XBOX Reviews

Lord of the Rings Conquest

Middle-Earth stands on the brink of destruction, and you must unite to either save it, or destroy it, in The Lord of the Rings: Conquest. With every race bound to this fate, all you have to decide is what to do with the time given to you, and choose your allegiance.

Join the battle for Middle Earth in Lord of the Rings: Conquest. View larger.

Fans of the books and movies will love roaming the game world. View larger.

All Your Favorites Come to Life
Developed by Pandemic Studios and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft’s Xbox 360, The Lord of the Rings: Conquest allows gamers to make the choice between good and evil. Those who side with good will get to follow Frodo’s journey through Middle-Earth, playing in battles inspired by both the books and the movies. Or join evil to find out what may have happened if Frodo had failed to destroy the One Ring, as you fight your way with Sauron back across the map in an attempt to destroy Rivendell, the Shire, and all that is good in the world.

You can play as a warrior, scout, mage or archer. View larger.

The online multiplayer mode allows for massive battles with up to 16 of your friends. View larger.

Building off the model Pandemic used with Star Wars: Battlefront, Lord of the Rings: Conquest provides you with a first and/or third person shooter style of game that not only lets you command strategy, but also lets you control the players in the center of the action. Participate in the Battle of Isengard as an Ent or fight Saruman at Orthanc as Gandalf himself. Take on the Nazgul as Aragorn while still protecting Frodo, or battle at Pelennor as a Rohirrim cavalry soldier. And that is just for the good guys!

In Conquest you will have to play many different characters in order to win. And it isn’t always such a balanced match, as you will find yourself destroying towering siege engines and taking on hulking oliphaunts with your companions. You can choose to play all the heroes you love, or fight as a Nazgul tasked with killing Frodo and stretch your powerful wings as the Balrog himself in your battle for Moria.

Pick Your Own Style of Play
In the game, you’ll be able to play as one of four different character classes. Choose the melee-based Warrior or Scout for up-close action, or pick the Archer or Mage to perform devastating ranged attacks. There is also talk of a ’special’ class called the Guardian to give gamers a third choice. But don’t worry about getting locked in, as you can actually change which character class you’re playing on the fly, in the middle of the game’s various objective-based missions.

Each class of characters has its own strengths and weaknesses, as well as unique special abilities. Playable units range from grunt soldiers, which are the weakest, to captains, which are the strongest AI units in the game other than the heroes. You also get to order in air strikes using either eagles or fellbeasts. Even better, players will be able to mount the occasional horse, unless they’ve chosen evil, in which case they will have to master the skill of riding a fearsome warg.

Multiple Modes for Endless Fun
As in Battlefront, Lord of the Rings: Conquest has enormous competitive multiplayer modes, including Conquest, Capture the Flag, and Hero Deathmatch. In addition to these classics, Conquest adds a Ring Bearer mode, in which one player tries to stay alive as Frodo against a host of ringwraiths, and Stronghold in which you fight on various maps in a Risk-style battle for territories. Fortunately, you won’t be limited to roaming around with only your teammates, however, as battles occur in large scale with non-player combatants joining in the fray.

Conquest allows online play with up to 16 players for massive battles with all your friends, or in two-player cooperative mode. Players can also play locally with up to four players competitively, or two-player co-op on a split screen. When in the game itself, fans will get the thrill of hearing Howard Shore’s score for the films accompanying the action, and both good and evil campaigns are narrated by Hugo Weaving, who played Elrond in the movies.

You can choose to play either good or evil, each with different endings.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Pretty Surprisingly Awesome
I rented this game because the other game I wanted was out of stock, and I had very low expectations. When I played it, I was baffled at how amazing it was. The game played out kind of like the older game The Return of the King for PS2, only with a capture the flag added in. This game is a high recommendation of mine if you like mass killing people and having cool missions sort of like a check point.

2 Stars So much potential.
I bought a used version of this game locally and wound up taking it back a few days later after having played through every level. I am a huge fan of Star Wars: Battlefront and, after having just read LOTR for the first time, was really stoked to play this. It was nothing like what it could have been. The long distance archery was fun, but the melee and sword fighting was completely lacking. It really is a button-masher once you get to hand-to-hand combat. The graphics and the story you follow through the levels are fantastic. Music too. It’s sad that the gameplay drags the fun level down so far because it stood to be amazing with all the other aspects being so well executed. It’s an interesting game to blow through in a few hours and I recommend renting it, but be careful buying it without trying it.

