The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

This game should never have gotten through Nintendo quality assurance. It's buggy -- you can't even get through Moria without the game freezing. And that doesn't mention all the problems with item cloning, invisible characters, music cutting out, and impossible quests.

Even if the game was bugfree, it's awful. Combats take forever (and aren't any fun, since your characters never hit), and the best parts of the book are skipped over, like Weathertop and Amon Hen. Moving your character on screen is like steering a drunk elephant. Seriously.

If you're looking for a good Lord of the Rings experience, buy the PS2 Fellowship version (skip the Xbox one), or EA's Two Towers games (either GBA or PS2).


A Good Game   December 16, 2004
7 out of 8 found this review helpful

This game is pretty fun, but it has quite a few problems also. The directions are really hard to understand. You do a whole lot of message taking and little favors for your Hobbit-freinds in the game. The battles are very tedious-even if your guys can hit thier target. There are about three guys on the game that can hit a target consistently. You can't use the Bows in batlle mode.

The game glitches up in the Old Forest when you try to help a lady with spiders in her house. The game also glitches up in Moria quite a few times, but you can go to the game's website and it'll tell you how to get around the glitches.

But, the game follows the books very well. It skips some of the more monotonous areas of the book, but then it makes the areas you play VERY TEDIOUS!

I liked the game a lot though. The plot is engaging, and I found it very hard to put the game down. It is definitly a strategy game. I liked the fact that there is always some kind of mission you're on. The ending SUCKS!

Even after all of the bad things, it is a fun game. One strategy I use is to save very often, since it gets boring when you get stuck and have to beat it again from where you saved an hour ago.



Hey give it some credit, listen to me.   October 5, 2002
5 out of 7 found this review helpful

So far this game hasn't received any credit, well not much.
To start off the graphics are good, and the sound is good too.
I haven't seen one glitch yet, I'm sorry. The battles are some what slow, but you have to admit that it is cool to have an invitory and equipping items. If you find glitches, return your game! My game is fine, and I'm past Moria. You can switch your characters, that is a really cool option. But the osund goes away in battles sometimes, thats not so fun. I like to have energy in my battles, but the battles are slow. That's why this game got a 7 out of 10. O' and I'm 14 years old, I'm just not signed up with Amazon. Fun game for younger kids.

GRAPHICS: 8 out of 10
SOUND: 6 out of 10
GAMEPLAY: 7 out of 10
OVERALL: 7 out of 10


DONT WASE YOUR TIME AND MONEY!   November 18, 2002
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

When I first started this game I was pretty impressed. The people were ok, and the scenery was awesome - thats the only reason I gave the game just ONE star. But that was as good as it got. From the beginning, it didn't tell you how to find things, or what to do, or how to fight, the creators just threw you out there. So after many confusing and repetative little missions, you get to the old forest, and even more confusing and frustrating part of the game. No one helps you - Tom Bombadil just says: "Find the willow withies" and thats that. Plus, the battle sequences a very slow boring, and your people hardly ever hit their targets.

The game is extremely buggy, many times my characters would get stuck between obstacles or just going up the stairs. Sometimes they even walked off the screen and I couldn't get them back. And then, to top it all off, the game froze right as I left the Mines of Moria after I'd spent HOURS wandering through them.

Don't get this game. Its glitchy, confusing, frustrating, and overall a waste of time and money. Judging from the other reviews, I'm not the only one who thinks so. Buy THE TWO TOWERS for Game Boy Advance. It looks much more promising.


Ew. Keep away.   January 15, 2003
Katherine Kelly (Eden Prairie, MN USA)
5 out of 9 found this review helpful

Bad. Very bad. Slow as the books, without any of the interesting dialogue or plot development...instead, one is treated to the wild thrills and spills of wandering about collecting items for hours and being subjected to horribly done RPG battles. It takes over an hour to get OUT of the Shire--and what do you do in that time? Meandering at approximately 0.3 mph through dull, washed-out backgrounds, collecting tools for gardeners and seeds and fruits. Whee. Frodo the Errand-Boy.

Then it gets better. You meet Tom Bombadil. And what does the singing spirit of nature ask of you? Why, of course, to wander about collecting things. Boy howdy. I'm having a blast here. Apparantly Vivendi's idea of a "puzzle" is "let's hide an item, make them wander for 15 minutes finding it with no action whatsoever, then we'll hide another one and make them start over!"

But you get past Tom Bombadil, and into the great, wide world of Middle-Earth, and what do you do?

Become engaged in what is undeniably the most boring RPG ever to hit the GBA. Walk around. Get involved in pointless, NON-EXPERIENCE-POINT-GIVING battles! That's right! You get NO REWARD for the excruciatingly slow battles whatsoever! I cannot deny, though, that the game gets much deeper once pointless-battling augments pointless-walking. I found myself forcing myself to play just to see if the next line of dialogue actually came from the books. That's never a good sign.

Oh, and then we get to Moria. That's a bit better. Except for the fact that 1-in-80 cartridges has a critical error that prevents you from CONTINUING PAST THE STAGE! Really. ... I have no idea what Amon Hen is like. Maybe it gets better. I don't know. This game is a disgrace.

I am a Tolkien nut. I am an RPG fan. I enjoyed Golden Sun, Tactics Ogre, and the pair of Breath of Fire games immensely. I love the books to death and thought the movies were sheer magic. This, on the other hand, offends me on two fronts. It's a mediocre RPG and a poor translation of Tolkien.

I cannot imagine ANYONE who is in the slightest demanding about their RPGs (or games in general) enjoying this game. The only redeeming fact about this game is that it is Lord of the Rings. I admit it was somewhat less aggrivating when I saw familiar locations. Not fun, mind you, but it did lessen the frustration.

Bottom line:
If you really want Tolkien, buy the Extended DVD of Fellowship of the Ring, the LoTR trilogy, the Hobbit, Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales etc.

If you really want a GBA RPG, buy one of the excellent titles mentioned above, or one of the Mega Man Battle Network games.

If you want a video game adaptation of the movie, buy EA's The Two Towers.

If you want to be disappointed, buy this.