Pandemic initiates LOTR: Conquest

EA-owned studio's Peter Jackson film-inspired action title coming to 360, PS3, PC, DS this fall.

As part of an investor meeting in February, publishing giant Electronic Arts let slip, and Pandemic Studios quickly confirmed, that its freshly acquired developer was at work on a new game based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings novels. However, aside from revealing that the new LOTR was set in the same universe as Peter Jackson's much-acclaimed film adaptations, Pandemic was only willing to say that more details would arrive "in the very near future."

Fell beasts represent.

That future date is today, as EA said that Pandemic's The Lord of the Rings: Conquest will arrive for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, and Nintendo DS this fall. In a marked distinction from EA's previous movie-based LOTR games from the early 2000s, Pandemic's take on the series promises to give players control of both sides of the conflict, fighting for either the alliance of men, elves, and dwarves or Sauron's evil legions.

Gameplay details were sparse in today's announcement, but the game sounds reminiscent of Pandemic's Star Wars: Battlefront series. Conquest is an action title that gives players control over battlefields of substantial size. Players will be able to handle a variety of characters, with EA calling out Oliphaunts, the Balrog, and Sauron himself as units in the forces of evil.

Adding a shade more color to what gameplay will entail, Pandemic general manager Josh Resnick said, "Our experience creating massive, rich, action-packed games means that The Lord of the Rings: Conquest will give fans exactly what they want: full control of the blade, bow, and magic to fight its epic battles any way they want--even if they choose to play from the evil side."

The Lord of the Rings: Conquest is the third project in development at Pandemic Studios, and more information on the game is available on the just-launched Web site for the game. The EA-owned developer plans to release Mercenaries 2: World in Flames for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on August 31, with Pandemic saying last April that Saboteur is expected for release on the same platforms this year.

114 Comments

  • assassincreed11

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 4:01 pm PT

    Oh and btw, i cant wait for LOTR conquest

  • assassincreed11

    Posted Dec 10, 2008 4:00 pm PT

    aceball69 I completely agree with you about the RPG thing. I was thinking of emailing EA or Pandemic or even another game maker to see if they would pursue something such as a LOTR RPG. Not like LOTR Online, but more like an Oblivion style game. The main quest could obviously be the War of the Ring, but if they made it completely free roam and had other quests it would be amazing.
    Anyone know how to contact a game company to give them ideas?

  • Indian23

    Posted Oct 24, 2008 7:55 am PT

    Good gameplay.This game is good

  • Cam1992

    Posted Jul 21, 2008 6:04 pm PT

    drugsrgood06-
    It's understandable that you misunderstood randy's post. after all, it was a near impenetrable fog of misspellings and utterly confusing references. He seemed, if I understood it correctly, to believe the game would be good and merely offered his long-winded suggestions to how the game could be perfected.

  • drugsrgood06

    Posted Jul 15, 2008 2:59 pm PT

    randy you are dumb you write the dumbest messages. grow up. and this game is gunna be awesome. i feel sorry for you guys who are wondering if it is gunna be good. and the people that buy it as soon as it comes out and are already enjoying the great things this game has to offer.

  • sMeAgOl_VaDeR

    Posted Jul 15, 2008 5:27 am PT

    can't freakin wait!

  • Strider_91

    Posted Jul 11, 2008 1:21 am PT

    So excited about this lol. Love lord of the rings and this sounds amazing. Been waiting on this since return of the king.
    BRING IT ON

  • grungehead1991

    Posted Jul 10, 2008 8:55 pm PT

    this seems cool and all, but how bout a battlefront 3?

  • clone11

    Posted Jul 5, 2008 7:48 pm PT

    Sounds like it will be some good fun. Hope it doesn't get old like battlefront always does. Probably will though. Oh well still looks fun.

