Lord of the Rings:
The Fellowship of the Ring
System:
X-Box
Publisher: Black Label Games
Developer: WXP
Released: 2002
Genre: Action/Adventure
Capabilities: None Applicable
Review Written: November 25, 2002
The Game
When I first saw this game I expected it to be bases on the blockbuster movie
that was released last year. I mildly enjoyed the first movie, but have never
read any of the books. Unfortunately for me, that is what The Lord of the Rings:
The Fellowship of the Ring for X-Box is based on. I won’t have any idea on how
to compare this to the book released so many years ago, but I’ll do my best from
the perspective I got of the first movie. So if you have to assume this review
as anything, assume it as a perspective from the casual fan of the movie.
Story
The main star of the Lord of the Rings is Frodo Baggins. His quest is to destroy
the One Ring so he can strip away the abilities of the evil Lord Sauron. Frodo
has eight characters join him on his adventure to Mount Doom, which is the only
place this ring can be destroyed. Most of these characters are from the movie
such as Pippin and Gandalf the wizard.
Graphics
From the first few minutes I played this game, it automatically reminded me of
my experiences of the pair of Legend of Zelda games on the Nintendo 64. The
character and level design, and especially the atmosphere gave me first
impressions of an X-Box version of Zelda. These impressions ended quickly.
Fellowship does have a few things going for it such as the stellar character
models. Since the publishers didn’t snag the rights of the movie to put
character’s likeness in the game, they had to do their best to make good
look-alikes. You’ll be glad to know that the developers hit the nail on the
coffin for getting the most accurate models they could do without getting sued
by Electronic Arts.
There are some issues that plague the graphics. For starters, the camera doesn’t
follow the action the greatest as it tends to focus on other less important
things. Also, the collision detection is a bit off. Attacks that look like they
should’ve gone right through your opponent’s body yield no damage, and vice
versa. The last major gripe is the loading times. They are unbearably long. Upon
entering a new area, you’ll experience loading times that last anywhere from 30
seconds to a whole minute. I was getting extremely frustrated after experiencing
each loading time that I had to find some reading material to occupy me during
them. I suggest that you do the same.
Sound
Remember that episode of The Simpsons where Bart writes a play and reads it to
Lisa with his English accent that is so bad that Lisa runs away in disgust?
That’s kind of what the voice acting is like in Fellowship of the Ring. Some
characters like Gandolf have some good voice acting, but for main characters
like Frodo and Pippins, their voices aren’t enthusiastic and uninspired. The
background music fits the atmosphere for this game as good as bread and butter.
If the soundtrack is comparable to any other game out there, it’d be
surprisingly similar to the stellar score for Age of Empires II.
Game play
I easily adapted to the control scheme in Fellowship of the Ring. The simple
configuration should be a blast for anybody looking for something as easy to
pick up and play. In familiar fashion to the first Zelda game on the NES, you
have two items for your inventory, and the items can be replaced by either
sub-screens or hotkeys on the controller.
The fighting system in Fellowship isn’t something I was to keen about. I wish
they could’ve started us off with some better weapons than a stick and some
rocks. “Whatcha gonna do big orc dudes when the Frodester and my poking stick
run wild on you?” What the hell is the fun in that? Granted, you’ll run across
some pretty powerful weapons later on, but they could’ve at least started us off
with a tiny dagger or something. I was in a rage during combat because of the
cheap AI where the monsters block most of my attacks, and their puny attacks
yield more damage than my strongest ones.
During game play you’ll find yourself switching off between the characters in
your party. This is due to each character possessing specific traits that can
maneuver them past certain areas. For example, the tiny hobbits can squeeze by
narrow passageways, and Gandolf can take advantage of his powerful magic
attacks. This is the strongest part of the game engine because this variation
help keeps the game fresh.
The weakest area in game play is the many errands you’ll have to do. You’ll find
yourself doing so many chores, especially in the beginning of the game, that
you’ll find this game a chore to play through. C’mon, I want to slay Orcs and
Goblins, not grabbing sticks out of chimneys and helping a farmer find his
ladder. When you finally do encounter battles, the sloppy fighting system will
force you to think you’re out cherry picking again.
Replay Value
Lord of the Rings didn’t keep me as hooked as the movie did, and it kept on
seeming like more of a chore to play my way through this game. Thankfully for
me, and unfortunate for everyone else, this game is only ten hours long! That’s
about the same length of the movie! There aren’t too many hidden items to be
found and secret areas to explore. So everything that is shoved in your face the
first time you complete Fellowship of the Ring is what you get.
In Brief
+: Fans of the book will enjoy this, good background music, distinct character
variation
-: Fans of the movie will hate this, sluggish fighting engine, too much errand
running, and only a total of ten hours worth of game play
RATINGS
Graphics: 7.8
Sound: 7.2
Game play: 3.5
Replay Value: 1.2
Overall: 4.9
I’m not too fond of this game. It ends up being a lousy Zelda 64 rip off
instead of a gripping adventure game. Fans of the book and movie may find some
interest in Fellowship of the Ring. For the few of those who want to give this
game a shot, I highly recommend renting it first, and completing it in half of
the period you have the game. However, if you just got to own a Lord of the
Rings game, I suggest you wait until Two Towers comes out from Electronic Arts
in a few months for the X-Box.