Customer Reviews

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

I had the pleasure of play-testing this game in its final weeks of development.

For starters, the game is based on the book and not on the New Line movie. As a consequence, you will find a number of story elements in the game that were not in the movie, such as the Old Forest, Tom Bombadil, and the Barrow Downs. The novel has been expertly translated into a 3rd-person action adventure, and there is a lot more action in the game than actually occurs in the book.

In this game, Middle Earth has been faithfully rendered (under the watchful eye of Tolkien's estate) by the talented 3D modelers, graphic designers, animators, game designers, and developers at The Whole Experience. The first thing that really struck me was the sheer beauty of the game -- the score, the environmental details (run through a pile of leaves just for fun), the textures, the fluid character animation. Some of the more interesting elements of the book also shine in the game. For example, the sense of foreboding, fear, and deadly seriousness constrasted with the light-hearted nature of the hobbits. The Black Riders are quite intimidating, especially at first. And there are climactic moments in the Barrow Downs that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. The One Ring, of course, plays a large role in the game. When used, the world changes, becoming shadowy and revealing secret areas of the game. The tension between the advantages and cost of using the ring creates interesting tradeoffs.

The gameplay is 3rd-person, similar to the Tomb Raider series. When you are targeting something with a ranged weapon (like a rock or a bow and arrow), it switches temporarily to first person. In each section of the game, you play as either Frodo, Aragorn, or Gandolf. The three characters are substantially different in their capabilities. Frodo is presented as an agile hobbit with plenty of jumping, leaping, climbing, etc. He's not great in melee combat, but excels at thrown projectiles. Aragorn is an impressive warrior, as well he should be. Playing Aragorn is empowering, with a thrilling and deadly sequence of sword strokes that makes him the best at melee combat. Gandolf can also fight well with a sword, but his primary weapon is magic, and he's got a cool set of spells he can cast to vanquish his enemies.

Of course, the game is not only (or even primarily) combat. In addition to general exploration and adversaries, there are a number of well-designed puzzles to be solved. Some of them are potential stumpers, I suspect.

In short, there is nothing earth-shatteringly new from a gameplay perspective. Nevertheless, the game excels as a wonderful and emotive adaptation of a much beloved book.

JRR Tolkiens "Lord of the Rings - Book 1 'The Fellowship of the Ring' storyline is closely followed in this Xbox adaptation (allows some Xbox magic with great sound track, music & above average graphics). The animation sequences between scenario runs are delightful with audio dialogue. The whimsical artwork used was nice, aimed at the younger audiences to reduce the blood/gore, slash/gash & the frightening darken minions of the Dark Lord.

That ends this great attempt to make a great game from the greatest fantasy trilogy of all time. Peter Jackson's movie trio lives up to JRR Tolkiens work with a few film adaptations to make each film a stand alone art form.

Summary; This game is best reviewed in the PROS vs CONS format to best describe the game players expectations of this XBOX game.

PROS - The background music is awesome. The animation sequences of the characters is quite good (great transition between scenarios). The characters voices & dialoque are very effective to the story being told. The games storyline is true to the author. You can SAVE OFTEN (and you must!!!!).

CONS - LONG & FREQUENT Game BOOT (loading) between scenarios. NO Middle Earth Maps to be used. NO mapping or auto mapping features (as in MORROWIND) (you must memorize quickly or die). This means NO REFERENCING for location. NO GOING BACK or EXPLORING. Limited Inventory features. THIS IS ONLY A CONTINUOUS SLASH/GASH GAME. You only play FRODO, STRIDER & GANDALF at specific check points (NO OPTIONS). (for example; Frodo from start to BREE. STRIDER from BREE to RIVENDELL etc. no other choices) LIMITED path advance (NO ROAMING as in MORROWIND). ONLY FRODO USES STEALTH. STRIDER & GANDALF MUST FIGHT or RUN or be KILL by EVERYONE (this is NON-STOP). Almost everything is resolved by killing, destroying or dying. (again only FRODO can use stealth). You must move quickly or die!! You must CONSTANTLY search for food, health & magic potions (this distracts the game player from reaching specific scenario goals). VERY FEW rest points to enjoy the game. CANNOT STOP or GO BACK AND EXPLORE MIDDLE EARTH!!

These are only the most frequent perks & annoyances while playing this game. It is to bad so much effort went in, the basic game is there, but the features are to limited to make this a [current price] must have Xbox library game. If you want detail, free roaming, the ability to be cunning, a great investment would be "MORROWIND".

I am truly disappointed in this Xbox games attempt to tell the "CLASSIC" JRR Tolkien "Fellowship of the Ring" story. See the movie, skip or rent the game. ENJOY.

