Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The Lord of the Rings: Conquest puts you right in the heart of Middle-earth’s greatest battles, offering an action-oriented take inspired by the Battlefield: Bad Company series. You select from three distinct soldier classes—archer, warrior, or mage—each with unique strengths and weaknesses. As an archer you rain arrows on charging orcs, while as a warrior you wade into melee combat, and as a mage you wield devastating spells. This simple class system ensures that every match feels fresh, urging you to master multiple playstyles to gain an edge.

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Battlefields are drawn from iconic movie locations, split evenly between the forces of Good and Evil. Whether you’re defending Helm’s Deep’s glittering towers or leading the assault on Osgiliath’s crumbling walls, each map offers dynamic flag-capture objectives that keep the fight moving. You’ll run, dodge, and dash between control points, collecting glowing orbs dropped by fallen foes to boost your attack speed or power. This real-time progression system injects a constant sense of urgency—leave enemies alive too long and they’ll quickly power up, turning the tide against you.

Campaign Mode guides single players through a series of linked encounters, retelling the Fellowship’s and Sauron’s key confrontations, while Instant Action drops you into standalone skirmishes for quick play. Conquest mode, by contrast, is a sprawling battle that blends multiple objectives across a single map, testing your ability to coordinate captures and counterattacks. On top of that, there’s two-player split-screen or online play (depending on platform), where you and a friend can team up or face off. Although match-making can be hit or miss, local multiplayer remains a highlight for couch sessions.

Adding to the variety, you can unlock and play as legendary heroes and monsters—Aragorn, Gandalf, a Nazgûl Ringwraith, even the hulking cave troll. These powerful units change the battlefield’s ebb and flow, granting special abilities like Andúril’s whirlwind strike or the Ringwraith’s phasing attack. Deploying your hero at the right moment can break an enemy stronghold or turn a desperate defense into a triumphant counter-offensive. Overall, the gameplay loop is addictive: capture flags, farm orbs, unleash hero powers, rinse and repeat.

Graphics

Visually, Conquest strives to capture the cinematic scope of Peter Jackson’s films. Character models for familiar faces like Legolas and the Witch-king are instantly recognizable, and the armor, cloaks, and weapons feature crisp textures that hold up surprisingly well. While some environmental details can look a bit flat up close—rock faces and wooden barricades may appear repetitive—the sheer scale of armies marching, arrows arcing overhead, and explosions rocking the terrain more than compensate for occasional texture pop-in.

Each map’s atmosphere stands out: the fiery ruins of Minas Tirith burn with embers and ash, while the verdant fields of Pelennor Plain shimmer beneath a cloudy sky. Lighting effects dynamically shift as lobs of explosive barrels or summoned lightning spells light up the battlefield. Though the console versions run at a modest 30fps, frame rate rarely dips below acceptable levels even when dozens of combatants clash. On PC, adjustable settings let you push draw distances, shadow quality, and anti-aliasing to improve clarity without sacrificing performance.

Special effects—arrow trails, magic projectiles, and hero ultimates—are flashy without feeling overdone. Spell impacts leave scorch marks on the ground, and defeated foes dissolve in a satisfying puff of smoke or dust. Water reflections in shallow rivers and simple bloom around fire pillars add polish, ensuring that big set-piece moments, like trampling orcs with an enraged Mumakil, look suitably epic. While Conquest doesn’t redefine visual fidelity, it succeeds in evoking Middle-earth’s grandeur and chaos in a way that fans can appreciate.

Story

Conquest doesn’t deliver a deep narrative in the traditional sense, but rather re-creates the emotional highs and lows of Tolkien’s tale through its mission structure. Campaign missions loosely follow the Fellowship’s journey, from the calm of Rivendell to the heat of Mount Doom. Cutscenes—lifted directly from the movies and interspersed with in-engine voiceover—remind you of the stakes: the freedom of Middle-earth or its descent into shadow. Although the story is little more than a backdrop for the action, it infuses each battle with context.

Playing for the forces of Evil offers a fresh perspective, letting you stand alongside Ringwraiths as they terrorize the living or command goblin hordes to overwhelm Gondorian outposts. These “Dark Campaign” missions are particularly enjoyable for those who want to see familiar events from Sauron’s vantage point. While players hoping for original narrative twists or character development will be disappointed, the game’s retelling is solid enough to satisfy fans craving cinematic ties to the films.

Mission objectives mirror familiar milestones—protect a gate, escort a siege weapon, hunt down a fleeing army—but the lack of branching paths means you’re always on rails toward a predetermined outcome. This linearity can feel limiting for seasoned strategy gamers, yet for newcomers it ensures a straightforward progression with clear goals. Audio clips from the movies, including James Nesbitt’s Gandalf and Bernard Hill’s Théoden, further anchor the action in the established lore, even if their delivery is confined to brief in-game exchanges.

Overall Experience

The Lord of the Rings: Conquest is a crowd-pleasing mash-up of third-person action and objective-based shooter mechanics. Its greatest strength lies in the blend of large-scale warfare and player-driven power-ups, creating matches that swing wildly in both favor and peril. If you’ve ever dreamt of sliding down an orc-filled tower with Legolas or laying waste to enemy lines as a Balrog, Conquest delivers that cinematic fantasy in spades.

Replayability is high thanks to the variety of classes, heroes, and gameplay modes. Collecting orbs to level up mid-battle adds a light RPG element, rewarding aggressive play and map awareness. Local multiplayer remains the best way to experience the game with friends, though online lobbies can sometimes feel sparse. Fans of the films will appreciate the nods to key scenes and the grand set pieces, even if mission design occasionally falls back on repetitive capture-the-flag objectives.

While Conquest isn’t without flaws—some maps feel too similar, and the single-player campaign can be a bit shallow—it captures the thrill of Middle-earth’s great wars. If you seek a casual, action-packed romp through Tolkien’s universe that prioritizes spectacle over deep storytelling, this title is a worthy addition to your library. It stands as a fun tribute to the movies, perfect for both longtime fans and gamers looking for a new way to wage epic fantasy battles.

Retro Replay Score

6.3/10