[Squiffy]

I picked this up cheap a while ago for my Xbox, and finally got round to trying it last night.

And I'm quite pleased with it.

I didn't really get on with the other official EA LOTR trilogy games , but this really caught my imagination despite some glaring limitations.

The game runs parallel to the plot of the movies. At one point in Moria you are almost hit by the skeleton that drops and alerts all the goblins / orcs & Balrog that the fellowship is there. You actually hear thru the hole in the ceiling Gandalf utter the "fool of a Took" jibe.

The presentation and production quality is spot on. A LOT of the film is used in cut scenes, to help expand the plot, etc.

The game is an exploration based party RPG, a bit like KOTOR in some respects but far more linear. The engine used looks identical to that used in the other LOTR trilogy games, so it is fairly cinematic.

Combat is turn based, with turns based on characters speed. It is VERY turn based, if you know what I mean. One character goes, then another one does - not like the more flowing action of a KOTOR fight. There is also an annoying limitation that you can only have three active characters (from your party) in a fight at anyone time, whereas the enemy can have up to 6. I guess this must be due to engine limitations.

In about three hours or so I've completed 7% of the game. The game isn't challenging at all, and it certainly doesn't do anything special other than impress with the sheer cinematics & integration with the source material.

Overall it is a charming game, and the cinematics have drawn me into the plot. Probably more than anything else, I want to see at what other points other than Moria the game will tie in with the original trilogy.

If you can pick it up cheap, I'd recommend it.

[davet010]

Squiffy

I've completed this one, in about 30 hours overall.

Does get a lot more challenging later on, and you really need to be using team members skills from the start to develop up to the more necessary skills by the time you are in Rohan, for example.

There are some parts of it that'll have you tearing your hair out, but stick with it, I really enjoyed it.

[Miyazaki]

I got it for £15 from amazon, got bored of it by moria unfortunately, as it is just too repetitive.