Lord of the Rings: Conquest Review

Written by: Darren Cartledge Posted: 16th January 2009

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Fight time in Middle-Earth.

Lord of the Rings: Conquest Details:

Goto Lord of the Rings: Conquest Game Page

	Action
	PC/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360/Nintendo DS
	Pandemic
	EA Games

16+

Out Now

1-16

The Star Wars Battlefront games have proved to be quite popular amongst gamers, allowing them to take part in epic battles on and offline. However, EA’s hack and slash style Lord of the Rings games have only enjoyed moderate success, so it’s should come as no real surprise that since the acquisition of Pandemic by EA the two have been combined, as that would surely prove a hit?

Lord of the Rings: Conquest is based upon Peter Jackson’s movie trilogy and gives you the chance to take part in the many epic battles seen on screen. The game features two single player campaigns good and evil, giving you plenty of opportunity to experience the various different character classes of which there are four, Warrior, Mage, Archer and Scout, each with their own unique special abilities, such as the scout being able to cloak, mages firing bolts of lightening and warriors performing powerful combinations. In addition to fighting as the standard classes you will also get the opportunity to fight as “Heroes” from both sides, such as Gandalf, Aragon and Legolas. Also you will be able to ride various mounts such as horses and Wargs. You will also get to control Ents and the giant Oliphaunts as well as use various siege weapons such as catapults and ballista’s.

The games two campaign modes last about 4-5 hours each, so there’s plenty to keep you going. The two campaigns can also be played co-operatively both on and offline so you and a friend can play through the game together, which adds to the lasting appeal of Conquest.

Despite the many special abilities available to each class there will be many times during play that you will have to resort to button mashing. Mainly due to the fact that the game employs a health bar system that requires you to score several hits on an enemy before disposing of them, during which time they will have more then likely been joined by a number of comrades and you will be the one in trouble.

The game can also be fairly frustrating to play at times, due to the friendly AI being largely unhelpful and failing to defend you at times when you are vulnerable, such as when using siege weapons. This coupled with the fact that, like in many recent games enemies seem to have a personal grudge against you, bypassing many AI controlled players to get to you, means that Lord of the Rings: Conquest can become some what frustrating!

Adding to the frustration is some of the less then heroic ways in which you can die, especially when it entails falling off a ledge and plummeting to your doom half way through performing a special move or combo which you can do little about, but watch.

Pandemic’s Star Wars Battlefront games were great to play online, however Lord of the Rings: Conquest doesn’t make the leap quite so well! This is mainly down to the health bar system mentioned earlier which requires you to hack away at a player until you strike a critical blow. The player left standing is usually determined by whoever is first to get a lucky strike in or has team mates backing them up. This can make online matches slightly difficult if you’re on a team in which players are only interested in how many kills they get, it also makes online play daunting for new players.

We tested both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game and both performed solidly online with no drop in frame rates and only occasional lag experienced when the servers were busy. Multiplayer match types are limited to four in Lord of the Rings: Conquest, with the pick being the Hero Team Deathmatch mode, which allows each player to play as a hero character. Other games types include a standard team deathmatch, conquest and a Lord of the Rings take on capture the flag called, capture the ring. Even in these normal game modes, heroes can make an appearance. When one team is close to victory its leading player will be presented with the opportunity to play as a hero character to give them a boost in the final push to victory.

As the game is based on the movie trilogy Conquest features a lot of character likenesses and locations seen in the films and for the most part in looks spot on, with lots going on around you and nice looking locations and effects. Animation for the most part is good, although when characters jump it looks a little odd. Of the two versions the PlayStation 3 looks the better with cleaner, sharper looking visuals then those we experienced when playing the Xbox 360 version.

The games audio design follows the games graphics with much of it taken straight from the movies, such as the excellent orchestral soundtrack. The game also features a nice narrative during between mission cut-scenes, although not all the games voice work is good, with in game speech often repeated to the point of annoyance.

Lord of the Rings: Conquest provides a solid hack ‘n’ slash style playing experience, with a good, solid single player campaign. The games online mode doesn’t provide quite the same playing experience mainly due to the difficulty, but for the most part it’s enjoyable and should entertain for quite some time. Overall Conquest is a nice addition to EA’s Lord of the Rings catalogue and worth a look if you enjoyed the Battlefront games or are a Lord of the Rings fan.