Being the big Tolkien fan that I am, I bought LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring on Saturday for the Xbox. After playing for 3 hours can I say that it was worth buying?
Yes and no. Yes because I am huge Tolkien fan. I found the first section around the shire interesting, but at some times disjointed. The dialog between the characters seemed rushed. I know the books are very long so I am understanding when it comes to the editing. For anyone who hasn\'t read the books, I would suggest renting to see if you like it. Ninety Nine percent of the game is in 3rd person - the only first person aspect is when your character - Frodo in this instance - throws apples at a target. You can switch to 1st person with a crosshair for this.
The combat is VERY easy to get used to: Think of DMC or DW3. Not hard at all and nothing like Blade II - this actually has a combo system of sorts.
Speaking of the 3rd person view. The game sometimes suffers from slowdown and choppiness. The choppiness is more evident than the slowdown however. Besides that, the graphics are great and really give the mood of Tolkiens world. The camera angle can sometimes be a pain, but I have seen worse.
One really interesting and I think cool feature in the game involves the ring and the ringbearer. I know this is a small detail, but it really has in impact as far as I am concerned. Basically you have two inventory slots in the upper left of the screen. One shows your current weapon and the other shows different tools or healing herbs along with the ring. Well, say you are going along and an enemy is near... if I had the lock pick kit in that inventory slot all of a sudden the ring would appear in it, thus "tempting" you to use it against this upcoming foe! Like I said its a little thing, but it really makes you feel like the ring is tempting you to use it. Using the ring "corrupts" Frodo over time, which is represented on a bar that is black at one end (bad) and white at the other. A slider moves either way depending on your actions and how much you use the ring.
If you are a Tolkien fan you will want this game. If not, give it a rent. I have to say I am not too far into it, have tried to do every mini quest, (I can\'t wait to play Gandalf and Aragorn) and have seen some amusing things. Without giving away anything I will have say the most amusing thing I have seen is when Pippin and Merry are in Old Man Willows mouth. I wish I could take a screenshot because that picture is worth a thousand words.
With that said, this game isn\'t bad and I can\'t wait for the EA game for the PS2 to come out even though it is hack and slash - I love Dynasty Warriors 3. Just to avoid any confusion - Fellowship of the Ring is based on the book - not the movie!!!! The EA game The Two Towers is the movie based game.
Topic: LOTR: FellowShip of the Ring first impressions (Read 811 times)