I had to replay this one as I am in the middle of a Lord of the Rings binge.
I remember somewhat enjoying it back in the day for the same reason (i.e. anything-goes LotR binge), but all the criticism I had back then remains as well.
The game wasn't a long project and it shows: tons of unnecessary mini-cutscenes, awful dialogue, amateurish skill system, etc. It is absolutely terrible in its original form: I found Wizardry 8 quite tiresome but this game takes trash mob tedium to a new galaxy. Playing on an emulator and unlocking the framerate is mandatory so you can Benny Hill your way through the game and have a half-digestible experience.
The movie excerpts are the worst. Their design is completely self-defeating: you get bombarded with them constantly, even though:
- You are familiar with the movies, in which case they are a needless (and very verbose) repetition of what you already know.
- Or you aren't familiar with the movies, in which case they are a poor and heavy-handed way to deliver exposition.
Furthermore, some of them contain info / foreshadowing on the in-game plot and you cannot tell which ones will matter and which ones are just exposition dumps.
A note on the in-game plot: it is not bad at all, but as said above the game was, if not rushed, at least way underproduced. The cutscenes often say nothing of value, the dialogues sound like the climax of a build-up that is absent but taken for granted, etc. Most characters have a sort of twist in their backstory, and there is nothing that wouldn't work with more dialogues, but the actual product is a succession of sudden revelations and unearned conclusions.
Credit where credit is due: between the enemies grunting, the glorious movie music and the constant idle animations, the combat feels very alive and dynamic despite being turn-based. The special effect are good though you will quickly find them needlessly overdone, especially as they cannot be turned off to speed up the fights.
The game uses the same engine as The Two Towers and The Return of the King action games. The environments look a bit drab and empty today but I think they aged pretty well. The visuals are incremental in the usual fashion: PS2 looks worse than Gamecube which looks worse than Xbox. My pictures are from the PS2 version, which looks mediocre compared to the other two: low polygon count, some models replaced with flat textures, and the textures themselves are dry and ugly.
The game is generous on illusion of distance and beautiful vistas, which further underlines its claustrophobic corridor design. As for sound effects, they are mostly lifted from the movies and nothing is out of the ordinary, except some dialogues sound like they have been recorded in a bathroom.
It was never released on PC even though it came one year after The Return of the King, which did get a PC version. A shame, as even with rudimentary modding this game wouldn't be too far away from being good: less trash mobs, skippable skill animations, proper high-res graphics. It would still be a cheap cash grab, but at least a relaxing gib-moar-LotR fix.
As it stands, it leans way too much on the tedious side. Being in dire need of a LotR fix is mandatory to enjoy this game, and even then that's an uphill battle. Just know what you are getting into: a fanservice Middle-Earth tour to various movie locations, built around a primitive Final Fantasy knock-off combat system.
From memory, there is still at least Osgiliath, the Pelennor fields, Minas Tirith, and the final boss fight remaining. Nothing more to say, except enemies ramp up the tedious crowd control and the environments are more of the "beautiful fanservice scenery that reminds you how you cannot just hop on a horse or hike away".
I won't update further but I still want to leave a few words about Helm's Deep.
Even during my first playthrough more than a decade ago, I noticed barely a few minutes in that there was no money, and I guessed (correctly) that there wouldn't be "towns". I was correct, but there is still a semi-exception.
Helm's Deep reminds me of
Kordava in Conan The Dark Axe: a sudden civilian area in a combat game, with an amount of care and attention to details that are seen nowhere else in the game.
It is what many have been waiting for: a carefully crafted movie location in which you can walk freely and talk to movie characters while listening to movie music. Of course it hammers home how the rest of the game is nothing like it, and Helm's Deep is leagues below Kordava in terms of both design and content, but the contrast with the main game is the same, and in both cases it is my favourite part of the game.
That's all there is to say about this game. Whatever horrors you heard about it are probably true, but as usual the salvation might come from computers. If you still want to give it a try, fire up Dolphin and hotlink the framerate unlock to something accessible.
no matter how you look at it.
