There are no fewer than forty different video games based on The Lord of the Rings. Role-playing games, hack'n'slash, real-time strategy, action-adventure, there's something for everyone. Some have stood out, not only for their approach, but also for the liberties they take with J.R.R. Tolkien's books. Here are five examples to prove it.
#5 The Lord of the Rings: Gollum
How can we not immediately think of the game centered on Gollum? The game that forced an entire studio to publicly apologize before closing its doors for good. In 2023, when The Lord of the Ring: Gollum was released on PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series, and PC, the entire press (and even gamers) was unanimous: the game was a shambles. To back up their claim, journalists highlighted a dated game with multiple problems: dated graphics (Gollum is a failure), heavy and rigid gameplay, bugs galore, and game design that was also from another era. A real disaster that impacted Daedalic Entertainment, forcing the studio, faced with criticism and general failure, to stop game production and focus on publishing. Twenty-five employees will be collateral victims of the disaster.
#4 The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II
This is an expansion for the original strategy game The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, released in 2006, which offers a single-player campaign to the Witch-King Angmar. Objective: gather a horde to march on Middle-earth. But the plot is completely disconnected from the universe of the films and books. The Witch-King takes Sauron's place, so to speak, and sets out to conquer the kingdom of Eriador with units that only exist (and still do) in the imagination of fans: ice trolls, dark wizards, mystical warriors, grim wolves. This is, in a way, the angle of the game at the time: a fan fiction for fans of the Witch King and excessive magic.
#3 The Hobbit
Released in 2003 on PS2, PC, Gamecube, Xbox and Gameboy Advance, The Hobbit is inspired by the eponymous book by J.R.R. Tolkien, and is full of good little ideas, particularly in its very varied gameplay, oscillating between platforming phases, combat and infiltration phases, while integrating light RPG elements. Unfortunately, Sierra's title is plagued by rigid controls and combat, as well as very frustrating camera problems. But it's probably Bilbo's imprecise jumps and completely exaggerated agility that make the game particularly strange, especially since the studio opted for a cartoonish design. Thus, nothing—or almost nothing—is to be taken seriously. The main theme is a lunar quest where the player must help a goblin cook gather ingredients. The game takes on the appearance of a Disney adaptation. Sierra probably wanted to adapt its title to a mainstream audience by creating it this way. Finally, while players expect to face Smaug as the final boss, the situation is resolved through a cutscene, and it is ultimately a random goblin in Erebor who acts as the final boss.
#2 The Lord of the Rings: War in the North
To develop its hack'n'slash, Snowblind Studios decided to break away from J.R.R. Tolkien's source material and part of its story by creating substitutes for Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, who are supposed to facilitate the quest for the Ring by fighting Sauron's troops in the Northern Kingdoms, territories rarely mentioned in the canonical work and which belong more to the extended lore. In addition, the rather repetitive hack'n'slash of the game, where you blast Orcs by the bucketload under the command of a lieutenant you never hear about in the Lord of the Rings universe.
#1 The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age
With The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, the franchise wanted to take a Japanese-style RPG turn, like Final Fantasy, but with American elements and a Western universe. A rather strange rendering on paper, which doesn't improve when you're catapulted into a group of adventurers invented for the occasion, each of whom is a cliché of an existing character. Furthermore, the group finds itself on the same quest as that of the Fellowship of the Ring, and even interacts several times with its members. This gives rise to rather comical situations where Gandalf gives advice to the group and where you have to face the Balrog in place of the heroes.
Want to continue reading? Check out the three worst Lord of the Rings games, right here.
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