The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: Amazon.ca: Computer and Video Games

Product Details

Product Description

From Amazon.com

For even the mildest fans, anything related to this beloved book deserves top-notch treatment. Vivendi's officially authorized The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring falls disappointingly short of that goal. The game is intriguing enough (credit the source material) to play through entirely--once. For the cost of the game, you are guaranteed a reasonably pleasurable 10 hours of gameplay. After that, it will likely sit on your shelf.

There are good things in this game: the RPG mechanics are fine (at various points in the story you play as Frodo, Aragorn, and Gandalf), the visuals are beautiful in parts, and certain aspects of game design are fantastic (Gandalf's magic-casting stands out). Little touches make it appealing to true fans, like when Aragorn receives the repaired Sword of Elendil, and it glows during fighting. It would be a great game for even non-LOTR fans to play, since a good deal of backstory is provided in lengthy cinematics throughout the game. Fellowship's greatest asset, of course, is the story itself, as well as the bevy of villainous creatures that provide great boss-fight material. I'm sure many other games wished they had a Balrog to offer.

But the story deviates strangely from the book in order to satisfy the format of an RPG game. The final boss-fight (which we won't spoil here) is completely unrelated to anything devised by J.R.R. Tolkien, and it seems hollow, strange, and unsatisfying. The puzzles sprinkled throughout the game are random and often frustrating, as is your first encounter with the Ringwraiths (inevitably, you die many times--too steep a difficulty curve right out of the gate). This game is still strongly recommended, but with many caveats. Proceed with caution and you're likely to enjoy yourself. Expect a masterpiece and you'll be wishing you saved your money for a different PS2 title. --Jennifer Buckendorff

Pros:

Great story and great characters (of course)
Missions that require problem-solving as well as combat
Gorgeous maps
Getting to play as Gandalf

Cons:

Painfully long cutaway scenes
Cheesy ending
Often-tedious fights

Amazon.com Preview

Thanks to the wonderful magic that lawyers weave, there are actually two games licenses for The Lord of the Rings, one based on the original books and the other on the films. The Fellowship of the Ring is the first of the former, which strangely doesn’t have a direct counterpart from the latter. Just to add a final nail of complexity to the coffin of confusion, because the movie did such a good job of visualizing the book, all the games have ended up looking very similar. At the end of the day, though, it means Tolkien fans have two games to look forward to this Christmas.

Although it may look similar, The Fellowship of the Ring appears to be a much deeper role-playing game style affair than its rival. Taking control of either Frodo, Gandalf the Grey, or Aragorn, you get to hunt some orc with the best of them, but you also get to delve deeper into the detail of the book, embarking on subquests and meeting with characters that the movie didn’t have time for, such as Tom Bombadil and Glorfindel. It’s rare that a game trying to do so many things at the same time gets them all right, but the mixture of fighting, talking, and puzzle solving here makes this the definitive Tolkien game for real fans, and may even end up teaching the films a thing or two about adapting such a well-loved tale. --David Jenkins

Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

Vivendi GO HOME, EA knows how to make a game May 31 2004

By C. Coles

This is absolutley terrible, what were they thinking? The graphics alone rank! I shouldn't even refer to them as graphics but rather "cartoon" graphics. The mission and storyline are bogus and lame. I dare anyone who says this is a great game to play EA's Two Tower or Return of the King then play this one.

If you don't mind wasting your money, then go for it and buy it, but if you want great games that enhance the LOTR book and movies, go and buy EA's Two Towers and Return of the King.

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

Good game, but there have been better. April 30 2004

By Chris Woodruff

First off, I give this game 5, yet say that there are better games out there, because this game is very good. There are over 80 games for the PS2. Once in a while you come across one that is beathtaking, but for everyday game play, this is great!
It starts off kind of slow and there isn't a lot of fighting but it is challenging after that. The fight scenes are excellent and the graphics are good. If you don't feel like reading the books, play this game because it is more based on the books than the movies. I would say The Two Towers and The Return of the King are better, but like I said, for everyday game play, this game is pretty damn good.

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of te Ring Jun 11 2010

By Raven Benson

Fun:

If you are a major fan of just the movies, then, yes, you will probably hate this game. However, if you are familiar with the books, then you might be able to appreciate it. Yes, it is not similar to the Fellowship of the Ring movie: I think the first major difference is the characters - they do not look like the actors in the movies, nor are their voices played by the movie actors. This might be a huge disappointment for those who are fans of the actors in the movies. I want to point out that I am an avid fan of the movies - I have seen all 3 a least 100 times: I'm obsessed. Without LotR, I would not exist lol. I pretty much know everything about every actor in the movies, because, like I said, I'm obsessed.
So, at first, I was a little taken aback when Gandalf spoke and I did not hear the lovely voice of Ian McKellen. But as I played the game, I grew to love the "new" Gandalf. This game isn't bad - it is a real change from the movies and mostly follows the books (i.e. Tom Bombadil and the Barrow Wight are not featured in the movies, which is very sad). I liked this game because it is different from the movies. After playing The Third Age, Two Towers, and Return of the King, this game which follows the first book more closely was neat. It is defiantly not an easy game - I was captured by the Black Riders I don't now how many times whilst in the Shire. Also, my friend, who is as obsessed with Middle Earth as I am, loved this game as well, because he agreed that it was neat to see a game follow the books more than the movies. So, I would give the game a chance if you are a crazy, die-hard fan of the LotR books and movies.
The graphics are beautiful, and the storyline is really good. The only con I would say are the cut scenes are very long at times. Still, it deserves at least 4 stars in my opinion.

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

Listmania!

3.7 out of 5 stars

Write a customer review