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A Tolkien zealot's opinion...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 19 / 20
Date: November 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Let me begin this review by proclaiming proudly that I am at once an avid gamer, and a J.R.R. Tolkien fanatic. I was instantly skeptical about a game based upon Tolkien's works, as all past offerings have been lackluster and unworthy of their source materials. Still, video games couldn't be more vastly different from novels, so I knew that to make a game of a novel, liberties would have to be taken to some extent in favor of the gameplay. My greatest fear was that too many liberties would be taken, and I would loathe "The Fellowship of the Ring." Still, as a gamer and Tolkien fan, I decided to give it a chance - and I'm glad I did, despite the game's shortcomings.

The game's strengths...
· Beautiful graphics faithfully adapt the characters and locations of the books. What's more, the game offers an alternative vision of the story and the characters therein, and, if done well, that is always a welcome thing. Peter Jackson's interpretation isn't the only one, and the fact that this game isn't based upon the movies shouldn't dissuade you from being interested if you're a fan of the books.
· Mostly splendid voice-acting, cut scenes, and dialogue - much of which is from or inspired very much by the source material.
· "Mission" objectives are pretty fresh, interesting, and usually in keeping with the events of the book. For instance, at one point you must guard Gandalf from the Watcher in the Water as he struggles to unlock the gates of Moria. Awesome.
· Friendly AI is excellent. For example, orcish archers in Moria will be computer-controlled Gimli's first target. This sort of threat assessment keeps things feeling very much alive. On top of that, it's great fun to have backup that actually backs you up when you're in trouble.
· Battles are well-animated and should excite spectators who just happen to be looking on as you play.
· The game lets you take control of Frodo, Aragorn, and Gandalf as the story progresses, and each of them play differently from one another.

The game's weaknesses...
· First and foremost, this game is for fans of the books. If you don't fall into this category, this game probably isn't for you. Many of the game's reviews state as much, but bash the game unfairly for this fact. There are millions upon millions of Tolkien readers, and THEY will appreciate this attention to detail. Therefore, this is only a flaw depending upon how you look at it. So, if you're an avid gamer and a Tolkien fan, this comes highly recommended - I don't care what the Gamespot reviewers say.
· While it is so true to the novel that it sometimes embraces faithfulness over gameplay, there are moments where the game's designers take unnecessary liberties (but, hey, the same is true of the films, right?). For example, you battle orcs on your way to Weathertop in one of the game's nods toward action - and believe me, some action is welcome by this point. However, in a few moments, you'll be in Moria, and goodness knows there are plenty of orcs to slay there. Why did the designers jump the gun? There's no good reason. There are a few unwelcome moments like these, but by and large the game is very respectful of its roots.
· For those who are not avid fans of "The Lord of the Rings," and even for those Tolkien fans seeking instant gratification, this game will be a bit slow-going. You will often find yourself watching long movie segments followed by short missions. This allows the game to be true to the books, but gives you a feeling of lesser interaction, and it is especially problematic given the game's length - but I'll get to that in a moment.
· While the game often gives you the impression that you are a member of the Fellowship, sometimes it drops the ball. While playing through Moria was fun, it could have been so much more had the designers put the eight remaining members of the Fellowship at your back. I know the game has the capabilities to handle friendly AI in decent numbers, but for some reason, Gimli, and Gimli alone, is your sole support (until a puzzle at the end of the segment). I can only imagine that Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippen, Aragorn, Legolas, and Boromir were removed from the equation because, together, they would kick too much orcish arse and, as a result, make this portion of the game too easy. However, this problem could have been corrected by throwing more bloodthirsty orcs into the fray. Chaotic, story-driven action would ensue, and it could have been the highlight of the experience. As it is, you are just supposed to pretend that the Fellowship is there, since they show up in the cut-scenes only to mysteriously vanish when the gameplay resumes. Come on, guys - I know the difference between 9 and 2.

