In Lord of the Rings: Conquest, you will be able to battle your way through two campaigns, the War of the Ring campaign (also known as the good campaign) and after you complete that, you will unlock the Rise of Sauron campaign (the evil campaign). Both of these can be played in singleplayer or offline co-op. On top of that, you get a lot of online multiplayer options. Playing together with a friend is a really fun way to blast through the game and online multiplayer has many game modes, like the original deathmatch mode and some new ones like the Conquest mode, where you have to capture various points on the map before your enemy does or the hero deathmatch, which is just like the deathmatch mode, but you play as heroes from the Lord of the Rings trilogy instead. You also get a mode called Capture the Ring, which is like CTF, but instead of capturing a flag, you have to capture the One Ring.
In the War of the Ring campaign, you play as the good guys and you get to take part in many great battles that were in the movies and books, starting at Helm's Deep and making your way right up to the fiery pits of Mount Doom. While playing through this campaign, you will get to control the armies of the Elves from Rivendell, the Rohirrim and the knights of Gondor. In every battle, you will get at least one chance to play as a hero like Gandalf, Gimli, Aragorn and many others. The War of the Ring campaign is pretty fun to play, and in some battles, you will get to control Ents, ride horses and other good stuff like that.
The Rise of Sauron campaign is a bit different from War of the Ring. Unlike the other campaign, Rise of Sauron doesn't follow what has happened in the movies, it goes in a different direction. Frodo is killed and fails to destroy the One Ring. The ring is brought back to Sauron and he assembles his armies once more to destroy what is left of Middle-Earth. In this campaign, you will get to play as the Orcs and later on, the Uruk-Hai. Instead of taking control over the Ents, you will get to smash your way through the enemies of Mordor by playing as the Trolls and the Nazgul. Just like in War of the Ring, you will get to play as more powerful characters in some missions, but instead of heroes, you play as the villains like Saruman, Lurtz, the Witch-King and later on, even the Balrog and Sauron. This campaign is a bit more fun than the good campaign because you get to see how the story would unfold if the bad guys won, battling your from Mount Doom and ending your long killing spree at the Shire.
In both campaigns and in all battles, you will have to choose from four playable classes. These classes are: the Warrior, the most powerful melee damage dealer in the game, uses a two handed sword and can throw small daggers or throwing axes. The Archer, uses a bow and has a pretty fast fire-rate. The Scout, who can throw bombs at enemies and also turn invisible to back stab them, which kills them instantly. And last but not least, the Mage, who uses fire attacks, can form a shield over him and his allies and can heal others as well as himself. There is no difference in the classes in both campaigns, only the appearance and walking animations that change. All of the classes can be pretty fun to play as and it is well thought-out because sometimes, you will feel like you should try choosing a specific class to suit a specific objective.
Combat in Lord of the Rings: Conquest is very simple, your usual hack & slash video game with some really cool attacks here and there. Many critics complain that combat in this game is button mashing, I disagree. While at times the game does force you to button mash and perform the same combos and special attacks over and over again because of the sheer amount of enemies around you, there is still some reasonable button-mash free combat gameplay left in the game. You can just go into the crowd as the warrior and mindlessly slaughter the weaker groups of enemies you can handle, which might force you to button mash. Or, you can think more tactically and choose the archer to shoot them from a wall, or the scout to turn invisible and back stab the tougher enemies, or choose the mage to form a circle of fire around them and heal your allies when they are near death.
All battles in the game are engaging with many exciting things to do, like taking down an Oliphaunt or fighting the Balrog. Most missions concentrate on capturing control points and every mission has other unique objectives, such as protecting someone, killing a specific amount of enemies, destroying a building, taking down a bigger enemy, receiving an object etc. Playing as heroes and villains is easier and much more fun than playing as normal soldiers and the good thing is that you get to play as a hero or villain at least once in every mission in both campaigns. Every important character is unique and the heroes and villains are different but focus on the same classes.
There isn't a lot of bugs in the game, but there are some, however they won't stop you from enjoying this game. Most of the battles are just like they were in the movies: epic, exciting and action-packed. Sometimes combat feels too simple and the combos and special attacks are cool but limited. Story of the good campaign is unoriginal because it concentrates on what happened in the movies, showing us nothing new and exploring the same story that every other LotR game does, but it is still very entertaining and fun to play. However, Rise of Sauron, the evil campaign, shows us what could have happened if the bad guys won, making the story a bit more interesting and the gameplay more fun because you get to play as the bad guys, unlike in most of the Lord of the Rings games. Music in Lord of the Rings: Conquest is just what you'd expect it to be, the great soundtracks from the movies, just as epic and they suit the battles perfectly, making the experience even better. The story could have been told in a much better way but gameplay is great which keeps you focused on playing and having fun. Playing with friends is really cool and it's much easier. The online multiplayer is quite fun but it won't keep you playing for long after you have finished the game. Some of the levels are just so great to play that you will find yourself lost in the game and long after you have finished both campaigns, you will want to revisit the same battles. Collecting trophies is a good way to spend time on the game after you beat the campaigns and having a friend help you out makes it even better. Heroes and villains are very rewarding to play as, especially Sauron, whose attacks knock down everyone around him.
That is why I think Lord of the Rings: Conquest deserves a 7.5/10. It sure isn't perfect and it sure could have many improvements but it's a hell of a lot of fun to play it and it definitely deserves something more than the 6.5 it got from GameSpot!
OVERALL RATING – 7.5/10 (Good)
NEW GS RATING – 7/10