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It began with the forging of the three great movies. From them came squads of videogame tie-ins, a natural fit for a story filled with larger than life heroes, gorgeous set pieces, and a horde of enemies. While it has been six years since we last saw Frodo toss the ring into the mouth of Mount Doom, players make the journey every couple of years when another virtual reiteration of the classic story appears on store shelves.

Conquest takes a different path through Mordor but more often than not, you’ll find yourself treading the same ground as before. Instead of battling your way through with a single hero, you will be able to live out your fantasies as random archer number two.

There and Back Again: A Gamer’s Tale

If you don’t already know the tale of Frodo and his fellowship of the ring, then shame on you. You honestly have no excuse at this point not to know all about the battle at Helm’s Deep or the fight with the flaming Balrog. Conquest hits all the big moments of the films with scenes from the movies sandwiched between meaty slices of battle. After finishing the heroic campaign, the game lets you run through an evil campaign with a “what if” twist to the story. What if Frodo kept the ring for himself? What follows is generally a backtracking adventure from Mount Doom to the Shire as you take out all of the main characters along the way. While the retelling of the story leaves gaping plot whole big enough to run an Oliphaunts through it, the focus of the game is more on creating the experience rather than weaving a well-worn yarn.

Pandemic went back to their Battlefront formula to get some more mileage out of the Mines of Moria by giving players that “swiss army knife” approach to the battles. Instead of being stuck with one hero, you flip through a cast of extras as well as the occasional hero. Warriors play like their hack-and-slash equivalent, often requiring you to keep your thumbs nimble to continue the chain of attacks. Archers act as your snipers with the longest reach of any of the characters. Scouts allow you to hide in plain sight and kill with a devastating backstab. Wizards conjure up shields, heal allies, or spit out rings of fire on the ground. Do enough damage and you’ll be able to call on a hero to guide your army to victory.

You have my… old jokes.

The single player stumbles right off the bat by trying to cross a continuous story along with the multiplayer conquest mode. Capturing, holding, and moving your forces through the field still remain the meat and potatoes of the series. The annoying voiceover, however, has other plans by making you run around the field to clear additional objectives such as holding areas or killing a number of enemies under a certain time limit. While these only occur maybe once or twice during a map, miss any one of the objectives and you’ll be back at the beginning of the map before you can say Nazgul. Even a midpoint save would have kept gamers from having to retread the same worn areas. But then again, there’s not much in the single player campaign to keep you going.

With all the classes up for grabs at the start, Pandemic focused much on their efforts into balancing the bunch which they did well - for the most part. Scout’s ability to cloak quickly fall when they run through a ring of fire set by a wizard or get hit by one of the warrior’s swirling special attacks. Wizards can heal the archer’s poison effects. Wizards open themselves up to a quick hit while charging any of their spells. Even the mightiest of heroes fall to a good backstab. All these classes balance out when you’re playing conquest mode in multiplayer. Try to play another mode such as Team Deathmatch and they might as well call it “Everyone Pick the Scout.”

One of the great aspects to Battlefront was the ability to finally get tapped to play as one of the jedi heroes after trudging through the battle as a lowly gunner for so long. Conquest lets you do the same, but the heroes don’t always have the same “wow” factor attached to them. Finally being able to play as a troll, an ent, or as Balrog definitely makes an impression as soon as you hit the field. Even Gandolf and some of the other heroes get a little boost in abilities. Others, such as Legolas, play exactly like their class counterpart. Heroes are more of a boost in class powers rather than playing a game ending character. It keeps the playing field balance, but when I’m playing as Balrog, I just want to win.

Back into the Fray – Again?

At this moment you really need to ask yourself, “Can I take another ‘Lord of the Rings’ game?” There’s nothing wrong with the title, and it actually does a great job representing the bigger battles from the series. But that’s just part of the problem. We’ve held them back at Helm’s Deep, stood our ground at Pelennor Fields, and watched with dread as the troll busts his way into the Mines of Moria. Conquest hits the same beats that we’ve hit over and over again in previous titles. It’s not that they don’t hit them well, but they hit the exact beats we’ve come to expect from a Lord of the Rings title.

Applying the old Battlefront formula to a different theme comes with mixed results. In some of the larger maps, you’ll find yourself in awe as you and your horde rush through their front lines. On the flipside, the graphics have been toned down to allow for smoother online play. There’s also little to keep you motivated to throw yourself into battle other than working your way up a ranking system. Lord of the Rings: Conquest is a solid beginning to a series that may continue long after the shire has burned to the ground.

Article Written By: James Youngblood