By Pratik Luharuka
Pandemic Studios’ Lord of the Rings: Conquest is the latest installment in the already huge line-up of LOTR games. Honestly, when I first heard about the game, I wasn’t very excited. Don’t get me wrong though, I was and still am a huge fan of Lord of the Rings – The Series, it’s just that the games to me were not consistent with the flair the rest of the series offers. LOTR to me is all about epic, massive battles. So imagine getting the opportunity to recreate the magic of these battles. Sounds Interesting? While LOTR: Conquest lives up to a few of these expectations, the game, on the whole, is a bit of a disappointment.
It’s an action game that is built around the epic battles of Middle Earth depicted in J R R Tolkeins’ books. It lets you play through two campaigns – as the forces of good and as the armies of Sauron. Initially, you will start with the War of the Ring that follows the events that took place in the movies. After this, you move on to the Rise of Sauron, which follows a story, where Frodo does not destroy the Ring and fails in his quest after which, it lands in the hands of Sauron, leading to events which do not actually take place in the series.
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Conquest lets you play as one of the four different classes of soldiers – Mage, Scout, Warrior, and Archer. Though at important key points you will assume the role of some of the more famous characters from the series (Frodo, Aroagon , etc). The campaign mode of the game ranges from you having to assault an enemy outpost to defending your command positions. You can play single player or co-op. The Different class of soldiers have different skills and abilities, strengths and weakness. With the archer you can assault your enemies with a barrage of lethal arrows. The scout can cloak himself to become invisible and plan a sneak attack. The Mage can cast spells on enemies and the Warrior can mow down enemies with his sword.
The various heroes also fall into the same class, so the move list is basically the same throughout the game. You’ll start with a handful of weapons and moves and these remain consistent through the game; there are no extra weapons. While the different classes of soldiers add a bit of variety to the game, the overall gameplay is pretty monotonous. The different classes of soldiers have different powers, but most of the time you’ll find yourself pressing the same combination of buttons to unleash these powers. So more often than not, you’ll find yourself getting bored with the repetitive button smashing.
Combat is also disappointing. The melee combat in particular is clunky. You’ll quite often find yourself swinging at empty spaces and missing your target. It is also frustratingly easy for you to get knocked down and get killed during battle because the fight more often than not favours the one who can land the first blow. The co-op aspect of the game doesn’t help the case much either. While it may be fun at times to play with your friends, this only further highlights the flaws of the game.
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The online component of the game can accommodate up to 16 players and consists of three modes – Team Deathmatch, Hero Deathmatch and Capture the Ring. The Human Factor in multiplayer can induce the ‘strategy’ effect. While this may initially sound interesting, the online component is again hampered by redundancy. Sure, the modes are different, but the gameplay is basically the same.
The game isn’t visually that impressive either. The character models are done quite well, but the visuals do not do justice to the series. The game at times looks bland with poor textures. It fails to capture the magic of Lord of the Rings. The only place where the game actually shines is in the audio department, which is largely credited to Howard Stone’s Score and Hugo Weaving’s narration.
Conclusion
In the end LOTR: Conquest is a game that leaves you wanting more. It was an attempt to recreate the magic of the series, but unfortunately it fails to do so. While the game is enjoyable at times, the overall experience is bland. Monotonous gameplay, substandard visuals and slack presentation hamper what could have been the perfect game to a perfect series.
(+) Multiplayer can be a fun distraction for a while
(+) Multiple game modes offer a decent amount of variety
(-) Dull gameplay, restrictive levels & loads of glitches
(-) Deviations from the source material can be quite distracting
(-) Voice acting is atrociously bad
(-) Classes are not properly balanced
(-) Short incoherent single player campaigns
IndianVideoGamer Verdict: 5/10 (Avoid)
