The Lord of the Rings: Conquest

In total, both campaigns comprise sixteen stages featuring three difficulty levels. Each stage becomes more interesting due to a variety of assignments one is tasked with. A player has to eliminate enemy forces (even as big as Olifants), defend the walls of fortresses from outnumbering foes, and sabotage enemy siege engines. At any given moment, one can call out a detailed map of the area with all mission objectives marked on it.

Mechanics

The gameplay builds on mechanics known from both installments of the original Star Wars: Battlefront series. Most of the time, a player controls minor units representing four separate classes – Warriors, Archers, Scouts, who can stealthily eliminate their targets, and Mages, able to can heal and protect their allies using various spells. In each battle, players get a limited number of respawns – they can join the battle for a predefined number of times with different characters at designated places on the map. Whenever a team runs out of available respawns, it loses the battle.

Apart from the aforementioned units, at some points, a player can assume the role of giant units (trolls, Ents, Olifants) and characters known from the movies. When fighting for the forces of Good one can control heroes such as Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Faramir. After joining the forces of Evil, a player gets to assume the role of, i.a. the Witch King, Balrog, Saruman, and Sauron himself

The combat model developed for the game is relatively simple. Each unit features a set of moves that a player can view in a special menu on the screen. Available actions have been divided into regular and special – whenever one wants to perform the latter, they have to fill the energy bar, which usually lasts several seconds. A player can combine attacks into more and more complicated sequences that deal greater damage to the foes.

The multiplayer mode is an essential element of the PC, PS3 and etc. release of The Lord of The Rings: Conquest. The online experience can fit up to sixteen players and delivers three main game modes – Skirmish is a typical Team Deathmatch; Conquest builds on taking control of designated areas; Capture the Ring forces players to carry the One Ring to areas.

Technical aspects

Players get to observe the action from the third person perspective. A player is bound to appreciate the details of both locations and character models – regarding the latter, it is worth mentioning they resemble the actors cast in the movie trilogy. All throughout the game, a player is accompanied by the soundtrack, also known from The Lord of The Rings movies.