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in Introduce Yourself by Cranberry Muffinman, 08-26-10 02:19 in Lord of the Rings Conquest Forums by danilo, 08-15-10 05:08| We've Played the Final Game, Read our Hands-on Preview |
| Written by ComposerRyan |
 the-lord-of...    the-lord-of...  the-lord-of... In the Beginning, There was One Ring to Rule them All... The single player campaign starts off in Helm's Deep, an appropriate setting considering its importance in the movies and the imagery it instilled into our minds. The presentation here starts off excellent, with Hugo Weaving (who played Elrond in the movies) narrating the cinematics which are taken directly from the films and adding even more of that Lord of the Rings atmosphere we all adore. When you get into actual gameplay, the campaign takes off quickly and puts you directly into battle. In Helm's Deep, you prepare for the Uraki to climb the walls as you must defend it at all costs. It's all very hectic and, once you perfect the controls, each of the four classes has its advantages. Use the warrior to take down large groups of units, the archer to take down far away objectives when nessecary, the mage to combat both ranged and melee units, and the scout to take down enemies from behind. And then there are the heroes, which all have special moves and powers. You can play as Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Gandalf, Faramir and many more just to name a few. In the single player, you are given the option to play as these heroes to combat certain, well known menaces and it all feels very epic once you are in the midst of battle.  the-lord-of...  the-lord-of...  the-lord-of... Exploring the World of Lord of the Rings The Isengard and Pelennor Fields levels are a few of our favorites we have played so far and the level design well represents the battlefields from the movies. The graphics show off the expansive environments, with unique lighting and environmental objects for each level. Helm's Deep has that deep blue glow that we all remember from The Two Towers and Mines of Moria is also a special treat, with deep ceilings and massive columns. In many ways, the single player campaign feels very much like the multiplayer portion of the game. If you've played the demo, you'll fit right in and understand its mechanics right away. This is because almost all of the maps are multiplayer maps and also share similar objective types as the multiplayer modes. For instance, you'll overtake capture points, just like in multiplayer, and move your way towards specific locations. While there are some different objectives, like overtaking trolls and escorting certain characters through danger, we would have liked to see more variety to separate the campaign from the multiplayer. While the cinematics complemented by Hugo Weaving's narration are excellent, the in-game cutscenes do not fair so well unfortunately. Not only are they poorly directed, but the narration seems like an after thought as orders are barked to you from just some soldier and the thing is you never seem to see him anywhere on the battlefield. Where is this guy at? It is like he is reading a tutorial through the whole game, as if you need guidance every step of the way. We enjoyed the experience much more with his narration off, because it just seemed to take us away from the whole Lord of the Rings atmosphere. We recommend to keep it on if you do not want to read the text objectives that pop up on the screen (you could miss something if you are not listening to his voice), but we found it better without his dialogue.  the-lord-of...  the-lord-of...  the-lord-of... One other thing we couldn't help but notice was how short each level felt. We suspect the reason for this is because these single player levels use the multiplayer map designs. Therefore, there are no checkpoints when playing a level and you must play a level through in one sitting (again, just like multiplayer). We would have liked to stay in Helm's Deep for at least an hour, retreating deeper into the core of the level, but it felt short lived unfortunately. We predict this game will attract more multiplayer gamers and those who want to play the evil campaign but, in the end, the online battles will be the jewel of LOTR: Conquest. This does not surprise us considering that Star Wars Battlefront was essentially the same way and, remember, Pandemic (the developers of LOTR: Conquest) also made the Star Wars Battlefront series. Besides, there is no better feeling than playing against human opponents online in Helm's Deep or any of the other well crafted maps. Negatives aside, there is one major plus that we must bring to your attention and that is the music, composed by Howard Shore as heard in the films. You'll hear the scores from the various locations and it all meshes very well, making it feel as if you are in the movies. This is one of our favorite parts of the game and we were very happy to see Pandemic use the music to its fullest. Multiplayer and Instant Action While the multiplayer servers are not up just yet, we did get to check out the Instant Action mode which allows you to play against AI bots. You can set settings (like game type, score point, match duration, AI difficulty, and more to name a few) and choose any map. You'll immediately notice that many of the maps are taken directly from the campaign, or the other way around, depending on how you look at it. So, we recommend you at least play the single play campaign first to prevent yourself from spoiling the game. Instant Action is a great way to learn the maps and gain an advantage before you play online. The enemies seem difficult at times, but they are no where near as smart as human opponents. Besides, if you have the ability to play against human players, you are not going to pass it up anyway, right? So, we recommend you use Instant Action if you need to learn the maps or if you do not have an Internet connection altogether. Reliving the Battles Never Felt Sweeter So far, the game is the best Lord of the Rings game to date and the focal point of this game will be in its multiplayer and the epic moments in both the good and evil single player campaigns (it's not everyday that you get to go up against Frodo, you now.) The maps offered in the multiplayer campaign are solid and the different classes will have gamers perfecting their strategies of domination. So, look forward to the game's release on Jan 13th. And don't forget to look out for our full review, which will also include details on the game's second campaign that allows you to play as the evil side of Mordor and go up against Frodo and the Fellowship. 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