To begin, this game is not for those who cannot problemsolve, by themselves. This is not a puzzle game, but you do need to explore in order to get to the next level. Unlike the second two movie-like games, this isn't a rambo style 'kill'em all game' but a true hobbit's game.
If you can get to this point in the review, you will probably like this game. It sticks to through the original chapters of the story, such as the Old forest, Tom Bombadil, Barrow Wights, and many othe small intricasies of the original Tolkien novel.
The warning, I say once again, is you need to figure things out on your own. Watch out for the shadow of the black riders!

I just finished playing two hours of the new Lord of the Rings game.

Wow.

Few times have I been so moved by a game. Grand Turismo 3, Ico & Grand Theft Auto 3 on the PS2 moved me deeply. Munch's Oddysee, NFL 2K3 and Max Payne on the Xbox rocked me.

But LotR floored me.

I've played two hours and haven't even left the Shire. I've met so many characters, walked around just in awe. Inside and out! I can't even imagine what it's going to be like once I get into the quest.

Graphically...well, this is the reason I bought an Xbox. I love my PS2 but there is *no way* the game could look this good on it. The textures, character movements and landscapes are simply stunning. Stunning. I stood on a little hill and looked off into the distance - there was no fog, no pop-ups, just mountains. Beautiful mountains. Did I mention the character movements? There is nothing, I repeat nothing, on Earth like looking at Frodo walk around. It is exactly how I pictured him moving. His shoulders moving one way, his little cape going another. It's amazing. I can't say enough about the look of this game. Too bad this isn't an Xbox exclusive (PS2 will get this in October) because if it was, it would definitely be a reason to buy the system.

As far as gameplay goes, it's actually pretty standard. Your basic "get a mission, fulfill it and get some kind of reward" type of play. Nothing groundbreaking there. But that's not what I expected. What I expected was to be immersed in the world of LotR, and in that sense it pays off in spades. Spades, I tell you.

What's amazing is that it captures perfectly the mood of the book. There is that sense of whimsy combined with a sense of impending doom that is unbelievably tension building. And I've not even encountered the Wraiths yet! I can't imagine what it will be like when I get into the "action" part of the game. I get dreamy when I realize that Bombadil, Rivendell, Moria and Lothlorien await me.

Simply put, amazing. I'd say get the Xbox for the graphics, but if that's not possible then definitely get this baby when it comes out for the PS2.

You have hours and hours of neglect (for the outside world) awaiting you. And that's a good thing.

Notice all the 5-star reviews from 10-, 11-, and 12-year-old gamers? Not a coincidence. This 28-year-old gamer found this title SERIOUSLY wanting.

Like others, I was excited about this game. Also like others, I'd seen ads for The Two Towers game, and assumed this was the prequel. MAN was I disappointed.

This game is a poor attempt to shoehorn an adventure game onto Tolkien's narrative. Playing it is like being on rails--no freedom in where you go, what you do. Most of the time, you walk along a path that you can't leave, both narratively and in some cases literally.

The combat is sluggish and repetitive, and the tasks are annoying and boring. It's almost like the developers said, "The player already knows where we're going to end up, so let's give them lots of stupid, trivial things to do in order to get there." In fact, I found myself thinking in terms of game design a LOT. "Ok, it looks like I ought to be able to jump over that, but I can't. They must be telling me this is the end of the road in this direction..." Good games don't make you think this way.

Enemy AI is BONE STUPID. You can lob stones at the spiders from a point far enough away that you don't trigger them. Enemies get stuck on corners or things protruding from the walls, and you can pummel them with impunity. I guess to a 10-, 11-, or 12-year old gamer, this can easily be confused with "fun".

Voice acting is uneven at best. Graphics are ok, but not what you'd call X-Box showcase quality. The game looks like a literal port from one of the "lesser" platforms, with one exception: the X-Box's pixel-shaded water. Which, sad to say, looks strangely out of place next to the graphics quality of the rest of the game.

The only bright spot of this game is the soundtrack. The music is very well done, and blends the dispair, fear, and triumph of Tolkien's world very nicely with the action in the game.

I found this game to be very disappointing. It is more in the nature of a "traditional" game-box type game, which will disappoint anyone looking for a game modeled on the RPG experience. The characters played in the game never advance and never change (aside from acquiring slightly upgraded weapons, e.g., Aragorn exchanges a basic sword for Narsil). However, the game fails miserably as a traditional game as well--I would much prefer to spend a few hours on SMB or LOZ on my old NES. The game offers virtually no real challenges. The puzzles, such as they are, seem simplistic, and the combat sequences have virtually no tactical elements. The non-cynical view of the game-designers' mentality would be that they set out to design a game that would be playable by children for an age range of 8-25--which is impossible. The cynical view would be that they set out to "cash in" on the movie hype by offering a game that under any other title wouldn't make it on to the shelves.

