Sunday, January 04, 2009

The Lord of the Rings: Conquest (Xbox 360) Demo Available


The latest upcoming game set within The Lord of the Rings franchise, entitled The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, saw the release of the game's demo via the Xbox LIVE Marketplace this past Friday.

Developed by Pandemic Studios, The Lord of the Rings: Conquest is a game much in the flavour of the Star Wars: Battlefront series, and casts players in epic battles seen in the films and beyond for the forces of good or evil.

The demo is presently an Xbox LIVE Gold member exclusive, and features the Single Player tutorial and Multiplayer. Note to access the Multiplayer features, even via Xbox LIVE, you _must_ have an EA account.

I gave the Single Player tutorial a try, and overall, I can't say that I was very impressed. It features the final battle of the War of the Last Alliance, and you begin with only one class, the Numenorian Swordsman. Graphically I found the game alright, and the audio was pure The Lord of the Rings (save for that really, really annoying tutorial narrator whom I wanted to stop talking more than anything), but the actual combat just seemed so bland and button-mashing basic. Even after you've unlocked additional classes, such as an Elven Archer, or even a Hero class, such as Isildur, the demo was just far too shallow to capture my interest.

Multiplayer wise, I didn't even give it a try. The fact that I needed an EA account was a complete turn off, and even though I have one, I haven't accessed it in years (assuming it hasn't been removed due to inactivity) and couldn't be bothered to dig out my login info.

Granted, I've never been a fan of Pandemic Studios, and if you are, you may really dig The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, but for me, this will be a rental at best.

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