Lord of the Rings games?

[Bluetal]

Been getting way into LotR lately, and was wondering what games there are (especially older games) which are worth playing from the franchise.

Obviously there's the shadow of mordor games but I'm wondering if there's anything older. The oldest LotR game I played was Lord of the Rings: Conquest on the PS3.
I'm pretty sure the PS3 isn't retro right?



Anyone know anything good?

 

[Tonberry]

I'll always have a fondness for the 2003 Hobbit game. It's a 3D action adventure game, and I always felt it had a really good atmosphere and a pretty high quality level (for the mostpart) for what's essentially a licensed title.
The Two Towers/Return of the King movie tie-in games were pretty cool hack-n-slash/beat-em-up games too. Especially if you like the films. There's also The Third Age which is a clone of Final Fantasy 10. It was pretty cool for its time. The Battle For Middle-Earth RTS games are also cool, and basically what got me into RTS games in general. The second game and its expansion are much more fleshed out than the first game, and you can create your own hero characters.

Whatever you do, stay away from the SNES LotR game, unless your morbid curiosity gets the better of you. Truly a terrible, terrible experience. AFAIK most pre-2000s LotR are text-based adventure games and I haven't really delved into those myself.

 

[Stingy Perry]

Do yourself a favor and stay away from this.

 

[DunkeyKong]

Yeah PS3 isn't retro…maybe? Even though it's almost been 20 years ago. If you really wanted to try the really retro ones, then there's some GBA and DS ones

Most of them are isometric games, unlike some of the 6th gen ones where it's hack and slash (also some Lego ones). Careful though because despite some good reviews, it can be boring to you…just a heads up

 

[Tonberry]

then there's some GBA and DS ones
View attachment 11775

I've never seen this box art before, but I really like it.
I remember trying this game and failing to even get out of the Shire though

 

[Yousef]

There was an LOTR game that imitates FFX gameplay. Seems neat.

 

[psvitaforever]

Only LOTR game I've played is this one: not bad.

https://retrogametalk.com/repository/psp/the-lord-of-the-rings-aragorns-quest-eur/

 

[DunkeyKong]

I've never seen this box art before, but I really like it.
I remember trying this game and failing to even get out of the Shire though

Yeah it tends to get unplayable sometimes so

 

[Tonberry]

There was an LOTR game that imitates FFX gameplay. Seems neat.

Yeah, Third Age, it wasn't too bad actually. It had pretty high production value and if you could stomach the idea of playing as a group of donut steel OCs traveling adjacent to the Fellowship but for different reasons it was a pretty alright experience. It had a pretty good difficulty curve too, and all the equipment changed the look of your characters which is always nice.
It starts feeling very rushed towards the end though, I think the developers got a bit ambitious, but the presentation in the first half of the game is really good.

Edit: The turn-order thing didn't feel as thought out as FFX I remember, and I think this video sort of confirmed my memories of it sometimes being extremely unfair lol

 

[Clippy]

This is not a sentence you'll see often - anything EA had their hand in is pretty good.

 

[RustySK]

Isn't it weird how many decent Lord of the Rings games there are? In spite of the fact that most of them are movie tie-ins from the era of awful movie tie-in games?

Anyway, most of the ones I enjoyed have already been mentioned, but I'll add Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring, a nice and janky WC3 knockoff RTS.
Not exactly a hidden gem, but definitely fun if you're into that specific subset of RTS.

 

[DunkeyKong]

This is not a sentence you'll see often - anything EA had their hand in is pretty good.

The old EA are built different, now they are only known for their massacre

 

[Infasis]

I'm actually reading Tolkien for the first time (I finished The Hobbit, and am about halfway through The Fellowship of the Ring), so I've been messing with the games too.
I played "Lego The Hobbit" for a little bit, and I see why people like these Lego games, but I found it too simplistic to hold my attention. If you have kids it would probably be a great game to play multiplayer with them though.
I also just started the mmo and while I haven't played it much, what I did play I liked, and the community seems pretty cool, and quite active for such an old game.

 

[Bluetal]

I'll always have a fondness for the 2003 Hobbit game. It's a 3D action adventure game, and I always felt it had a really good atmosphere and a pretty high quality level (for the mostpart) for what's essentially a licensed title.

Oooh I've heard that this game has a surprisingly active speedrunning community.

Lego lotr games sound so fun. Haven't played any lego games since star wars on psp

 

[Tonberry]

I also just started the mmo and while I haven't played it much, what I did play I liked, and the community seems pretty cool, and quite active for such an old game.

I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT TO MENTION THIS

LotRO is one of the best MMOs out there. It's gigantic and full of stuff to do, and insanely immersive.
However, it's starting to crumble under its own weight and age alot now. The developers are adding 64-bit client servers right now but it seems to struggle alot with lag and ping still.
Still a really cool game to try out, especially if you just want to run around and explore a just about 1:1 scale Middle-Earth.

 

[SkunkyBeaumont]

The Hobbit | Play game online!

Play The Hobbit online! One of the first computer games based on Tolkien's works are based on his first Middle Earth novel The Hobbit.

playclassic.games

Do it, I dare you!

 

[kanesha]

Do yourself a favor and stay away from this.

I tried it briefly and liked it a lot actually... it's tactics!

Post automatically merged: Jan 13, 2025

While a lot of these games are good, I would like to give my extra 2 cents to The Battle for The Middle Earth series, because they are truely remarkable. The way cavalry, large monsters and area of effect magic play and feel in those games has no equals in the genre. My absolute favorite of course are mumakil!

 

[Cu-Neo]

The one I played the most aside the Shadow Duology is "War in the north" for the PS3, xbox 360 and PC

I also like The lord of the rings: The Third Age.
I don't like playing this one but I find it interesting: "the SNES game" where everyone can die in minutes or stay alive to the end of the Moria mines, even Gandalf

The same opinion goes for "fellowship of the ring" for the PS2 in which they used the license of the book while EA had the one for the movies. Cases like that doesn't happen anymore and that for me made it interesting.