It must be hard for games publishers to create original ideas when using a movie licence. The pressure to get the game out by a certain date, having to stick as close as possible to the original story, and the fact that fans of the older games need to stay with new titles. The breakout game for this rule was Star Wars Battlefront, which not only backed up the narrative from the Star Wars universe, but played excellently too. This focus on gameplay and atmosphere made Battlefront one of the best Movie licences ever, and the sequel followed suit. In an attempt to replicate this success, Pandemic, the developers behind the Battlefront series, have created a Lord of the Rings style Battlefront game. Is this a revelation in movie games, or does the concept feel outdated?
Like Battlefront before it, Conquest is primarily a multiplayer game, whether that is online death match or split screen co-op. The options available online are what you would expect from any game like this, all of which is in keeping with the Class system of the game. You have Team and Hero Deathmatch, the second of which uses only main characters from the books, pitting the likes of Legolas and Gandalf against the Mouth of Sauron and the Nazgul. This mode is where the online really shines, allowing you to feel just like any of the famous characters while fending off the opposing side. The other two modes present tick the boxes that are left, with Capture the Ring and Conquest modes filling their respective slots on the menu. The online options are the usual, but by using the tried and tested formula from Battlefront, the experience is enjoyable.
The campaign section is where the game begins to disappoint though. Split into Good and Evil Campaigns, you must follow the story of the book through to the end before you can see what would have happened if Sauron had succeeded. This way of thinking has led the developer’s to the decision of altering the prose for the game, such as the heroes deciding to attack Minis Morgal, an event that has never been part of Lord of the Rings canon. The story is tied together badly because of this, never flowing, and feeling more like a series of unconnected battles than the legendary book. This isn’t too much of an issue, but it dampens the effect of the cut scenes in between each stage, which feature clips pulled straight from the film. The battles you’ll be fighting in the Heroes campaign range from Minis Tirith to The Black Gate, while you’ll be destroying Rivendell and the Shire as the Dark lord minions. It ends up being little more than a series of online battles set in different arenas, albeit against the computer. This makes the campaign disappointing, and when you can complete both in around 5 hours, there is very little content for a single player.
As previously mentioned, Lord of the Rings Conquest implements a Class system. You play as one the four classes available, with the Archer playing like a shooter in third person view, the Warrior being a sword wielding character with a large amount of special attacks, the Scout has the ability to cloak himself, and the final class the Mage can heal your allies, and cast magic on enemies. These 4 classes are built for specific situations, but like in most Class based games, you have your favourite and like to stick with it. The attacks are mapped to the controller in what seems like the most complicated way possible, with completely different control schemes for each. The warrior class uses the face button for attacks, while the archer uses R2 or LT, the face buttons activating special types of arrows. This becomes confusing when changing class in the heat of battle, leading to many times where you’ll be using the wrong button to attack the enemies. However, this is not the main reason why you’ll consistently find it hard to succeed in Lord of the Rings Conquest; the collision detection is wonky at best. There are too many times when you’ll hit an enemy with a sword, arrow or anything else for that matter, and the enemy won’t lose any health. You know you will have hit them, but the game is too slow to realise this, and in turn penalises you for being accurate. It gets very frustrating, very quickly, and goes a long way towards the disappointing feel of Conquest.
One of the best things about the Battlefront series was the feeling of being involved in a full scale battle against the Empire. Conquest attempts to replicate this, but sadly it misses the point entirely. In Battlefront, there always seems to be something going on in the background, the background covered in a flurry of bullets and huge mechs. In Conquest though, each area is cut off by handily placed barriers, and nothing else really happening outside of them. That is until another handy explosion makes this barrier disappear suddenly, and then enemies begin pouring in. It makes you feel disconnected from the experience, and is one of the reasons why Conquest feels distinctly last gen. Compared to Battlefront; the levels are less like a battle, and more like a series of connected arenas.
But what’s the most disappointing aspect of Lord of the Rings Conquest? It simply has to be the graphics. For a game so far into this generation’s life cycle, it’s unacceptable for graphics this rough to make it into such a high profile game. The character models look great when still, but in motion the animation is painful to watch. The textures look like they have been pulled straight from the PS2 Lord of the Rings games, and the amount of graphical glitches is plain awful. The frame rate drops when too many enemies are on screen too, all of which add up to make a below par visual experience. The audio on the other hand, is well executed, using themes from the films and voice acting from the somewhat over used Hugo Weaving as Elrond. The other voice actors do a decent job at replicating the voices from the film, but as usual with sound-alikes, it’s no match for the real thing. The presentation of Lord of the Rings Conquest would be okay if it wasn’t for the terrible graphics, but when a PS3 game struggles to look better than its PS2 predecessors, something is wrong. That said, the Xbox 360 version didn’t look too bad.
Lord of the Rings Conquest is a hard to recommend to anyone. Fans of the book will be outraged at the changes made to the story in the campaigns, but may revel in the idea of battling online. Fans of Battlefront may be pleased to hear that the gameplay is similar to the Star Wars title, but PS3 owners will be ashamed with the graphical quality. Everyone will be disappointed in some way, which is why Conquest is underwhelmed. The game has promise early on, but after a few hours, the problems with the game begin to outweigh the positives. For the real Lord of the Rings experience play the Two Towers game from 2002, it’s more polished than this, and lives up to the high pedigree of the books. It may be one of the only major releases this January, but in Conquest the cons outweigh the pros.
Nometet.com says: 
+ Gameplay similar to the excellent Star Wars Battlefront
+ Online play works well, and can be fun.
- Campaigns are too short and change too much of the original story.
- Graphics aren’t exactly great
- Misses the feeling of full scale battles.
Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 versions reviewed. Also available on PC