So, you might be wondering how this game stacks up against its most predominant competition, the movie-licensed "The Two Towers." In my own humble opinion, it's a better game. It's less linear than its counterpart, and the gameplay doesn't become nearly as repetitive. On top of that, "The Fellowship of the Ring" takes far fewer liberties than "The Two Towers."

On the other hand, "The Two Towers" employs more gameplay and less watching and waiting. "The Two Towers" also has more replay value, and will likely appeal to a wider audience with its non-stop action (not to mention the movie's impressive production values). Both games suffer from the worst plague of all, though, for both "The Two Towers" and "The Fellowship of the Ring" are short, short games. The two combined might equal one good game's content, and both lose serious points for this. On top of that, neither has much of an ending to make it feel as though your valiant efforts have paid off.

Still, when the smoke has cleared, I think the "The Fellowship of the Ring," clearly the underdog of the bunch, wins the war, if only by a hair. Note that I am speaking as a Tolkien fan first and foremost, however - and I like both offerings despite their many failings. So, you Tolkien readers/gamers out there, give this underrated adaptation a try. It's clearly not for everybody, but in the right hands, it can work magic.

Final Grade (as a Tolkien fan): B+
Final Grade (as a layman): C

Awesome, once you get past the beginning

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 16
Date: October 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

A great addition to the fantasy world! The story is amazing--if you have read the book, it stays true, while if you have only seen the film, you are in for a pleasant surprise (wait until the Barrow Downs). Somwehat awkward in combat, since the camera doesn't follow you always and much of the movement is based on turning the camera... but easy to get accustomed to. The initial board, where Frodo must sneak past the Dark Riders is...tedious at best. Far too difficult, until you get a handle on it, than it should be. Must have saved and loaded a hundred times without exaggeration. A clear flaw. BUT once past, the game picks up speed and becomes an amazing adventure. Just enough NPC interraction and character switching to make it interesting. The switch from Frodo to Aragorn is welcome and signals the beginning of the action part of the game. Five stars overall, despite the (small) shortcomings, a fabulous game.

Very Disappointing

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 18 / 23
Date: October 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This may not be the worst game of the year for the PS2, but it is certainly one of the most disappointing. Let's cut right to the chase, because I only have 1,000 words to describe how bad it is.
Short. Really short! The movie was almost longer (almost).I didn't use a stopwatch, but I would estimate I beat it in about 6 hours. The levels were all very small and fragmented, so there wasn't a very good flow to the game. The only thing long about this game was the loading times.
Easy. Easiest game I've ever played. I probably used the block button about 10 times. Didn't need to. There was an incredible amount of health, unlimited projectile weapons, few enemies, & portions of the fellowship would help you. Sometimes you didn't even have to attack the enemy, you could just run away and let Gimli wipe out the orcs for you. I only used the ring on Frodo once (to become invisible) just to try it out. Didn't need it. There was one mind numbingly hard part though. Sneaking past the Dark Riders in the Shire took me nearly 50 trys. The puzzles were little more than wandering around these very small levels to collect various easily found shimmering objects. Boring.
Hard to control. Frodo was especially hard to control. He could sneak, walk, or run (pressure sensitive). But I'll be danged if I could get him to walk more than 2 steps before he would start running, or sneaking. It was hard to get him to jump on things to. Not impossible, just harder than it needed to be. Aaragorn & Gandalf were much easier. The combat system was fairly easy to control because it consisted of mainly mashing the square button.
Other qualms. Gandalf's spells were kind of weak. The BOSS characters didn't really require any special techniques to defeat. No real sense of taking a journey, like the book or movie conveys.
Things I liked. The music was pretty good I thought. The graphics were decent. I also thought it was neat when I realized the fellowship could help you in battle, until I realized the battles would never get any harder.
I am a huge fan of the book and the movie, and no matter what the reviews, there was nothing going to stop me from getting this game; but I am also a fan of good video games, so I don't understand how anyone is giving The Fellowship of the Ring 5 stars. They must be from the Black Label production crew's mothers. If you just can't get enough LOTR, then go ahead and get it, but if you just want a really great fantasy action/adventure game, try Drakan.