Some further specific criticisms of the game:
1. Game play only lasts 10 hours, start to finish. 10 hours!
2. The game controls do not work as described in the manual. For instance, although missile weapons supposedly have a targeting feature allowing you to cycle through multiple enemies and then lock on them, this feature never manifested for me despite several efforts. Instead, your character just locks on the closest enemy, even if it's not the one you want to shoot at. Of course, the whole problem of "multiple enemies" doesn't come up much -- see the "boredom" criticism, above.
3. The camera perspective is maddening. The camera focuses so closely on the character that it tends to hide even enemies standing quite close to (and probably advancing on) your character. I frequently had to turn tail and run just to "see" enough of the field to aim my attacks (melee and ranged).

Needless to say, I won't be buying either of the subsequent games ("Towers" or "King").

For this game you need more pateince than anyone in this world has.you will spend hours at a time trying to find your friends in the forest or collecting water lillies, while being atacked by 1 of the 3 enemies in the game .this is much like the book where the characters will spend 90 percent of the time just walking from 1 place to another.I played this for 5 hours and then took this game back because it was driving me to the brink of insanity.

This is the most miserable excuse for a video game I have ever played in my life. If you expect it to be anything like the movie your going to be let down terribly. Saying it follows the movie at all is a bit of a stretch. I beat the game in about 6 hours time. The loading time is too long and too frequent the only thing I found even slightly entertaining about this game was plugging a bad adaptation of the Cave Troll with arrows. The graphics were acceptable but with so many great games out it's not about the graphics as much anymore. The game play is slow and the character control is clumsy and annoying. There are no cool features or great weapons just a ton of mushrooms (life restoration) that you don't even need. I read some of the other reviews on this game and I swear those people must be getting paid hype it up because I laughed through there reviews. This is truely a testament to why you should always rent a game before buying it... I'm out to try Two Towers next but anything would be better than this game.

I recently had a chance to see the Xbox version of this game next to the PS2 and PC versions. All I can say is -- the Xbox Fellowship of the Ring blows the other ones away. The environments are huge and on the Xbox there is no fog to prevent you from seeing all the way to the horizon. The graphics are sharper, the effects are more dazzling, even the in-game sound effects work in full Dolby Digital surround sound.

As for the gameplay, the Xbox version seems to have all the action of the PS2 and PC versions, but also adds some additional quest and puzzle-solving elements. This breaks up the gameplay and really fits the mood of the books.

For example, as Gandalf you will go from blasting Orcs with your powerful spells to deciphering a clever puzzle involving beams of light and rotating crystals.

Frodo can also fight, but has more of a platform style of gameplay -- you can jump, push, pull, lift, carry, hang, shimmy, etc. Playing Frodo feels a lot like the Zelda games on the Nintendo 64.

And of course, with Aragorn it's all about kicking ... His devastating sword attacks combined with ranged bow attacks (with multiple arrow types -- even flaming arrows!) make him the most satisfying character to play.

Definitely a good purchase for fans of the original books, as this version of the game has material that is not in the movie-licensed game from EA, including several levels in the Old Forest that include Old Man Willow and Tom Bombadil!

I applaud the effort that went into building this game, but they really needed a few more months on it.
The graphics look kind of blurry and some of the textures just don't fit right. I liked the sound effects...particularly the cabinet doors opening and closing in Frodo's home, but the singing from Tom Bombadil was pretty awful and Frodo's clumsy dancing made it even more ridiculous.
The problem is the combat, the stupidity of the enemies and the unforgiveable load times.
The enemies move in ways that don't make sense, can't seem to see you unless you strike them, and get trapped by little knee-high obstacles that they should be able to walk over or around.
Ring Wraiths just aren't scary at all when a two-foot hedge prevents it's efforts to grab Frodo. They sure don't seem very motivated.
But the load times are very long and jar you out of the experience. I took this game back to the store and exchanged it for Dynasty Warriors 3. Dynasty takes about five seconds to load a level or scenario that is about a mile across and has hundreds if not thousands of soldiers and horses in full battle.
You play from one end of the map to the other killing hundreds and hundreds of soldiers and even big boss captains that have their own fighting skills. And ALL of this happens with that one five second load time. You run inside of a castle, you fight your way down the stairs, you jump on a horse and gallop a half mile to the front lines...ALL of this without a single load time.
In Lord of the Rings, if Frodo is the only character on screen and wants to walk into a Hobbit hole, it loads for a good fifteen seconds, then you want to leave...well there is another twenty seconds of load time. If you accidentally hit the wrong button and walk back in a door you just came out of...it's gonna take you a minute before you get your character back again.
This is really unforgiveable with the hard drive on the Xbox being not being used at all. Even when Gandalf is in Moria, he would stand at the door of a room and wait for it to load, so it would be black until the graphics loaded.

The game is also very short...too short for an epic. It took me five hours to get to Moria and I was just walking around alot, taking my time.
Any game that costs $50 better give me alot more gameplay than 10-12 hours worth.