Best Lord of the Rings Video Games - Editors' Choice
"One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them." In other words, we're looking at the best games set in the Lord of the Rings universe!
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Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien was first published between 1954-1955. For almost seven decades, this most popular fantasy work has been adapted in numerous movies and games. There were more of the latter – and in addition, they were much more diverse – so we will focus on them in this article (also, we're a gaming website). Specifically, we will try to select the best games set in the Lord of the Rings universe.
Shoutout goes to all of our colleagues, who helped me write this ranking in as objective a way as possible – personally, I'd just go with Battle for Middle-earth II, which I've recently explained in another article. Together, we identified the one title that would rule them all. The fight for the podium was so fierce that there were as many as four games in the end, and the winner turned out to be quite surprising for me... But let's not get ahead, and let's cut to the chase – here are ten best games set in the Lord of the Rings universe.
Places 15-11
You're about to read about ten productions – nearly as many as there were Rings received by "mortal men doomed to die" – but fifteen games in total took part in the vote. The five games that we considered the weakest are listed below.
15. The Lord of the Rings: Adventure Card Game
14. The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest
13. The Lord of the Rings: Conquest
12. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
11. The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring
I should only add that Conquest, The Fellowship of the Ring and War of the Ring are in my personal top 10 – rather than on the last places. I had a lot of fun with all three at the time of their release; perhaps because I felt the real magic of Middle-earth in them. Sure, there are some games that are better in terms of gameplay, but not all of them impressed me with the atmosphere as much as those, slightly outdated, games.
10. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
- Genre: TPP action game
- Year of release: 2002
- Platforms: PS2, Xbox, GBA, GCN
- Developer: Stormfront Studios
In 2002, the second part of Peter Jackson's trilogy premiered in cinemas. A few months later, players had the opportunity to experience this adventure in their homes. However, you needed a console to play The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Owners of PC may have missed the game by Stormfront Studios.
It would be a pity, because it's not really inferior to The Return of the King, which enjoys considerable popularity and cult-classic status among PC gamers. Admittedly, The Two Towers were even shorter and had less content than the sequel, but they laid a solid foundation for it. We chose Aragorn, Legolas or Gimli, and then participated in the events known from the movie, constantly cutting down hosts of orcs. The ability to unlock Isildur, who was able to complete the entire game, was a real treat for fans of Tolkien.
The combat system of Two Towers always felt a little less enjoyable than the one in The Return of the King. The game was equally cinematic; there were plenty of scenes from Jackson's adaptation, which, combined with gameplay and cutscenes powered by the game engine, were really delightful – even though the graphics were slightly uglier.
However, if you wanted to take an active part in the Battle of Helm's Deep, there was no alternative for The Two Towers. Later, the situation changed a bit – for example with the first Battle for Middle-earth – but the game in question has not become obsolete and is still playable as hell. If you missed it, and you still own a PS2, for example, I strongly recommend looking around for a used copy on the web – they are relatively cheap.
