Lord of the Rings: Conquest Review

Licensed game powerhouse A2M has been churning out Nintendo DS titles based on High School Musical, Transformers, and The Mummy. Electronic Arts and Pandemic tapped A2M to handle the portable version of Lord of the Rings: Conquest, which ended up being a game of capture the flag set in Middle Earth. It's a fun little effort, but some technical issues keep it from rising too far above the sea of licensed DS titles. Following the battle for the One Ring, players can choose to fight for good or evil. Each side has a variety of classes to choose from (fighters, archers, mages…), all of which have multiple attacks. With the camera hung overhead Gauntlet-style, players run around familiar set pieces from the Peter Jackson films hacking up enemies and claiming control points. These basic mechanics are definitely amusing, and I like the variety of classes and assaults at our disposal. If one class isn't working for you in a situation, you can switch up at any time at a control point (or when you respawn). You'll even get to control Ents and Cave Trolls at certain points in a skirmish. Swinging your branches as an Ent and sending orcs flying is always a good time.

The map on the top screen displays enemies and control points.Allies will join you on the battlefield, but you can't give any orders so you're pretty much on your own while everyone runs around like a Hobbit with its head cut off. Even though there are many classes, they aren't very unique visually so it can be hard to tell who's on whose side. There are a few different game modes with unique features. In the campaign, each map will give you many specific objectives. In the mines of Moria, for instance, you must rescue fellow soldiers who have been imprisoned. After claiming control points and defeating the enemy you need to bash down the door to the prison, then escort everyone outside while you're chased by a mean old Balrog. But in Conquest mode, things are much simpler. You choose a side, choose a map, and then race to grab all the control points. Both modes provide good button mashing fun with just a touch of strategy. The campaign can be frustrating, though, because if you fail one objective you have to restart the entire mission -- there are no checkpoints. Both versus and co-op games can be played with up to four people locally. While basically fun, we did encounter some lag during our playtest. Whichever class you choose will always start out sluggish, but they can be powered-up by collecting orbs from fallen enemies. Both attack power and speed can be increased this way, but they will be reset after a respawn. I like this mechanic, but combat in general doesn't feel very satisfying. You don't really get a sense that you are clashing swords and armor with your opponents. After a battle you'll get to view some stats on your performance, and an in-game achievement system will award you for certain accomplishments (keep too many allies from being killed, for instance). Howard Shore's fantastic score from the films accompanies your Conquest, and short snippets of movie footage are used to introduce each scenario.
Closing CommentsCapture the flag with Lord of the Rings characters is a pretty good idea for a game, and there is fun to be had with Conquest. More polish and more satisfying controls would have made this title really stand out, but as it is it's a decent action game with a great license. The variety of classes and attack styles is welcome, and playing as an Ent or Cave Troll is particularly fun. I wouldn't say this is the perfect game for Lord of the Rings fans, as the license is really just skinned onto capture the flag. But if you're a decent action game fanboy, well this is the game for you.