Could of been soooo much better (The Lord Of The Rings: Conquest (PS3))

Member Name: olveston11

Product:	The Lord Of The Rings: Conquest (PS3)
Date:	17/09/09 (7 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun in places

Disadvantages: Poor graphics

This is a strange game from pandemic, whilst being mildly fun and quite addictive it really is a poor game. Stuck in two worlds about where to go with this review!

Firstly the game, its the newest lord of the rings game out and it follows many of the major battles throughout all of the books. Taking the same sort of gameplay style as the star wars games it is all out attack! You can choose to be a scout; a smaller character that can turn invisible and backstab or stand and fight with two daggers, an archer; quite explanatory, a mage; magical sort of like gandalf or my favourite, the good old swordsman fighting foot to food wielding a huge sword! Oh and i almost forgot to mention you can take control of the good side or the evil, just an added twist to the game which to be honest it needed to keep its duration up.

The graphics. This is where the game is really let down. For a next gen console the graphics truly are poor. With very pixellated figures, almost like solid blocks and dodgy cut scenes and scenery this game appears to have been bodged together very very quickly indeed. The characters (except gandalf) are barely recognisable as to what they look like in the films.

The sound. The battle sounds are fairly realistic and have a brilliant orc horn once or twice throughout the game. The only annoying part of the sound is the over voice that gives you your objectives. He is obviously trying to sound not only commanding but dramatic too, it just doesn't work.

Gameplay. Gameplay is ok with the controls being simple (again similar to star wars games) single buttons do single moves and string them together for combos and special moves. The action is fairly poor though. Its the type of system where you hit someone, it appears to miss then a few seconds later they fly miles into the air and die. You probably know the type. It just feels very disjointed and again "bodged together".

Duration. As i said at the beginning its the type of game you could easily play for a couple of hours then realise it really is hopeless. If I'm not wrong the other review on this game agrees and i know what he's saying! You complete several battles and are mid battle then think "Jesus this game is actually crap!, why am i bothering!" but its already hooked you for a few hours. A strange feeling and one thats hard to explain. As for the story line I'm not sure how long it all is as i haven't completed it yet however i'm quite far through in not very long if you catch my drift, basically I'm not sure its the longest game pandemic have ever made.

Online. This is okay. Again very similar to star wars battlefront its too teams either just killing each other for points or killing each other and gaining territory for points. Also similar to COD World at war style online games.

Overall a good game and not a good game. Hard to decide but basically my stance is thats it had potential that wasn't fully reached. You'll find it fun for a bit every now and again before either becoming bored or realising that there is no point as its rubbish!

Summary: An alright game, but only alright.