Nothing as it seems

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 13 / 15
Date: November 13, 2002
Author: Amazon User

With the looming release of the blockbuster in the making next installment of the Lord of the Rings film series, it was inevitable that the license would be delved into video games. The recent wave of LOTR licensed games have ranged from great (LOTR: The Two Towers for PS2) to godawful (LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring for GameBoy Advance), and here we have The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring for the PS2. Contrary to what you might think, this game has more to do with Tolkien's first installment of the books than it has to do with the film. You can control Frodo, Aragorn, and Gandalf at different parts in the game; each of which has similar regular abilities and some special exclusive ones as well. Graphicly speaking the game is half decent, as is the sound, but the control is so frustrating and the camera angles are outrageously bad. Half the time you'll get killed just because the camera angle wouldn't let you see the enemies right. Not to mention that once you strip away the Lord of the Rings license you'll find that the game is really a simple hack & slasher with a hot license attached to it, and nothing more. All in all, even hardcore fans of the Lord of the Rings will find something to be disappointed about with this. My recommendation is to skip this and pick up Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers for the PS2 for some real fun.

Much better than reviews describe.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 14 / 18
Date: October 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I almost didn't get this game due to the reviews I've been reading but I took a chance because I loved the book and wanted to see the Tom Bombadillo (sp?) character & others left out of the movie.
(To the reviewer who said the lines from this game are the same as the lines from the movie, .... Most of the memorable lines from the movie are the same lines from the book, that the game follows.)
Unlike some reviews I've read, there are no game lockups or freeze type glitches and the loading time isn't that bad, if you got used to playstation 1 Madden football loading times, you'll get used to these.
The game has very good graphics and yeah, the camera angles are confusing during fight scenes but you can easily control the camera yourself which doesn't take away from the playability.
The first major task of hiding from the nazgul was hard at first, until you learn how to distract them by throwing rocks. Everything else is smooth and the game is very fun.
Oh yeah, almost forgot. If you're lucky enough to pull the Gandalf or Aragorn collector cards from the game, save them, I heard they're very rare (I got Sam, oh well).

Stunning graphics and combat

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 13
Date: October 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I was so excited when I played this game, it has a very smooth and easy to control combat system. The context-sensitive attacks are really fun to pull off. Frodo starts out a bit slow, but then Aragorn and Gandalf are really good, and the game really REALLY picks up from there! Later I realized that Frodo's gameplay consists more of stealth and sneaking around. You can use his rocks to distract enemies it's really fun. The lighting and details are above average for the PS2, definitely.

Great Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 14
Date: October 05, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game is fun. The characters are some of the best I have seen on the PS2 and combat is very fun. It kind of reminds me of Ominusha meets Maximo.

The story is fairly well told. The last too levels of the game are great. You get to play with Gimli, Legolas and Boromir. The trolls are really cool!

Buy this game if you like fun action/adventure in a Tolkien world.

OK... and??

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: October 29, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I was excited to see this game come out, and even more so when I heard it followed the book more than the movie. I was a fan of the books long before the movies came out. Props to Surreal for throwing in the Barrow Wights and Tom Bombadil. BUT, that was all that earned this one any stars. If you really are a hard-core Tolkien buff, you may want it, but not as a challenging game. Even strays from the story QUITE a bit in some places (i.e., the ending). Final ending was short and corny.

I'll admit it was fun, but WAAAYYY too easy. After I got past Lorien in 4 hours, I thought I might slow down. Entire game beaten in under 5 hours - and I was taking time to enjoy it.

