Customer Reviews

Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest

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I know most gamers have no interest in PS2 games anymore, but this review is for gamers too low on funds to upgrade to a better console.

Rumors abound that the PS2 version of this game is a port of the PSP game. That's probably true, because it's rather unrefined in terms of presentation. But ultimately, if you like having combos to manipulate in your action, this game can be a nice little romp through the various LOTR locales.

Yes, the drawback is that it looks bad. Its rendered in a cel-shaded style, which gives it a cartoony look, but its intended as a kids game. Its shown from a top-down perspective (no camera control is quite annoying), and Aragorn runs like he's got gout. These annoying quirks are prevalent right from the get-go and will incline you to throw down your controller in frustration. But if you stick with it, it becomes more intriguing.

Basically, the combat is a lot of fun. After a short time learning the controls, dispatching hordes of orcs and wargs and wild men starts to get addictive. It has a decent combo/block/parrying system, which lends some manipulation to your combat and allows to approach your fights like a swordsman. Yes, its primarily a kids game, so your enemies will telegraph when their about to make a strike. Nonetheless, its still satisfying to pull of a successful parry and knock the villain down with your choice of move.

Bosses are relatively simple, the area will give you enough hints to indicate how to take them down. With the exception of the King of the Dead, that one I got by on luck. I'm not really sure what I did to take him out, since none of my attacks seemed to hurt him. I just plugged along and eventually he let me by.

Level design is equally uninspired. Its pretty linear, though there is some exploration and item-collecting to do. But nothing all that complex. There's also no NPCs to occupy the places you go, so there's no ambiance to the locations you vist, nor any sense as if you're a part of the famed Fellowship. Their presence is implied thru dialogue boxes that pop up as you begin or end a level. You also have the option to sort of maintain your character as if it were an RPG, but the game automatically equips you with the best items as you pick them up, and since the various materials never change the look of Aragorn there's very little point to actually bringing up the character menu.

Sean Astin does provide the voice of Sam, who narrates the tale as he retells the exploits of Aragorn to his children. Yeah, Viggo Mortensen does provide Aragorn's voice at the end, but its a recycled line from the movies, so its not that cool.

As I've stated before, the combat (and the fact that's its Lord of the Rings) gives it a quality of fun. By no means an excellent game, but not anywhere near terrible either.

This was a really fun, easy game. I was expecting something more RPG like Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (which I love and have played over and over again). I was easily able to beat this game after a few hours. The big bad ugly's were really easy to beat but I kind of liked that. It was nice to play a game that I could easily beat, instead of playing an RPG that I spend weeks if not months on because I get tired of running around trying to get my levels up or earn new skills. Since it is so easy to beat it might be a game you would want to rent or wait until it drops in price.

Just to inform potential buyers of the PS2 version of the game; the screen shots and image captures shown for this product are actually from the PS3 version of this game, the PS2 version is more similar to the PSP version of the game.

I appreciate that the game can be played by everyone, but it is more likely to be enjoyed by ten-year-olds. The graphics are poor, very cartoony, and the game play is worse. I was expecting game play more like The Prince of Persia or something similar, but I was honestly reminded of Mission Impossible for NES. I have never played a game from Warner Bros., so maybe I should have been expecting this, I don't know. I don't recommend this game to anyone, really, although there may be some that could enjoy it.