Still, many have regarded it for its rewarding tactical gameplay and the neat ability to play as either the Fellowship or the minions of Sauron. By , the fan buzz surrounding Tolkien's creations had largely shifted to the upcoming Hobbit film, which would release just a year later. Still, that didn't stop WB Interactive and Snowblind Studios from crafting this fun hour action romp.
While the game isn't flawless, War in the North's appeal lies in its simple-yet-satisfying hack 'n' slash combat. With some enjoyable co-op, solid visuals - and the novelty of experiencing a brand new story set in Middle-Earth, this lesser-known LOTR title is worth a look.
Middle-Earth-mania was still in full force by , coming off the heels of the epic conclusion in the film trilogy, The Return of the King. The game more-or-less follows the beats of Peter Jackson's film trilogy - setting the stage for a thrilling adventure and captivating narrative. Yet the gameplay is similarly appealing, providing a linear role-playing experience with turn-based combat a la Final Fantasy. Over the years, Magic the Gathering has seen a slew of appealing gaming efforts.
Blizzard managed to take this to the next level with Hearthstone , while studio Fantasy Flight Interactive decorated this formula with a fun LOTR overlay. This gripping premise is enhanced with some colorful card pictures and mechanics that balance depth and accessibility. A deep campaign, addictive gameplay, co-op features, and various customizations give this romp staying power. Though it's been described as being a bit rough around the edges and bordering on repetition, this is a delightful card game that Hearthstone and LOTR fans should enjoy.
Given the constant action and hordes of powerful fighters, a MOBA seems like a natural fit for a Lord of the Rings game. This effort largely proves this notion, with some satisfying battle mechanics and plenty of depth. Once players get acquainted with its tricky interface, Guardians of Middle-Earth makes for a feverishly addictive game, with a great presentation to boot. Critics have noted that while there are better MOBA options on PC, this is one of the stronger efforts of the genre you'll find for consoles.
As GameSpot said in its review, "Unfortunately, despite the presence of some recognizable characters War of the Ring has gameplay that could have been lifted straight out of any generic fantasy-themed real-time strategy game from several years ago. That's not to say War of the Ring is outright bad. There are worse RTS games and there are certainly worse Lord of the Rings games , but this one just leaves you feeling like your time playing it could have been better spent elsewhere.
The level design is unexciting and the AI isn't terribly smart, which can make some of the larger-scale battles a chore. It's cool to see some of your favorite characters from the books and films, but that novelty wears off when you're watching one skirmish after another filled with generic troll and orc character models.
While The Lord of the Rings Online may not look like much by today's standards, this MMO perfectly captured the grandeur and high adventure of Tolkien's mythology when it released in Different story expansions have shown how Middle-earth has evolved over the course of many great battles, even exploring how the world moves on after the death of Sauron in The Return of the King. Above all else, The Lord of the Rings Online is commendable for the fact that it's still going after all these years, receiving occasional updates and catering to a small but fierce fanbase.
A Lord of the Rings game from Pandemic, the studio that created classics like Full Spectrum Warrior and the original Star Wars: Battlefront series, should have been awesome.
Sadly, The Lord of the Rings: Conquest feels like Pandemic tried to stick with what it knew without bothering to make any concessions or innovations with the material available. The result is a game that comes across like a bare bones Battlefront wannabe with muddy graphics and poor controls. GamesRadar 's Michael Gapper gave Conquest a particularly sound thrashing. He further stated that the game felt as though it had a genuine contempt for the license it was adapting.
There may be some truth to that. While titles like the Middle-earth: Shadow series played fast and loose with the mythology in interesting ways, Conquest seems to hardly acknowledge the inner workings of the books.
Characters behave wildly differently throughout, with even the sniveling Wormtongue suddenly stepping up to become a self-sacrificing hero. By combining construction mechanics with good old-fashioned platforming adventure and heaps of irreverent humor, the Lego games tend to be a blast, no matter which property they're adapting.
As expected, the results are equal parts inventive and hilarious. The game takes advantage of the vastness of Tolkien's Middle-earth by dropping players into a large open-world, allowing them to roam the hills of the Shire and the palatial sets of Rivendell. As such, this is almost a must-play for those desperate to get the full scope; nevertheless, if that were the case, we recommend just reading Tolkien's books.
