Greetings, gamers and film fans alike! Do you remember any of these games? Actually, The Two Towers of one of the first 2 games I ever got for the Playstation 2, so that one should go first. Don't worry, it still makes sense chronologically!
The Two Towers
If you think about The Two Towers as a film, it doesn't have too many separate fight scenes. Yes, there's the Wargs of Isengard and Helm's Deep itself which is strecthed out into several levels. So it only made sense for EA to acquire the rights to both the Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers.
The game starts the way the first movie starts, then transitions as smoothly as ever to CGI and you begin playing as Isildur in a tutorial of sorts. After the first 2 levels, your player character choices expand to either Legolas, Aragorn, or Gimli from here on out. Each has subtle differences such as differing speed and base strength (which cannot be upgraded). New combos and equipment like stronger arrows can be purchased with XP and the end of each mission. Stronger and stronger arrows will glow different colors which I think is cool, with some even lighting enemies on fire.
This is one of the few games out there that seemlessly melds film and game. Each mission includes original scenes from the 2 films and, upon completing them, you unlock exclusive content like behind-the-scenes interviews with the voice actors! Who are the voice actors? The real actors from the films themselves! They even test out the game, with Elijah Wood (Frodo) playing the most enthusiastically. The game is not all hack-and-slash, either; certain missions involve protecting Frodo or a certain door to Helm's Deep. I don't think I need to say that there are boss fights, as well!
This is a pretty great game except for one thing: I'm not really a fan of The Two Towers as much. I'm more of a Fellowship of the Ring kind of guy. There are only a total of 4 missions from that film in the game though. I found myself often playing the beginning of this game then leaving it alone later in the second part. A few years would go by of me dreaming of a dedicated fellowship game.
The Fellowship of the Ring
This game seemed pretty promising. After all, it did say "Official Game" on the front. And the art on the back is pretty cool.
I thought the game environment was cool, at least so far. The entire Shire region felt like a big open world map with smaller zones. It is pretty expansive with much to see such as pigs, songbirds, mushrooms to collect, and many other Hobbits with some giving sidequests.
Then it gets really dark, literally. Night falls and the ring wraiths come, prowling the streets atop their high horses looking for Frodo. This part is actually quite scary! You cannot fight them at this point and must watch their movements and also use stones (like every other hobbit in every other game) to distract them. If they hear you, they will move off of their regular patrol and investigate.
This is probably one of the main parts of the game that reminds me of the film when the 4 hobbits are running at night from the black riders. Other than that the game feels sort of unfamiliar. All the familiar characters we meet look and sound different. This is definitely not the same experience as with the previous game.
I met a character named Tom Bombadil. That was the dead giveaway that this game was more based off the book rather than the film. However, it did come out in 2002, one year after the first film. So they still tried to emulate it and capitalize off of the hype.
For a long time I had quit the game. I had gotten stuck in the Barrow-downs where there are Barrow Wights. Yes, Tom Bombadil did nothing as my hobbit companions were kidnapped and I had to fight angry ghosts with nothing but a walking stick. The back of the game box is actually misleading because it shows the hobbits in the old forest but with short swords already! This is actually impossible because you don't get those until after your party has regrouped upon defeating the main Barrow Wight Boss. For ages I thought I was doing something wrong and that's why I couldn't defeat him. Eventually, I would go back to the game
and figure out what do and get 'saved' by Tom. This finally opened up the rest of the game to me.
Later, you unlock Aragorn and then Gandalf which is very cool. Finally a game where you get to cast spells as the wizard! And, just like in the books, his sword glows with pale light in the presence of orc-kind! After that, you alternate between the 3 for certain parts of the story. One thing I thought was frustrating that bosses had no health bar. I guess you could argue that it makes it more real/immersive(?) but for me it just made it scary and stressful and probably contributed to something I have that I like to call VGFA or Video Game Failure Anxiety.
At this point, I would go on to mention The Return of the King game, however, I cannot find my copy of it and so cannot provide pictures from the box or book as I have already been doing so. This sort of represents my experience with the game anyway. I have never beaten it and we (sister and I) don't know all the ins and outs of that game. All I know is what I remember from a moment reading this really thick strategy book about the game in the store once. What's interesting about that game is that there is also co-op available. Though I have never tried it, I would really like to.
Although this game came out later, the graphics during cutscenes did not seem to improve. For one thing, their mouths would not move during speech! And I specifically remember it being being glitchy in "the way is shut" scene before the Paths of the Dead (a level which took me a long time to beat).
Apparently that is the actual song for the official trailer. I just think of memes when I hear this song now. This is another game in which you can play as Gandalf, this time in his white form. He's actually not as cool even though he's supposed to be more powerful. He just plays like a standard character with sword and ranged 'magic' attack that requires projectile ammunition.
Overall, still a fun game and one I will definitely return to, should I ever find my copy. And with that I covered all 3 games/movies. My favorite was the fellowship RPG approach, however, the EA Games and New Line Cinema collaboration was well executed, I will say that. If you have a Playstation 2 in your collection, I recommend acquiring these games!