Getting past the ringwraiths in the beginning was tricky, but easily done after you see the patterns. Fighting never got harder after the first enemy. My biggest complaint is that it seems as though they may have rushed it to get it released before EA's Two Towers. There were only one or two cut-scenes that were high-quality animation, and those stuck out as unusual because the rest of the cut-scenes were of the same polygon animation style as the gameplay. Gameplay was way too easy - hardly every had to use Gandalf's spells except with the Balrog. And just as you thought it was going to get to a tough part of the story, like crossing Caradhas (sp), a cut-scene would pop up with Gandalf just narrating, "So after a failed attempt of crossing Caradhas, we entered the mines of Moria."

Not very good as an RPG, should have had choice over which character you wanted to use when, would have liked to have seen (or even have control over) the whole fellowship at once, way too easy, and WAY too short. They ought to have just waited and make one long game of the whole trilogy. But, the fan that I am, I will probably go out and get EA's Two Towers soon. I hear it's much better, and covers the important parts of FOTR anyway.

Thank God for Tom

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: May 08, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Jackson's movie was great, but he had to take liberties to squeeze it in under 3 hours. The game publisher for Fellowship had to do a little of the same, but this game follows the book much closer.

This game is superb on all levels. The graphics are great (on all the consels), the music is top notch and the game play is very easy. The only knock I have is the voice acting was little dry, if not funny at some moments.

If you read the book, then you know what happens. But in the game, you can die, thus ending the quest. You get to play as three characters (Frodo, Aragorn and Gandalf) at different times during the game. Each character has their own abilities which can be used to your advantage during the game. Frodo is good at rock throwing and stealth, Aragorn with the sword and Gandalf, obviously with magic.

The best part about this game is what some complained about. That it was light on the action. But if you like games that are well balanced with action, tasks (quests) and puzzle solving then Fellowship is perfect. There isn't too much or too little of any.

What I really liked was when fighting you had to think. You can't just rush in and start killing your foes. You have think about your approach, use cover to avoid arrows and in some cases you can even make your enemys work for you. Mixing it up with Trolls and Orcs was great, because lurring the Orcs near a Troll would cause some of the Orcs to get in the way of Trolls club and die. There is a real combat strategy to killing Trolls too. rushing in and fighting one means certain death.

The game is well balanced, very enjoyable and a great break from some of the other games out there right now.

For the Tolkien Fans - Should You Buy This Game...?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: October 23, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I have only spent some 24 hours with this remarkable game, and already I am deeply impressed. I am not writing a full review just now so much as I'm giving some first impressions of the gaming experience.

I am a Tolkien zealot, let me mention this immediately. I'm the guy who loves the movie but says "That's not how it happened in the books..." every 10 seconds. My diehard fanboy status cannot be questioned. However, I'm also an avid gamer. When I heard The Lord of the Rings was getting a video game treatment (or two, rather), I was initially cynical. Yet, in the end, my curiosity overcame me, and I picked up the PS2 version of this game and gave it a go. I was IMMEDIATELY impressed with the opening sequence. "Wow," I thought, "maybe this won't be so bad after all." That is a bit of an understatement.

My first trek through Bag End and Hobbiton was a splendid experience. I was IN my favorite book, after a fashion. Playing on, things only got better. Hiding from a Black Rider in a rotten log on the side of a road should be one of the highlights in gaming this year. The light-swallowing Nazgul knows you are near, and silently seeks for you, and all you can hear are the nighbirds in the distance. Then, you throw a rock to distract the Rider, and take off on foot as fast as your hairy feet can carry you. Bravo! This moment alone was worth the price of admission, I kid you not.

However, if you're such a purist that you can't stand the thought of giant spiders in the Old Forest, or wargs roaming the Shire before Frodo begins his journey, then you had probably better not buy this game. I pity you, though. I AM a purist, and I am in love with this playable adaptation of my beloved classic. I may cringe at the OCCASIONAL inaccuracy, but it's not near enough to keep me away.

So, as a Tolkien zealot, is this game for you? I'd say yes. Definitely. Oh yeah. This is pretty much as faithful to the books as a game can be... I love it.

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