While by no means a terrible title, The Fellowship of the Ring is bogged down by repetitive combat. This is it - the first LOTR mobile game. Published in , The Lord of the Rings: Middle-earth Defense remains the best and brightest of this mostly underwhelming subset of adaptations. Banking on the tower defense craze, Glu Mobile wisely simplified many of the basic mechanics associated with the genre. In some ways, Middle-earth Defense serves as a fantastic tutorial for anyone seeking to dip their toes into this popular game style.
Split into 18 different stages, it is beyond satisfying to see Gandalf wipe out waves of orcs and dragons. Journeys in Middle-earth is not a LOTR video game but a companion app for the board game with the same name. The app's role is to basically serve as a Dungeon Master, so it is an important part of the overall experience.
An adventure game split into an array of quests, The Lord Of The Rings: Journeys in Middle-earth is one of those rare board games that can be effectively played solo.
While not for everyone, those interested in board games should consider checking this project out. Unless the developer is willing to make some concessions, fitting all three books into one package would be an absolutely daunting task.
Narrating from Aragorn's meeting with the Hobbits in Bree to the climactic battle at the gates of Mordor, Headstrong Games put together a highlight reel based on Jackson's adaptation of Tolkien's novels. With only five moves available to the players, the combat is slightly too simplistic to elevate Aragorn's Quest to anything more than a passable waste of time. Real-time strategy seems to be the genre of choice for Tolkien's universe, but many titles struggle to find the right balance between authenticity and gameplay.
Liquid Entertainment proved its might with 's phenomenal Battle Realms, so the studio should have been the perfect fit for The Lord of the Rings. While War of the Ring is decent enough, the studio did not take enough liberties with the license. Split into a good and evil campaign, the former includes a wide range of allies hailing from the likes of Gondor and Rohan, but the individual groups tend to lack unit variety. As it stands, War of the Ring is neither a great adaptation nor a memorable strategy game.
In a daring move, Snowblind Studios decided to stage a Middle-earth adventure around three nobodies who feature in neither Tolkien's novels or Jackson's films.
With the exception of a couple of cameos, War in the North mostly does its own thing, but the hack and slash title cannot shake the feeling that this story is nothing more than unnecessary filler. If you are going to copy an intellectual property, then The Legend of Zelda is a solid place to start. Released in 2o03 but completely unrelated to Jackson's trilogy, The Hobbit is a moderately fun 3D action-adventure game which relies too exhaustively on imitating its indisputable inspiration.
Controlling Bilbao, players undertake a series of quests in their journey to defeat Smaug. With a heavier focus on platforming over action, The Hobbit is way too derivative for its own good and falls short of even some of the worst entries in The Legend of Zelda franchise.
With the game proving popular, it was only a matter of time before a digital version became a reality, and The Lord of the Rings: Adventure Card Game earned its full release in Plus, unlike most of the games on this list, it's readily available from Steam.
Shadow of Mordor is one of the most talked about games of the last few years thanks to the Nemesis system. This generates unique orc commanders for your hero, Talion, to face off against, and depending on the results of their encounters, they can blossom into grudges that play out over the course of the game.
Its borrowing of Assassin's Creed-style systems is pretty successful, too, with high-quality melee and ranged combat. I'm not in love with the two sparse-feeling overworlds, or the main story—Talion, killed by Sauron's Black Hand, is brought back by Elven wraith Celebrimbor to exact revenge—but you could rightly argue that the real story in Shadow of Mordor is the relationships you form with both your orc opponents and brainwashed pals.
Shadow of War isn't a total slam dunk, thanks to more open world busywork than its predecessor, but it also builds on the first game in some decent ways. Conquering Nemesis fortresses with your army of orcs gives the sequel a sense of scale the first didn't really have, and the improved Nemesis system means even more meaningful encounters with the cockney warriors of Middle-earth. Then there's an orc who will track you down to sing to you.
These minions are the true stars of the game, and it's amazing we haven't seen the Nemesis system implemented elsewhere in games yet. Shame about the loot boxes , then, but they didn't spoil Andy's enjoyment of the game. We hesitate to call these the worst Tolkien adaptations—some of them are—but like a lot of big licensed properties, The Lord of the Rings is more prone to average or disappointing games than outright disasters.
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