Even today, almost a century afterThe Hobbit’s first publication, JRR Tolkien’sMiddle-earthsetting is still going strong. In particular,The Lord of the Ringsremains a name to be reckoned with in the fantasy realm, and creators and businesses alike are still mining it for inspiration to this day. FromSoftware and fantasy author GRR Martin’sElden Ringis taking clearLord of the Ringsinspiration, and Amazon has been preparing aLord of the Ringstelevision show set slightly before the famous movie and book trilogy.LotRproducts and influence exist in every direction one looks, and they show no signs of slowing their march.
Even within its massive legacy,The Lord of the Ringshas a long history of video game adaptations. Numerous games for many consoles have been inspired by Tolkien’s works, dating all the way back to a text adventureHobbitgame in the early ’80s. These days, when one thinks aboutLord of the Ringsgames, their mind goes to the Warner Bros. published titlesMiddle-earth: Shadow of MordorandMiddle-earth: Shadow of War, two stealth-action open-world games well-known for their innovative Nemesis system. An up-to-date fan would also recall that a Gollum-focused title is on its way. However, older fans may have much more nostalgic fondness for the old Xbox and PlayStation 2 movie tie-ins, which stand head and shoulders above many other movie games.
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When speaking of the impressiveness of the oldLord of the Ringslicensed games for sixth-generation consoles, most people go straight toElectronic Arts' adaptations ofThe Two TowersandThe Return of the King. These games are both hack-and-slash titles adapting elements from their respective films—and not their source novels. This is due to Vivendi Universal Games, in partnership with Tolkien Enterprises, being the then-rights holder to the video game adaptations of Tolkien’s literary works, while EA held the rights to the video game adaptations of the New Line Cinema films. Still, these games worked with what they had and even included some of the first “seamless” transitions (by 2002 and 2003 standards) between movie footage and gameplay.
Vivendi’sThe Fellowship of the Ringgame, which only came out a month before EA’sTwo Towersadaptation, was a lot less well-received. Setting the two beside each other, it is immediately apparent that the WXP-developedFellowshiplooked worse. It also didn’t play as well as its two PS2 successors, garnering many more complaints about shallow and repetitive combat than they. AlthoughFellowship of the Ringwas a financial success, selling over one million copies, both of EA’s games sold millions more, and a Vivendi-published sequel toFellowshipwas canceled a year after the first game’s release.The Fellowship of the Ringstands as the standard mediocre movie tie-in game (even though it’s actually a book tie-in), whileThe Two TowersandThe Return of the Kingsoared to greater heights. Still, they do form a complete movie trilogy game adaptation and are probably the most impressive one out there.
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The Lord of the Rings Movie Games Could Use Some Polish
Because of that,The Lord of the Ringsgames deserve a remasterjust as a few other licensed games do. Better framerates and resolutions are just the start, though these old games could certainly use them. Their textures could also use some improvements.Fellowship of the Ringin particular is in dire need of a facelift, as it wasn’t terribly good-looking even at the time, but they could all benefit. Indeed, becauseThe Two TowersandThe Return of the Kingsold themselves as having seamless transitions between movie clips and gameplay, both sides of the equation need improvements. The player character models should be re-done in a way similar to those in the recentFinal Fantasy 8 Remasteredrelease, and higher quality versions of clips should be inserted. That way, some of the feelings these games were going for can be maintained.
The gameplay itself could also use some polishing up. It’s a major ask for new control schemes to be added into such old games, butTwo TowersandReturn of the Kingdon’t need any. It’sFellowship of the Ringthat could do with taking some lessons from the other games. Considering that it is an action-adventure title instead of a hack-and-slash, it has its own strengths, but perhaps some equivalent tothe fantastic parrying mechanicin the EA games could be backported. Otherwise, anything that can make these games as smooth as possible to play should be implemented. And most importantly,The Return of the King’s co-op play should be maintained. If it can be expanded to include online play and levels that did not initially support more than one player, all the better.
It’s The Perfect Time for More Lord of the Rings
One of the biggest reasons fans would want these games in a remastered collection is to have them available on modern consoles again.Fellowshipgot a Windows port a few months after its console launch, andThe Return of the Kinghad a Windows skew immediately, but those came long enough ago that modern computers may have trouble running them.The Two TowersandThe Return of the Kingare hidden gems, and whileFellowshiphas the potential to be boring for some, its massive amount of voice acting and attention to accurate adaptation is quite impressive.
These games would be the perfect cherry on top of the multimedia renaissanceMiddle-earthis going through right now. Once Amazon’sThe Lord of the Ringsshow andThe Lord of the Rings: Gollumcome out in 2022, people will be clamoring forLord of the Ringsonce again. The only real issue is that one company or another would need to secure the rights to actually re-release these games, and EA may not be inclined to cooperate. Still, the fans can always hope that these interesting pieces ofThe Lord of the Rings' past can return in the modern age.
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