A flawed, but satisfying and fun action game.
Graphics: Like the story the graphics are on par with them, its the LOTR desgins and lore that make them truly great. First the good, the animations are nice and slick, the effects, for the most part, are all pretty good, the sound effects like swords swinging and arrows flying past your face are all there, the blood effects look pretty nice and gruesome like they should and the over all design of all the characters and enemies seem very on par with the LOTR universe. What isn't so good is that the character models are not all that great, mainly because they look like plastic at times, and the faces don't look all that good. Some of the animations look pretty bad, and there are a lot of glitches in this game, everything from a little clipping, to trolls floating in the air. All in all the graphics are pretty good for the most part, but nothing amazing.
Gameplay: Now the gameplay is half and half, some things work well, other parts... Not so much. First off what works: All the hacking and slashing of waves of enemies works really well. There is a large amount of enemies to fight and hacking away at orcs is always fun. There are also some bosses thrown in, which are simple, but still fun nonetheless. There is also a huge emphasis on gathering loot (armor, weapons, treasure etc.) to buy and sell. When you get to a shop you can buy and sell items and the loot system is addicting and rewarding as you will always be looking for the best loot. In the game you will get to play as three different characters and they are all balanced very well. Eradan is best at long range with a bow, but is also a swift fighter with a sword and can preform stealth attacks. Farin is more of the tank class who is best at fighting with a big two handed axe and also has a crossbow for long range. Andreil mainly uses magic and is mainly a support character who can heal and provide protection from enemies, she can also use offensive magic and melee, though that is her worst aspect. As the game goes on you level up with a fairly decent upgrade system so all the characters feel different from one another. Like before I mentioned that you meet the great eagles, well there just not for story telling, they also kick some serious ass. If you have the right item you can summon your winged friends down from the sky as they do serious damage to your enemies. The last great aspect of this game is that you can play the entire game co-op. You can play both online and offline and this is sure to be a great time. The only bad parts are that the game can be a little too hard at times with overwhelming numbers of enemies that just don't seem to end, the combat, while fun, can also get a little stale. Lastly and probably the biggest part was that I came across a game breaking glitch, I was fighting a boss, then I died, and the boss would not reappear. Maybe it was just my rotten luck, but this just ruined the game for me and I could not continue, I had to watch the rest of the story on youtube and I only missed the last two levels. With glitches aside, the game is still a lot of fun and provides a good 15-20 hours of fun.
Over all:
Story: 7 while not truly engaging, the lore of the LOTR universe will certainly draw you in.
Graphics: 8 While nothing amazing, they capture the world of LOTR very well and are great because of it.
Gameplay: 7 I really wanted to give this section a higher score but because of that one glitch I can only give it this score, but that should not turn you away from what is a very fun game.
Enjoyment: 7.5 I love LOTR to begin with and this just made me love it even more, and I enjoyed my time playing through the game.
Final Score: 7.3 (7.5)