want to experience more and relive the epic battles that they saw. Truly climatic fights

at Helm’s Deep, Minas Tirith, Isengard and Moria. The Lord of the Rings: Conquest tries

to bring that feel from the books and movies, only in an interactive way, having you being

one of the soldiers fighting for control of Middle-Earth.

The game could be described as Battlefield 1942 mixed with Lord of the Rings hack and

slash. You pick your class of warrior and go into battle from spawn points. You can

either be a Warrior, a strong melee type, the Archer, who shoots arrows from a far,

the Scout, a stealthy assassin, or the Mage, who can cast magic to aid your side and hurt

your enemies. And sometimes you get to take control of a hero, a memorable character who

has increased abilities. Each class has its own unique specials and enhancements, making

them feel different and play different.

There are two separate campaigns in the game. One is the War of the Ring, where you control

men, elves, and dwarves to fight against the forces of evil and hope to destroy them. The

other, “The Rise of Sauron,” is played from the other side, with you playing as the

bad guys and trying to conquer the land. It’s cool to be able to see a campaign shown from

the evil perspective. Who doesn’t want to control the world and wipe out those pesky

hobbits.

The battles are designed to give the feel of the epic fights from the books and movies,

but just doesn't really deliver as much as you would like. The areas appear to be large,

open environments with multiple objectives and areas to conquer, but how it plays is

rather linear, with you moving from one area to the next. The enemies will just charge

at you, with you mowing your way through them will relative ease, especially if you pick

the archer as you can just sit back and blast away. It has kind of the feel of Star Wars

Battlefront, with you capturing objectives, but the linear nature, done with the intent

of making the levels more epic, holds back the true openness that made Battlefront so

great. And because of this, the combat feels like just moving from place to place, hacking

and slashing everything in the way, which don’t get me wrong has it merits, but doesn’t

live up to the greatness the battles are based on.

The Lord of the Rings: Conquest is by no means a bad game, it just doesn’t live up to the

high standard the movies set, which is understandable because that bar was set pretty darn high.

It is close to being a great game, but instead must settle on being alright.