Video Game Review: Lord of the Rings: Conquest

January 26, 2009

Developer: Pandemic Studios

Platforms: Electronic Arts

Rating: 5.9 out of 10

Rated: T

The Deal: When we learned there was going to be a game that would let you relive all the epic battles of Lord of the Rings – both on the side of good and evil – we started counting off the days to its release like the total geeks that we are. Images of going toe-to-toe with armies of orcs, the Witch King of Angmar, the Balrog and even the Dark Lord Sauron himself danced through our heads and annoyed our co-workers. Since other Rings tie-ins have a decent track record, we were pretty confident that we’d be playing through the War of the Ring with a dumbass grin on our face and tears of joy in our eyes at all the Tolkien-inspired awesomeness.

Did the game live up to our (obviously inflated) expectations?

The Good…

- Conquest has a welcome two-player co-op mode that allows you and a buddy to orc bash your way through Isengard, Osgiliath and various other Middle Earth battles together. One of the best things about Lord of the Rings was how it was essentially about hanging out with friends and stabbing evil stuff in the face. Trust us.

- If you love Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies, you will, for a time, totally geek out while playing Conquest. Howard Shore’s epic score is used liberally and there’s just something about being able to fight in the saga’s epic battles and taking on its vilest foes that get the juices flowing. Also, being able to (occasionally) play as some of the central characters is also pretty awesome.

The Bad…

- While not absolutely terrible, the graphics in Conquest let you down at some inopportune moments. Enemies and friends are often indistinguishable. Your character simultaneously falls through objects and into the camera. Objective markers confuse rather than help. It’s a shoddy scene, man.

- Gameplay in Conquest is sadly unimaginative and boring, resulting in a button-mashing mess. Chaining together combos is encouraged but never really works all that well. Mounted combat is a frustrating mess. At best, the game is a sub-standard hack-and-slash.

- While the idea of using different character classes (warrior, archer, scout, mage) is a good one, it’s executed quite poorly, with the difference seeming to be in the graphics only. The mage class, for instance, has a power called “firewall” that didn’t seem to have flames and sort of looked like the other two magic powers you had. During co-op the classes came more into play, as you and your partner could play off each other but otherwise, it’s a bust.

- It’s pretty crazy how much of a fumble Conquest is. With some better game mechanics and some tweaks to the structure and gameplay this could have been an incredible extension of the Lord of the Rings franchise. Instead it just feels like a rushed money-grab.

Final Word: Aiming to recreate the glory of the Peter Jackson films, Lord of the Rings: Conquest falls staggeringly short. Squandering a great opportunity, even the most devoted fans will be disappointed with this Pandemic and EA title. We’re finding it hard to even recommend renting it.