The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Description

An epic saga now more distinguished than the great JRR himself could have ever imagined - thanks to Peter Jackson's film adaptation - the Lord of the Rings is now finally available in video game form. 'At last!' all you Tolkien fans cry. What's more is that, as publishers across the globe rush to cash in on Christmas 2002, two totally different games have emerged, both based on the series, and both available for the Game Boy Advance. The Fellowship of the Ring closely follows the plot of the original novel, which, if you didn't know, is the first volume of the saga. In it, players take control of members of the fellowship, travelling across vast areas of the famous Middle Earth locations. These locations, created from 3D models with rendered shadows, have been accurately modelled, based on Tolkien's descriptions. Gameplay itself follows a semi-linear structure. This allows players to explore and experiment while still experiencing the narrative events of the books, allowing the game to be open to greater possibilities while still remaining faithful to the story. The Fellowship of the Ring categorises itself as a 'lite-RPG'. By this, it means that the typical number-crunching found in most role-playing games has been streamlined, making way for a more action-orientated, quick-paced format. Combat throughout the game is turn-based, like most RPGs, but provides a default AI that controls character actions if the player so chooses. At the end of the day, this is what Tolkien fans have been waiting for: an immersive experience that they can really get involved in.