It would be hard to argue that there was a more definitive body of fantasy than J.R.R. Tolkien's most notable work, The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King have been read and reread by countless millions of fans over the years, yet only until the recent motion pictures have the stories contained within these books been at the forefront of mainstream media. While Electronic Arts will be developing games based on the motion picture license, Vivendi Universal will be publishing a handful of games based on the literary license obtained from Tolkien Enterprises. Set in the fantasy realm of Middle-earth, these tales describe a world inhabited by diminutive hobbit heroes, mysterious wizards, and malevolent forces of evil--all vying for control over The One Ring. In fact, the entire development process behind Universal's Lord of The Rings games has tried to adhere to Tolkien lore. Thus, The Fellowship of The Ring game will include characters and situations that weren't touched on in the film, such as Tom Bombadil and the fight with Old Man Willow.

As Gandalf, you'll travel across many of Middle-earth's memorable locations like the Shire and the mines of Moria.

The Xbox version of The Fellowship of the Ring, developed by Seattle-based WXP, is an action adventure game, wherein you will proceed through all of the major events of the first book in the trilogy. The focus in this particular game is on the adventure half of the action-adventure combination, with large explorable areas and a huge array of different quests and missions to undertake during this first adventure. While there will be plenty of opportunities for conflict, the emphasis isn't on combat in this first game--The Fellowship of the Ring can be described as a travelogue of sorts, in which the characters from the series are whisked across different environments and thrown into various situations. You can expect the game to begin faithfully with the escape from the dark riders in the Shire, leading to the formation of the Fellowship in Rivendell, the trek through the mines of Moria, and beyond.

Not only have the landscapes and battles of Tolkien's epic been kept intact, but the game's dialogue and characters have also been re-created in such a way as to adhere to the original works quite closely. Voice actors will be relaying the nearly 5000 lines of dialogue (in five different languages), immersing you in the storyline through frequent in-game cutscene conversations. During these sequences, which often take place at a campsite or other resting point, you can choose to proceed with the active portion of your journey, or you can take the time to become familiar with each of the characters through conversation.

When characters aren't chatting about their impending doom, they will be quite busy dealing with the physical threats that will be encountered throughout the game. All of the notable mythical creatures from the trilogy are well represented, from the orcs and wargs to the ringwraiths themselves--the nine human kings who were corrupted by the nine rings of power. To defend yourself, you will be able to lock onto enemies as you move about in the third-person perspective, from which you can launch attacks. You can also shift to a first-person perspective for ranged attacks, which allows for greater accuracy. While locked on to an enemy, characters can sidestep and strafe, remaining quite mobile while still keeping the enemy onscreen. A target indicator underneath the current character's health bar tells you whether or not the enemy is at full health or near death. Finishing off an enemy will likely be as simple as pulling off a chain combination, although special attacks vary from character to character.

The combat system makes melee and ranged combat easy to execute.

When not engaged in battles, you will be able to take in the sights of Middle-earth firsthand. There will be eight major areas and regions to explore in Fellowship, with the levels laid out in the same sequence as the chapters in the novels. The preview version of the game we saw had all of the major areas intact, including the Shire, the Old Forest, the Barrow Downs, Bree, and Weathertop. Some of the areas will have a small number of sublevels, while other environments will be much more involved. Moria alone, for example, with its entrance, labyrinth, and Balin's tomb, accounts for approximately 40 percent of the entire game.

Each of the environments has its own distinct visual style and is easily distinguished from the rest. The Shire was a colorful-looking area, marked by rolling hills, orchards of fruit-bearing trees, and all the trappings of a peaceful rustic community. There was plenty to explore, with trees to climb, wild dogs to avoid, and fireworks to set off. The Mines of Moria were created with particular attention to detail--since Tolkien made a point of mentioning that the characters counted 200 steps at the entrance, the developers saw fit to actually model all 200 of them. Each of the areas was made visually enticing, thanks to plenty of realistic real-time shadows and multiple-source lighting effects.