The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (video game)
This article or section needs expansion and/or modification. Please help the wiki by expanding it. |
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | |
---|---|
Video game | |
Developer | Surreal Software (PS2, Windows) The Whole Experience (Xbox) Pocket Studios (GBA) |
Publisher | Xbox, PlayStation 2 Black Label Games PC NA: Sierra Entertainment EU: Vivendi Universal |
Platform | Game Boy Advance Microsoft Windows PlayStation 2 Xbox |
Release date | Game Boy Advance NA: 24 September 2002 EU: 8 November 2002 Xbox PlayStation 2 NA: 22 October 2002 EU: 8 November 2002 |
Genre | Action-Adventure |
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is the title for a set of similar 2002 video games published by Vivendi Universal, produced for four platforms by three developers. Though its title is similar to that of Peter Jackson's movie, it is based on the book rather than the movie.
Synopsis
Introduction
The game opens with a voice-over from Galadriel, who provides background of the events leading up to the War of the Ring.
The introduction ends with a cutscene showing Gandalf the Grey arriving at Bag End to discuss the One Ring with Frodo Baggins.
The Shire
- Hobbiton
Frodo decdies he must leave the Shire, and sell Bag End to Lobelia Sackville-Baggins. He performs various tasks around the village; such as repairing Hal Hornblower's weather-vane, and fixing Ted Sandyman's mill.
Frodo rescues a terrified Robin Smallburrow from a white wolf, before proceeding with haste to Green Hill Country.
- Night Green Hill[1]
Frodo must sneak past the Black Riders in order to reach Merry, Pippin and Sam at Bamfurlong. Upon arriving, the four are confronted by Farmer Maggot who offers them safe passage to the Old Forest.
The Old Forest
- Forest Labyrinth
Frodo must find Merry, Sam and Pippin who have lost themselves among the moving trees of the Old Forest, while battling spiders.
- Withywindle Path
Frodo finds Merry and Pippin taken by Old Man Willow. After Tom Bombadil arrives on the scene to rescue them, he asks Frodo to help him gather lilies for Goldberry. Along the way, more spiders emerge. As a reward, he takes the Hobbits to his house, where they can recuperate.
- The Barrow-downs
Frodo's companions are again lost and Frodo has to find them in the fog of the wight-haunted downs. In the final barrow Frodo finds his new weapon, one of the Daggers of Westernesse. Though the quest log tells the player this knife is necessary to defeat the Barrow-wight that serves as a boss, throwing many rocks at him from the safety of an elevated part does the trick too. After "defeating" the wight, Frodo decides to sing a song tought to him by Tom Bomdail, who emerges and sings the wight away. He gives them more daggers, and tells them to stay the night at The Prancing Pony.
Bree
- Town of Bree
It is apparent that Merry is missing and gameplay switches to Aragorn. Having found Merry he then hunts for objects to construct Hobbit decoys to fool the Nazgûl who are still on their trail, battling wolves and ruffians along the way.
Weathertop
- Weathertop Hill
After spotting lightning at the pinnacle of Weathertop, Aragorn escorts Frodo and Sam to the summit. On the way Wargs and Orcs are first introduced into the game. At the summit of the hill, Aragorn discovers signs of a struggle, and a rune bearing the letter "G" and a "3". Soon after he is attacked by a troll. After defeating the troll, Frodo notices Black Riders on the Great East Road, and they head back to the encampment.
- A Knife in the Dark
In a cut-scene, Frodo is stabbed by the Witch-king, and Aragorn must prevent the Nazgûl from stabbing Frodo even more, fighting them off with a fire-brand.
- Troll Shaws
Aragorn must clear the area of enemies including orcs, wargs and several trolls. Once all enemies are defeated Glorfindel appears; he sends Frodo away on Asfaloth. After his stance at the Ford of Bruinen, Frodo collapses.
Rivendell
- House of Elrond
Frodo wakes in Rivendell, and meets Gandalf. After the Council of Elrond, Bilbo Baggins gives Frodo Sting and the mithril shirt; Arwen gives Aragorn Andúril. Both merely serve as weapon upgrade.
Moria
- Hollin Ridge
The Fellowship take refuge on the Hollin Ridge before making their way to the doors of Moria. Taking control of Gandalf, the player must defeat Wargs and Orcs to clear the way in order to progress.
- Labyrinth
- 3 Passages
- 2nd Hall
The player must manipulate a beam of light by moving mirrors around the 2nd Hall. The beam of light opens a number of doors; behind which lurk Orcs and trolls. Once the player has opened the correct door, they can progress.
Frodo and Gimli have to fight themselves through the Second Hall. The player controls Frodo, who has to pull several levers to connect bridges and open the main door. Though most of the fighting can be left to Gimli, some foes - several archers, some orcs - are outside his reach, and have to be avoided or killed by Frodo.
- Abyss Fight
Gandalf fights the Balrog. The Balrog can only be stunned by the spell of lightning, after which Gandalf has to hit him with Glamdring. One hit from the Balrog's sword, however, is lethal.
Lothlórien
- Lothlórien Forest
The Fellowship arrive in Lothlórien and receive gifts from Lady Galadriel. Frodo foresees the Scouring of the Shire in Galadriel's mirror.
River Anduin
- Orc Dam
After leaving Lothlórien, the Fellowship finds the river Anduin blocked by a dam. They seek the shore, and Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and Boromir have to clear it before they can portage the boats. They have to beat two trolls, several archer orcs, and Uruk-Hai, who are first seen in this level.
- Amon Hen
The player again takes control of Aragorn and has to defeat a Nazgûl riding a Fell Beast.
- Final Cut Scene
GBA version
In contrast to the PC and console versions, the GBA version is an RPG with turn-based combat. One thing unique about this version is that all nine members of the Fellowship are playable once they join the party, and are all present during combat mode (unlike certain other RPGs, where available party members are limited to a certain number at any given time). All encounters that would serve as viable boss battles (the Ringwraiths, the Watcher in the Water, the Balrog) are reduced to and resolved in short slideshows with no interactivity, and much like the SNES title J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I, much emphasis is put into exploration and side-quests. There are also several puzzles that are required to complete in order to progress ahead. The gameplay, unfortunately, suffers from many bugs and glitches ranging from beneficial ones such as duplicating items to game-breaking ones such as important items not spawning when they should or rooms that were accidentally left incomplete and inescapable by the programmers.
Sequel
A sequel was planned for this game, and was to be titled The Lord of the Rings: The Treason of Isengard. The game was in development, but was cancelled before its release.[2]
Cast of characters
Credited
|
Uncredited
|
External Links
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (video game) at MobyGames.com
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (video game) at Wikipedia
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 So called in the game's .rsg-files.
- ↑ GAMING: Treason of Isengard axed, TheOneRing.net, September 12, 2003