  • randy7028

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 11:37 pm PT

    Yeah I agree I would very much like to eat some man-flesh as "King_loei" said haha but I rllllly hope they make the models have a ragdoll realism effect to them like oblivion has just not too rag-dolly it would b awesome to beat on a gondorian soldier after he suffered a long awaited death by your sword and see his body getting thwaped and blood spurts out then have a rohan rider come by and slash u right in the face with his axe like gimli did to that one orc when they were fightin right after they got off the boat lmao, but other than that i just hope they have a kick ass lotr feel to the game and lots of sword swinging action it would b pretty kool to shoot an orc with a bow and have it grunt or something in pain and go in regrets all out to try to kill u lol. orrrrr have to shoot a bloodthirsty warg-rider of its mount then have the ravaging beast try or at least do away with haveing its way with u. and i HOPE TO GOD the whole kill-die trigger things arent alll i shoot u, u fall and die in a rllllly gay way like in battlefront 1 & 2 i hated that have so enthusiasm to the dieing but not to much and have like if a warg kills u not slash u to death and maybe pounce and try to eat ur face leading u to a repeatedly button pushing scenario to get out of deaths grip. srry for the long message lol just had to vent my feelings for the game and what should happen ot make it better. and ibet theres a couple other of u guys who think it should b like this.

  • aceball69

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 10:50 am PT

    this game looks pretty awesome... but TLOTR needs to make an RPG or something similar. this Battlefront style of play just gets old and i think the LOTR genre could be so much more with a little imagination and time.

  • i_am_dummy

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 9:56 am PT

    This game looks cool, but I just hope they make another Battlefront game.

  • king_loei

    Posted Jun 16, 2008 7:19 pm PT

    This looks really cool. I always hoped they'd come out with a game like this, ever since my love-affair with LOTR: Return of the king. Mind you, that was BEFORE my marriage with CoD 4. We are now a happy couple. Just me and all that Cpt. Price. Lol. That's actually pretty creepy...

  • barJerubsheol

    Posted Jun 14, 2008 12:20 pm PT

    I'm sorry I won't be getting it. I can't fund a company that initiates hostile takeovers of the competition. But I like the idea, and I liked Pandemic.

    Maybe i'll trade for it or get it used.

  • bfme2j26

    Posted Jun 4, 2008 9:53 am PT

    actually i hope it is a FPS.... first person swordsman anyway lol

  • Gaming_Cyborg

    Posted May 30, 2008 1:52 pm PT

    This game is a step in the right direction towards adding diversity to the list of games for the Xbox 360. Good to see there is a new title that isn't some goofed up halo ripoff. Anyway, this looks awesome! I loved the battlefront series!!

  • jesus2me

    Posted May 21, 2008 5:55 am PT

    This looks awsome!!!! I thing a Lotr version of battlefront would be one of the coolest games ever!!

  • bojan_sokol

    Posted May 20, 2008 7:34 am PT

    they better not make a FPS from this one lol

  • king_loei

    Posted May 19, 2008 10:01 am PT

    COOL! I loved Return of the king (on GBA and PC), and ever since then, I've just really wanted to cut up some humans from the orc perspective, c'mon, I mean seriously, who doesn't want to eat some man-flesh? This looks cool.

  • tmacfan532

    Posted May 18, 2008 2:13 pm PT

    its actually not an rts, its going to be more of a class type game like battlefront and battlefield

  • xFullSurfacex

    Posted May 18, 2008 12:37 am PT

    I've never played battlefront, but im very use to battle for middle earth series. Now how would you control the tides of the wars is there any unit controls?

  • monkeytoes61

    Posted May 15, 2008 8:46 pm PT

    Sounds ok, but I will stick to my beloved Return of the King on Xbox.

  • Shishio817

    Posted May 14, 2008 3:48 pm PT

    If it's like Battlefront 1 then it'll be totally awesome.

  • Davideko

    Posted May 13, 2008 7:59 pm PT

    DAaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmm! I want the game! but I want Left 4 Dead too.. Which one to pick? ): (BOTH! ) First this then L4D in Steam(.com)

  • Trooperdx3117

    Posted May 13, 2008 4:14 am PT

    This game could be interesting, I might look out for this one.

  • gs_gear

    Posted May 11, 2008 12:12 pm PT

    One game to rule them all.

