isn't any saving. It's passwords that tend to be 6 blocks thick and very hard to remember.

Replay: I wouldn't. It's the exact same thing. And it's not like other RPGS, where you can make different choices.

Buy or Rent: I say, if you really really really want to play this, get a ROM. Or maybe rent it.

Overall: 4/10. Sure, it makes a good music player, but seriously.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 09/02/02, Updated 09/02/02