Strategy games. They've been around for thousands of years. From the beginning of human civilisation to the modern day braggarts, strategy will always play apart in everyone's life. From saving money to planning a holiday, even something as basic as a night out, strategy is always used throughout our lives.
To suddenly throw this on its head, Lord of the Rings.
Sorry did you want more? The trilogy of Lord of the Rings is something I've watched numerous times. I love the series and loved some of the games that came with them. I won't go anymore further into this, as let's face it, the film is widely loved by many for many different reasons (I also can't be bothered writing out an oversized paragraph for something one person is going to read).
So you want to re-live the films, control armies, and have the chance to slightly change some of the story. This game has it. How about something you don't get to see every day? Can I play as the bad guys? This game has it. From saving Boromir or Saruman, or re-living the game scene for scene, this game never got tiring for me. The main missions are normally "Destroy all enemy camps", which might seem boring, however the way to destroy the camps is different in every encounter. You may still have to get resources, get troops and build defences, however with limits on the amount of troops and in most cases carrying over the previous troops into the next battle. Through this the challenge is constantly changing and staying fresh.
The difficulty of the game really is depicted by... Grinding. Every modern day gamers favourite word, I'm sure. It isn't grinding as Pokémon or Dragon Quest is, this is doing a few extra battles to improve the limits, so you can increase your strength.
With map building and Skirmish mode being available, this game can be easily replayed to your heart's content. Now the only gripe I have with this game is the inital battles on the good campaign where you don't get an army and you are left with only the fellowship. It only lasts for a few missions and they aren't bad, just not as good as the rest of the game play.
This isn't my favourite game of all time, however it does out shine most games. I recommend this game, and it is probably one of the games I've spent the most amount of time on.
Overall | 5 |
Gameplay | 4.5 |
Difficulty | 3.5 |
Challenge | 4.5 |
Story | 5 |
Satisfaction | 4.5 |
Content | 3.5 |
Replayability | 4.5 |
Multiplayer | 4 |
Side Quests | 2.5 |
Total | 41.5 |