EA Studio Showcase: Lord of the Rings: Conquest Hands-On

Fri, Aug 22, 2008

While browsing the games on display at last week's EA Studio Showcase, wandering from Henry Hatsworth to Battlefield Heroes and beyond, one particular game caught my eye for a few unusual reasons. For starters, the game had not been featured in the presentation earlier in the day, leaving my curiosity piqued enough for a closer look. The game in question was Lord of the Rings: Conquest from Pandemic Studios, an action title featuring the familiar faces and set-pieces from the movie trilogy. Of course, while everyone loves running around and carving up orcs, my initial thoughts were, "Didn't we play this game six years ago?" This line of thought was quickly derailed by a second one: "Did the game just say the new mission objective is to kill Gimli?" Needless to say, I had to sit down and give the game a try for myself.

Playing the game for more than a few moments reveals what's really at work in Lord of the Rings: Conquest; the game is structured very similarly to Star Wars: Battlefront, another Pandemic title from a few years back. Just like Battlefront, Conquest drops players into the middle of massive, pitched battles from the movies, and prompts them to accomplish a series of objectives in order to win the fight. Players are able to select from four different classes on the battlefield, and given a set number of respawns before the battle is irrevocably lost. Also, similar to Battlefront II, Conquest allows players to step into the role of specific heroes from LotR lore, allowing players to play as Gandalf, Legolas, or others, once specific objectives have been accomplished.

The first question that came to mind, obviously, was what made Conquest any different from Battlefront, apart from the fact that players were now slaughtering orcs and trolls instead of stormtroopers? Representatives of Pandemic were on hand to answer my queries, and as they pointed out, fighting orcs is a vastly different experience simply because they are not stormtroopers. While the change from sci-fi to fantasy may seem merely cosmetic, the key difference is that the armies in Tolkien's world do not wield blasters. As such, the entire flow of combat shifts from gunfighting to melee; the gameplay in Conquest is instantly more intimate and head-on than in the Battlefront series. It's no longer feasible to try and play the game like an FPS -- half the classes, in fact, use little or no ranged attacks at all. Players can expect a much more intense, real-time fighting engine to be in place for Conquest, placing the feel of the game much closer to Dynasty Warriors while still retaining the basic principles of its Battlefront predecessors.

I sat down with the controller to sample the gameplay, and found myself preparing to defend the besieged city of Helm's Deep against the invasion of Sauron's armies. Four classes were instantly available: Warrior, Scout, Archer, and Mage. The key differences in the classes are fairly obvious, but each class is able to execute its basic attacks freely while building up the power to unleash a few special moves. As a warrior, the gameplay revolved around slashing my way through overwhelming hordes of baddies using various quick attack/strong attack combo moves, and occasionally using my amassed power to infuse my sword with fire for new, devastating attacks. The battle of Helm's Deep, of course, is not going to send you out to completely conquer the invading forces; just as in the movie, the critical objective is to hold the defenses long enough for reinforcements to arrive. As such, the objectives that popped up included tasks like preventing the enemy from overrunning a key location for a set amount of time, or destroying a few siege towers. Getting used to the combat was quick and easy, and before long, I was performing deadly maneuvers on the orc hordes that constantly surrounded me.

Soon, it was time to fall back to the last line of defense, and complete my final objective to win the battle. At this point, the game halted the action long enough to ask if I'd like to play as a hero. Soon, I was controlling Gandalf himself, unleashing gigantic magical attacks on the neverending supply of enemies storming the gate. Later, I would fight in the battle of Pelennor Fields, fighting back advancing waves of massive Oliphaunts (which, it turns out, can be felled through simple quick-time events; I don't know why the forces of Gondor were so worried). Soon, after accomplishing another series of objectives, I was granted control of Legolas, firing a hail of arrows into my enemies and looking extremely pretty. Heroes, needless to say, work like the class archetypes already available, albeit with better stats, more powerful attacks, and their own special moves. Still, the forces of evil needn't give up just yet -- not every playable character in Conquest is exactly a "hero."

While I fought valiantly to keep the citizenry of middle-Earth from harm, the player next to me was sampling the other half of Conquest's campaign mode, which places players in charge of Sauron's armies in an effort to reclaim the One Ring and crush those pesky heroes. The evil campaign is as fully-featured as the heroic one, containing its own battles, storyline, classes, and special characters, allowing players to take control of massive trolls or fearsome Nazgul. The scenario I witnessed had the player chasing the fellowship through the Mines of Moria, fighting back the forces of good until he, too, was prompted to play as a special character. At this point, I watched in cruel excitement as he was given control of the massive Balrog, and instructed to kill Gimli the dwarf. Take that, John Rhys-Davies, you scene-stealing jerk! Conquest is not the first LotR game to allow players to fight for the side of evil, but it certainly looks to do the job well.

Of course, while it's one thing to mow down hordes of NPCs, it's quite another to go up against a group of your fellow gamers, each equipped with an arsenal of moves and characters that's a match for your own. Conquest will have both co-op and versus multiplayer, supporting two players in a co-op campaign via split-screen, system link, or online play. Versus mode, on the other hand, will allow 16 players to fight in quick "skirmish" battles, during which players will be able to make use of "anything on the field," not including the flying units. Quick objectives will pop up during the battle, rewarding players for taking down a particular siege tower or holding a control point with added bonuses, including control of the aforementioned special "hero" characters.

Like Battlefront before it, Pandemic told us that they have designed Conquest in the name of "wish fulfillment," allowing fans of the franchise to immerse themselves into their favorite locations and characters, wreaking havoc as all of Tolkien's larger-than-life creations. Conquest allows a player to be a troll, or ride an Oliphaunt, or command the powers of Gandalf, all in real time with face-to-face combat and a personal level of control. Plus, when the game is over, you don't have to wait for three more extended game endings before you can get up and go to the bathroom.

Lord of the Rings: Conquest is scheduled to launch this fall for the 360, PS3, PC, and DS.