Average Rating: 
Rating:  - We hatess it, Precioussss, but we lovesssssss it!
Much like Gollum hates and loves himself, I do not know if I despise this game, or absolutely love it. The things it does right it REALLLY does right, but whether from time constraints or sloth, there are some fairly bad flaws as well. I would probably recommend this more for people who are at least somewhat familiar with the book, since people who have only seen the movie will be lost and scratching their heads. (Bombadil and Goldberry, for instance.)The Pros: -Graphics and design are TOP NOTCH
-Walking through Bad End and the Prancing Pony is a dream come true
-Music and sound are immersive
-The character animations are great
-The levels feel very "natural," and are a joy to look at and walk through
-Frodo is kept every bit as weak as he should be The Cons: -Fairly short
-Invisible walls (grrrrrr)
-Camera control is fair at best, and horrid in Moria
-Can't pick which character to use at each level
-Can only use Gandalf, Aragorn, and Frodo The graphic DESIGN of this game is amazing. I'm not just talking about the resolution. The tables are not simply brown squares with legs. Kegs, beds, trees, and houses, and outfits are all designed exceptionally well. It does not just copy the look of the movie - it creates its own world. Hobbiton was EXCEPTIONAL. I literally spent an hour just walking around Bag End and the Shire. Which is where problem 1 sets in. I want to explore this world- walk through rivers, run through pastures. But no. The frikkin frakkin 'invisible wall' mystically prevents you from exploring, which is a shame. I don't know how loudly gamers will have to shout before designers stop using the invisible wall. It's a pathetic way out of closing off a level. At least have the decency to put a mountain in the way if you don't want us walking across a field. More of the Ringwraiths would have been nice. There are only two places where they can catch you, if memory serves. Once you find Aragorn you get to fight them with a torch (which I loved!), but the "chase" doesn't really translate. It's more like they just pop in now and again for cameos. It also would have been nice to actually control Frodo during the flight to the Ford. Another shame is that certain things of importance are skimmed over or left out. I want to see Rivendell, Caradhras, and Lothlorien in the same level of detail that the Shire is presented to me, but alas, for these areas are "hinted at", and exploration is not an option. You see one room in Rivendell, and one room in Lothlorien. You don't even see Caradhras - Gandalf just says "We tried, and we failed, so we're moving right along! lalalala!" Disappointing does not even begin to cover the feeling. I was looking forward to those areas. Moria, despite the ATROCIOUS camera angles, is the most amazing level I've ever seen in a game. I'm running a GeForce 2 Ultra card, which isn't quite cutting edge, and while I couldn't crank everything full detail, I had it running fairly high and experienced little to no slowdown. The mine shafts look and feel amazing. The way the light from Gandalf's staff splays on the walls... you really feel like you're in the book. Except for the fact that only Gimli is with you for most of it. The cave troll fight where all the members jump into the fray was awesome, and I spent quite some time just watching the two sides slug it out. Other weird complaints - why give Aragorn unlimited arrows? Seems silly. Also silly is that your party members are invincible. Granted- I hate games where you have to "protect" stupid people who jump into a fray and keep dying. But the AI on these guys is decent, and it took away any concern you might have for watching them. I didn't have to fight half, and I didn't have to protect. "Oh, look, Frodo is being devoured by two wolves. Well, I'll just slip away. He'll kill them eventually." Some attempt should have been made to ensure the gamer protects his underlings. In all, this is a game I will definitely play again, mostly because it is phenomenal eye candy. I like to call it "Virtual Middle Earth." As a game, it is lacking in quite a few areas. But as an immersive "Let's walk the paths the Fellowship took," it excels. Maybe the next installment will succeed as both a walking tour AND a game.
Rating:  - Let down
Gameplay was fun. But it was short. I was thinking about getting the two towers version of this. Now i'm not. I felt like they watched the movie, picked out THREE key parts, made those into levels and that was about it! You've got, get out of the shire, get through moria, and then the game basically ends after you kill some orcs. NOT worth the money. I feel like this game played on the fact that there are tons of tolkien fans out there who would like to play a LOTR game. They capitalized on it, and were just out to make money. Should have rented it and beat it I guess. So what game play there was, was good. It was way to short. You don't even get to use legolas gimli boromir, or anyone else. What would have been cool is something more along the lines of zelda(freedom to travel around) and having some sort of team battle, where you could switch who you wanted to control. The computer takes over for the others. I was disappointed in this game. I will be looking at other peoples reviews on the next two... So sad.
Rating: - Better than expected
Let me preface this by saying that this is my first PS2 game ever, so my perspective is limited.After reading horrible reviews I was actually pleasantly surprised by this game. It follows the book more closely than the P. Jackson movie, but still veers from the book's plot on occasion (especially at the end). It was fun to see Tom Bombadil and other episodes left out of the movie. I thought the landscapes were quite stunning at times, and I often wished I had more time to just look around and enjoy the view. But, unlike the book, the game throws endless hordes of spiders, orcs, and other beasties at our heroes in order to keep things exciting. In some places I thought the game did an even better job than the movie in its recreation of Middle-earth. I particularly liked the Mines of Moria and Lothlorien. The game also included singing, which is an essential part of the book that the movie ignores. On the other hand, the tunes to which the songs were sung were arguably worse than the sad attempts at music my own brain makes when reading the book. Playing the three characters (Frodo, Aragorn, and Gandalf) provided variety. Frodo has to sneak around a lot (or run like hell). He can whack things with a walking stick (and eventually with Sting) and throw rocks, but he's not very powerful in combat (as expected). He does have the ring, however. I actually found it useful once or twice, although it can't be worn for very long. Aragorn is pure combat. He fights with a sword or a bow (and once with a torch), and can also kick. I found it sort of pathetic when the heir of Isildur kept getting killed by some ruffians in Bree. Eventually, however, I honed my button-tapping skills and was able to defeat (at the expense of my carpal tunnel) two trolls, three wolves and some orcs who had cornered me near the end. Gandalf was the most fun to play. He can fight with both his sword and with magic. He also uses his staff to go in for the kill. He is certainly the most powerful of the three (again as expected -- he is a Maiar, for heaven's sake!). His battle with the Balrog is probably the most challenging part of the game. (One gripe I had was with the various cliffs and bridges. Some you can fall off and die, others you can't. There's no way to know this except experimentation. Gandalf's fight with the Balrog found me tiptoeing around the bridge trying to evade fireballs and get close to the beast. I only realized after a good long while that he couldn't fall off even if he tried.) In the end, this game is worth playing if you like Tolkien (but aren't a die-hard purist) and third-person action games. Once again, it was my first PS2 game, so I probably enjoyed it more than an experienced and jaded gamer.
|
