REVIEW: The Lord of the Rings: Conquest

Hayden Meikle reviews the new Lord of the Rings game for the Xbox 360.

The Lord of the Rings: Conquest
Electronic Arts
Xbox 360
Three stars (out of four)

Based on the movies or the book?: The three Peter Jackson movies (the first of which is nearly 10 years old).

A bit like: Star Wars Battlefront, which was developed by the same studio that came up with with Conquest.

The idea: Fight - for the good or evil sides - in a series of battles across Middle-earth.

Characters: Pretty much everyone from the films. You can also jump on an Oliphaunt, control and Ent and have some fun with a Balrog.

The battles: Helm's Deep, Isengard, all the biggies.

Multiplayer modes: Deathmatch, Capture the Ring, Conquest.

Graphics: Lovely - just like something out of the films. Brilliant character models and immersive environments.

Soundtrack: Music good, sound effects fine, voice acting a bit lame.

Gameplay: Not as smooth as other LOTR games. Copious amounts of button mashing.

My precious or the Dark Lord Sauron: Somewhere in between. Sort of Boromir meets Samwise Gamgee.

Entertaining but not good enough to hold your attention for a long time.