The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Review for Game Boy Advance

LotR: Fellowship of the Ring Review

The entire game is so unpolished and full of bugs that it's unfathomable how it ever passed quality assurance in the first place.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring for the Game Boy Advance is based on the first book in J.R.R. Tolkien's immensely popular fantasy series. For fans of the novels, as well as for those who enjoyed the recent motion picture, this game offers the chance to wander around a digital replica of Middle-earth. But that's about all it offers. The range of interactivity is so low and the action is so infrequent that Frodo's quest to Mount Doom is reduced to nothing more than a trivial errand. What's more, the entire game is so unpolished and full of bugs that it's unfathomable how it ever passed quality assurance in the first place.

Frodo's house. Middle-earth on the GBA doesn't look like much.

In the game, you play the role of Frodo, a young hobbit given the task of protecting the One Ring from Sauron, who himself originally forged it atop Mount Doom centuries prior. A prophecy foretells that nine kindred souls will form an alliance--a fellowship--to accompany Frodo on this long journey. The game begins where the book begins, in Hobbiton, and ends where the book ends, along the banks of the Anduin. The design of Fellowship of the Ring is similar to that of most role-playing games. There are people to talk to in every village who can offer advice or give you items that will prove invaluable throughout your quest. To get some of these items, you'll have to perform favors, such as retrieving a feather for Tom Bombadil before he'll help you rescue your friends from Old Man Willow in the old forest. Over the course of your travels, you'll also encounter a wide variety of trolls, orcs, wild dogs, and other dangerous creatures. Contact with these monsters inevitably leads to battle, during which each character takes turns attacking single or multiple enemies.

Although the description sounds nice on paper, Fellowship of the Ring really isn't any fun to play. The favors you'll perform are remarkably simple but often sidetrack the game to the extent that you'd just as soon avoid them. The game's battles are even worse. They're turn-based, which isn't a bad thing, but they're incredibly slow. You actually have to wait while each character slowly walks toward his target, makes an attack, and steps back into line. At the same time, the enemy always has the privilege of first attack, which means that it can be anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute before you even have a chance to retaliate. As it is, combat is pretty basic. The only available options are to attack with a sword, throw fireworks, defend, heal, or flee.

A battle like this could last 10 minutes.

Ironically, although each battle takes forever to finish, you don't gain experience from any of them. Instead, you acquire health and skill upgrades automatically at various points throughout the story. While this is an innovative aspect, it just makes all of the time you'll spend in battle that much more frustrating.

The game's plot exposition is terribly light as well. You'll encounter all of the major characters, as well as a few peripheral ones, but none of them possess even half of the personality and dignity that they showed in the book. Barliman Butterbur, the barkeep in Bree, is reduced to nothing more than an innkeeper, rather than the knowledgeable informant who helps Frodo flee the rampaging Nazgul. The Nazgul themselves also play a somewhat diminished role. Instead of tracking the group to Bree and forcing a tense confrontation at Bruinen, they just block the road in various spots and later spring an ambush. Not once is it ever explained that these nine evil servants bear rings similar to Frodo's. You can't expect a video game to include every event and conversation from a 430-page novel, but Fellowship of the Ring doesn't even try.

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nintendoboy16

6.5
fair

It was alright for a Lord of the RIngs game, but some bugs and impossible moments kept me from enjoying it more. Continue »
Feedbackdrmmr15

5.0
mediocre

It's an interesting game, but very poorly made. Continue »

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IGN 6 / 10
Game Rankings 32 / 100
TechTV 3 / 5
Game Chronicles 6.5 / 10
Worth Playing 6.1 / 10
GameZone 5.9 / 10
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Netjak 1.5 / 10

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