This is my second review......I found out some important news yesterday. I'M GETTING A PS3 FOR CHRISTMAS WOOOOO! YEAH FINALLY!!! Anyway.......

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: CONQUEST

Met by both sceptics and fanatical fangs, Conquest had a hefty weight over it's shoulders, being the lovechild of the memorable Star Wars: Battlefront games and the universally praised Lord of the Rings movie franchise. Some people see it's ill fate as a missed opportunity, others as an inevitability, and yet others as a heart-crushing blow. Note: PC version review here.

Gameplay:

Well, this is where Conquest is both loved and abhorred by the public and reviewers alike. Personally? I love the gameplay, and I think the fun factor of this game is astounding. The biggest problem here however is the simple fact that Conquest feels like an empty hollow of what Pandemic hyped it to be; it being a generic Battlefront without any unique flair as a Lord of the Rings game. It was missing the Ringbearer mode, where Nazgul prey on Frodo and who kills him becomes the ringbearer, along with the equivalent of a galactic conquest where you assault the strongholds of Middle-earth, and many other various things. This stuff is probably more to do with the Lasting Appeal section though, so I'll say this simply; Conquest is super-duper fun, has some great if unbalanced mechanics and fighting, and sure can be epic in the two hundred+ enemy campaign missions (all on screen at once). You feel awesome when you jump on a troll's back and stab him in the back of the neck, but it sucks that a massive behemoth can be manhandled if a human player gets behind him and killed in two of the still cool real-time events. You feel even more awesome when you can climb a Mumakil and shoot him in the head Legolas style (as Legolas, sadly) or just simply rip right through his skull with a trusty sword. Nothing beats the epic battles and sheer awesomeness of the campaign missions, but sadly the epic battles promised in skirmish are non-existent with only 8v8 or 16v16 battles (I still get confused; I think it's different between PC and consoles, probably wrong though). Lame. But, the fun factor is still huge, espeically when you can PLAY AS FRIGGING SAURON AND THE BALROG, plus all the other heroes and villians.......

8.5/10

Sound:

Well, Pandemic has never had the best record with voice-overs to be fair. I mean they have served adequately, but Mercenaries 2 highlighted just how out of touch this developer can be, despite their veterancy and once-greatness. Ok, we'll start with all the noises; they sound pretty good for the most part, and they highlight those high production values the Lord of the Rings movies have. Some things are overly loud, and your speakers will be blaring and making you deaf even on low settings; pretty sweet. The music is pulled straight from the movies; a nice bonus if you like that stuff, and for me it's great because I love those tracks. But....well the voicing ranges from terrible to pretty darn good; mostly bad though. Some of the imitations of the heroes in the game are stunning, and will really convince you they are the original actors for those roles. Others are just shoddy and downright crap. The Orc voices are so put-on they make you want to choke, and listening to Gandalf is like listening to a hippo pooping and frothing with vomit. Seriously, it's that bad. It's so terrible in fact, that it simply makes the two good aspects of this category pale. Thus, I give this a

6/10

Story:

Well, you would think a game based on the movies and centered around all the big battles can't possibly stuff up it's story so badly that you just sit there shaking your head, right? Wrong. It's not just the numerous plot-holes in the two short campaigns, but the fact that so much of the stuff you do doesn't feel right in Tolkien's universe and there are so many things wrong with what the game does. Why the hell would there be queer elves in Moria commanding Gondorians, for that matter; what the bloody hell are Gondorians trying to do retaking Moria when it is overrun by ORCS and doesn't have the faintest hint of goblins!? And what is with the Balrog being 'resurrected' for the battle? Stupid, stupid, stupid! Sure, the game is meant to be adrenaline-packed and be about having fun and skirmishing, but shouldn't the game at least do things right when it uses the rights? Why are there no goblins in good old Moria, huh? Why do we have to verse Orcs there? Why is there only one map that differentiates from orcs and uruks (Pelennor Fields), simply put; why? Sure, they were strapped for time and had to rush it before EA's rights to LOTR expired, but jeez.....they sure covered it up really badly. And the campaigns aren't much better. The good campaign follows the story of the movies loosely, with it's own touches on each mission; oft being unnecessary or ungratified. The evil campaign is a mess, albeit fun one, that follows what Sauron would have done if he had reclaimed the ring. Why would he bother going through Moria when it is infested with gobbies, and why would the Free Peoples rush in, mind you unoppossed by the natives, to defend the place? They say Gimli goes to Moria for some reason or another....like to die beside his ancestors or something, but what the hell happened to the endless horde of goblins there? Moria may be the biggest offender, but that's because the other missions more have stuppid things you do in the gameplay rather than simply being a bad idea. While not game-breaking, it sure does hurt everything else.

4/10

Presentation:

Well, there's no real presentation, but to be fair that means there is little UI to clutter your screen with. Menu's are simple and easy to navigate, the background for the main meny is a colourless depiction of battles (which is downright cool), and you can start playing with very little load time. But it's just the thing about the entirety of Conquest; it just has this empty feeling to it, and in a strange way this affects the Presentation, despite how stupid that sounds. I can't give it awards, but nor can I downplay it.

7/10

Visuals:

When I first saw the game I admit I was impressed; the detailing is pretty good, and the art direction is astronomically good. It's so colourful and so vibrant like most Pandemic games (the notable exception being the Saboteur; it can be), and you simply can't get enough of looking at it. Problem is, like Mercenaries 2, it can be host to visual glitches and in reality isn't the best looking game around. That doesn't mean it's bad looking; it just isn't much compared to the big hitters. But that was never what the game was for, and it still looks great in any case. Frame rates are very good, and for most it runs admirably on the higher settings; this is good for when those epic battles occur, which can be taxing. Very solid, and sometimes you feel the dazzling array of colours are just going to overwhelm you. The main thing is that the visuals serve the license and the world.

8/10

Lasting Appeal:

When you first play Conquest, you will be amazed by how fun it is and think you are never going to tire of it. But once you finish it's two campaigns in about four hours, depending on difficulty, and you find out that skirmish is small scale and the modes are only generic Battlefront-ones, you are likely going to get bored very quickly. Again, this is just the problem; the game feels devoid of a lot of the weight it should have, and you get that sense every time you give this a play. The good thing is the fact that you can just play this at any time and have a whollop of excitement and lift your spirits, but it usually doesn't last long. Now, for a multiplayer-focused game, it does deliver somewhat, but it's not going to keep you coming back with it's paltry smattering of modes and enemies to play against.

5/10

Thoughts and Notes:

I always thought Conquest would be a huge success; instead, it failed admirably and Pandemic got off scott-free because everyone blamed EA for stuffing Pandemic up. I'm one of those people, and the fact that EA closed the venerable studio down only strengthens my position. LotR: Conquest can be very glitchy, but no major bugs rear their heads. Sadly, every single person who knew about it before release has the knowledge that the game could have been so much more.

Overall Score: 8.5+6+4+7+8+5= 38.5/60 (approximately) 6.3 out of 10.

Say what you want about the game....I'm sad just writing this.