  • Peaches1347

    Posted May 10, 2008 4:35 pm PT

    nice i loved battlefronts

  • Gigas_Yuu

    Posted May 9, 2008 5:18 pm PT

    They really better make sure the lag in this game is miniscule to non-existant. Playing Star Wars battlefront online even with 69 ping was abhorable. I would have to lead my lasers so much because the fighter I was tracking would be teleporting across the screen (not hacking)

    Please don't drop the ball on this, Pandemic

  • staring_death

    Posted May 9, 2008 2:47 pm PT

    wow !
    bring it on baby,
    i`m a great LOR fan and battlefront,
    this is like my most favored meets another most favored!
    this is awsome,

  • Campbell42

    Posted May 9, 2008 1:07 pm PT

    Looks very promising, and has got me in the mood to watch the films again! Win win situation!

  • Sydwynder

    Posted May 9, 2008 11:12 am PT

    Looks good, man those boys and girls at Pandemic must be busy working on all those games......

  • tunasandwich395

    Posted May 9, 2008 10:53 am PT

    I think it sounds awesome!

  • davor89

    Posted May 9, 2008 10:06 am PT

    Just the game I have been waiting for

  • thesovvolf

    Posted May 9, 2008 5:11 am PT

    This sounds pritty good i liked the whole battlefront idea and about the souron unit thing. it thing it will be more of an hero unit or a one of on a certain battle. ive thought up of this game before when playing battlefront wondering if they'd ever bring a lord of the rings version and so they have should be good and i hope you can play lurtz coz he's the ultimate bad arse.

  • KittySung

    Posted May 9, 2008 3:35 am PT

    @Vasot

    "The Lord of the Rings: Conquest will arrive for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, and Nintendo DS this fall."

  • Vasot

    Posted May 9, 2008 3:28 am PT

    God damn it !!
    Why the hell this game is not for the PC ??

  • rumtumtugger

    Posted May 9, 2008 3:20 am PT

    "GO EA!! BURY ACTIBLIZZ!!!!!"

    GO Blizzard! BURY EA! (don't care about activison) .

  • pepsiboy987

    Posted May 9, 2008 1:20 am PT

    NIcE...

  • generalvonngene posted May 8, 2008 11:42 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    generalvonngene

    Posted May 8, 2008 11:42 pm PT (hide)

    GO EA!! BURY ACTIBLIZZ!!!!!

  • realistgamer

    Posted May 8, 2008 11:40 pm PT

    looks intersting, pandemic is a good dev.

  • sridanu

    Posted May 8, 2008 11:18 pm PT

    If this is going to be any thing like the STAR WARS battlefront series then it better be similar to Battlefront 1 and not Battlefront 2.

  • Citan76

    Posted May 8, 2008 10:19 pm PT

    Sauron as a unit? That's a little silly.

  • leke

    Posted May 8, 2008 9:58 pm PT

    Hopefully it comes out sooner than later.

  • xerxes5678

    Posted May 8, 2008 9:24 pm PT

    Lord of the Rings: Battlefront?

    SIGN ME UP!!!

  • TigerGuy06

    Posted May 8, 2008 8:47 pm PT

    Hopefully a LotR game worthy to bear the name. This sounds promising.
    *Crosses fingers*

  • noclue_27

    Posted May 8, 2008 6:37 pm PT

    I just rewatched the LOTR movies a while ago.. I was looking for a good LOTR movie themed game to play, this looks awesome.

  • Krusnikzero2

    Posted May 8, 2008 6:31 pm PT

    cool

  • ToxicMold

    Posted May 8, 2008 6:02 pm PT

    This is the new #1 game on my waiting list!

  • youdhee

    Posted May 8, 2008 5:47 pm PT

    They should do it...cause people will buy it

  • BoogieManZero

    Posted May 8, 2008 5:44 pm PT

    OMG! I totally called it! I remember way back when this deal was made I said they should make a LOTR Battlefront. Great idea, I for one, can't wait to play this.

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