As far as The Lord of the Rings goes, I’m about as big a fan as you could possibly imagine. Starting with a hand-me-down of an old collection of the books right through to the recent Peter Jackson directed movies, via oodles of maps, poems and theonering.net being a daily habit, I’m a huge sucker of anything Tolkien.
When Warner picked up the licence (after it being pushed to its limits by EA) I had hopes that they would go back to trying to tell a story rather than shoving the franchise into directions it really wasn’t intended for (like, for example, Conquest) and with Aragorn’s Quest, at least, they certainly stuck to trying to build up some exposition.
Sadly, though, the end result isn’t actually all that hot. As a game, it’s distinctly average: graphics ported from the Wii, Move controls thrown in at the last minute and several artificially padded sections that spoil the few moments of flow that the adventure permits. If it wasn’t for being a massive fan of the whole thing, I probably wouldn’t have touched it past the first few minutes.
But therein lies the issue. How many games do we stick with because we appreciate the source material? Aragorn’s Quest offers pretty much everything that I would have wanted from a lighthearted look at Rings, but manages to fall short by trying to simplify the experience for kids whilst simultaneously adding in too much repetition and enforced side quests.
There’s a few nice touches, though – the game wrong-foots the hardcore at the very beginning by introducing a Balrog to the prologue (at the Black Gates, the story’s end) at which point even I exclaimed that “that shouldn’t be there”. Of course, moments later you find that the game is a story within a story, told by Samwise Gamgee, now the mayor of Hobbiton, and he corrects the erroneous hobbits by telling the story from scratch.
It’s clever, because it means that it gives the story a fresh slant (finally we’re not forced to view everything from Frodo’s point of view) and by centreing the plot around Aragorn we get lots of hack and slash action. It’s raw, basic battling, mind, but it’s there from the off and it’s straightforward enough for younger players.
Confusingly, though, the developers have managed to nearly ruin what potential the game had with some really odd design decisions. The menus are navigated with the right analog, the bow and arrow controls are bafflingly complex and the fetch quests that pepper the story are at odds with the books and films and almost entirely pointless save for a few trinkets.
But, again, it’s Lord of the Rings. The lore might be distilled and the game’s hardly innovative, but – you know – there’s something here that for fans of the stories actually works. There was genuine excitement as the party reached Weathertop or battled in Moria – and sometimes that little spark of entertainment can outweigh all the technical aspects a game exhibits.
Sometimes, it’s enough to just be a fan.
Nauraph
“How many games do we stick with because we appreciate the source material?”
None.
But perhaps I’m just very unforgiving.
cc_star
An interesting point actually.
I love the Transformers universe (except for Michael feckin’ Bay) but wouldn’t buy a game unless I personally knew I would like it, War For Cybertron came out when I was skint & now I’m up to my neck in Hot Pursuit & don’t have time to turn my attention to something else for fear of not being so good at HP when I put that back on.
but with game franchises that don’t have an outside source from another form of media, I buy all the time. God of War, Grand Theft Auto & loads of loads of others for example.
I also have a loyalty to specific devs like ThatGameCompany (FlOW, Flower & the forthcoming Journey) Criterion (Burnout, NfS Hot Pursuit) & Visceral (Dead Space, Dante’s Inferno) where I’d buy anything they turn their hands to, knowing it would be ‘great’ at the very least.
But I honestly can’t say I’d buy a Lost Boys, Kill Bill or Star Wars game just because I love the source material
rainydays458
Love the transformers to, grew up with them on T.V. For some reason when they create games around well loved series, the devs seem to miss the point about what made the characters so lovable.
However when it comes to game franchises I do become, ahem, a stalker.
RadicalMave07
i love star wars,whenever a game comes out i usually buy it,however i am going to give your words serious thought after the more than disappointing force unleashed 2,biggest waste of my money ever.
R4U Eldave0
I agree. Recent release, Splatterhouse, is a prime example for me. As much as reviews for it have been questionable at best, fans of the original 16bit games have been saying its absolutely awesome. I too enjoyed the old Mega Drive games so will be picking up the new one, albeit when its a fair bit cheaper.
Pemberton_
I love The Lord of the Rings too. For me, the best games (or the ones I enjoyed the most) where easily The Third Age and BFME series.
Bilbo_bobbins
LOTR’s for me is the best thing ever. But games based on films, including LOTR’s, never seem to work to be honest.
Jim H [Teabags]
I picked this up for £15 to wrap up for Christmas. I’m a huge LOTR gamer and fan of the films, so I was pumped when I heard a LOTR Move-enabled game would be launching this year. I know the game itself isn’t exactly “Triple A” quality, but it should be able to satisfy me for a few hours at least.
SpikeyMikey23
I have two franchises that ill always buy whatever the reviews say, They are James Bond games and Final Fantasy (sp) games. they would get 0/10 and ill still get them because i enjoy them.
DRCD1
Indeed. There’s something special about playing as Bond, isn’t it?
DrNate86
I love LOTR, almost unhealthily so, but even I knew not to buy this! A bad game is a bad game, even if it surrounds something you love. I foolishly bought Conquest without reading any reviews and was bitterly disappointed with how poor it was. I still have high hopes for War in the North though, but I do miss the old decent hack and slash games from the PS2.
Kennykazey
The LoTR game based on the third film was actually quite good, and Battle for Middle Earth 2 was a rather decent RTS. The other games though… Hopefully War in the North will be good, but this looks like a game for PS2-clingers.