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I didn’t expect to hear much about Lord of the Rings: Conquest at E3 this year, so you can imagine my surprise when I saw a playable demo on the show floor being manned by Jon Katz, associate producer of the game.

When I was handed the Xbox 360 controller Jon joked that it was essentially Lord of the Rings: Battlefront. Well, I thought it was a joke, but once I started playing I realized how truthful his statement really was. The game should be instantly accessible for anyone who has played the Star Wars: Battlefront series or any large-army game like Dynasty Warriors. There are several different character classes to choose from, ranging from rogue-like characters with the ability to stealth-kill, to warriors with powerful melee attacks. Of the classes I tried, the archer stood out, turning the medieval slaughter into a third-person-shooter and adding fire-soaked arrows to my arsenal.



I was fighting for the Forces of Good against the godless hordes of Sauron’s Army as they flooded the gates of a castle. After fighting off enough orcs, several trolls smashed their way through the gates. After using the scout’s stealth ability, I was able to sneak up behind the behemoths and climb their back, plunging my blades into their neck. They fell, dead, and I was able to move on in the level.

Graphically, it definitely stands above the other games in its genre, packing hundreds of enemies onto the screen at a time without any slowdown. Most bodies don’t disappear, leading to piles of corpses littering the battlefield. As hoped, the effect is definitely a sight to see, and when a group of enemies has fallen there is a certain sense of accomplishment looking upon your grisly work.



When you look at the scale of the battle and the amount of characters on screen at one time, you definitely get a sense that you’ve played a battle worthy of the Lord of the Rings. Ambitious is the only word to describe what Pandemic is attempting to do with Conquest. I look anxiously forward to the game and its 8v8 battles, and hope that the finished product is able to maintain the quality that Pandemic is known for delivering.

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