4 Stars Lord of the rings Battle front
If you liked the Battle front series , you should like this game , you should like this . The missions are fun , and the battlefields are huge . There are 4 basic unit classes . First off we have the warrior which is powerful at close range , but can be felled easily at long range . Second is the archer which uses a bow . Third is the mage , which has an aray of magical powers . Last is the scout , which can turn invisible , and can backstabe people . Of course there are heroes , ents , and all manor of things , because after all this is Middle Earth .

5 Stars 5 Stars from a 15 years old LOTR fanatic
My son is a big fan of Halo and says this LOTR game is a similar in feel but better – since all things are better on Middle Earth. He highly recommends Conquest. Only drawback is that after completing the campaign both players can no longer be on the same side. I like it better when my kids can play as allies – there’s less arguing between siblings. But overall a great game.

1 Star Review: LOTR Conquest
Lord of the Rings Conquest is a mediocre Dynasty Warriors rip off set in the LOTR universe. The classes of characters (Warrior, Archer, Scout, & Mage) are unbalanced, bland and frankly boring to play. The graphics in this game look slightly better than ps2. When you actually do win it is more a result of luck than skill as the combo chains are sloppy and not designed with precision targeting in mind. Few of the combo chains finalize in an attack that “sweeps” aside a large number of foes which is essential in this kind of game. Also the final attacks in most combo chains are lengthy in their animation time and even when you hit your target you usually end up getting hit by another enemy. You also get “juggled” often by enemies and will find yourself going from full life to death by a medium difficulty foe. Granted the character models/soundtrack/atmosphere do evoke the atmosphere of the films, though the game play is far to one dimensional and poorly executed compared to the genre from which it plagiarizes (Dynasty Warriors). If you are a die hard LOTR fan, or enjoy the Dynasty Warriors titles you may be somewhat satisfied with this game. If not I would pass on this one especially at the full retail price point.

Buy/More Info

BioShock

BioShock lets you do the impossible as you explore a mysterious underwater city. When your plane crashes, you discover Rapture – an underwater Utopia torn apart by civil war. Caught between powerful forces and hunted down by genetically modified “splicers” and deadly security systems, you have to come to grips with a deadly, mysterious world filled with powerful technology and fascinating characters. As little girls loot the dead, and biologically mutated citizens ambush you at every turn. Now you’re trapped, caught in the middle of a genetic war that will challenge both your capacity to survive and your moral allegiance to your own humanity. Make meaningful and mature decisions that culminate in the grand question – do you exploit the innocent survivors of Rapture to save yourself – or risk all to become their savior?

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star Wouldn’t load for me, wasted money
The game looks cool and I’d love to get it to work, but it WILL NOT LOAD on my hardware. Emails to BIOSHOCK produce nothing, since they say it should run. Emails to Securom blame me for running some program their software doesn’t like or say I should change my hardware.

I did my own checking and found a number of complaints regarding the Lite-On DVD writer, which I have in my system. Apparently Securom doesn’t like my DVD writer. I suppose I could buy a new DVD writer ($30) just to play a $19 game, but even if I do, how am I supposed to know this is the only thing in my system that Securom doesn’t like?

Worse, I PAID my money, but I can neither play the game nor get a refund. When someone takes your money but won’t deliver what you purchased, that’s called THEFT.

Look, if the game works for you, I’m glad for you. But if you don’t want to have your money stolen, I’d give this a pass, at least until the complaints about Securom drop.

We expect food distributors to give us a label telling us what is in our food. It’s time protected games were required to have a label telling us what EXACTLY is required and what EXACTLY they are doing with our computer. It CAN’T be being done right, or I’d be playing the game. The only good thing I can say is that I paid $19 for a lesson in why software companies can’t be trusted.

1 Star Unable to install due to virus
This game contains a virus called “secuROM” that permanently installs itself into your OS and can disable your drives (as it did mine) and should be avoided at all costs. It’s a shame. I played Bioshock on a friends 360 and was blown away. The cool retro 50’s look of the underwater city and the music set over the dark and creepy atmosphere made for a great gaming environment. It has an original and thoughtful story and the endless attack combos and multiple endings gives this game a very high replay value as well. I was very exited to get this for PC as mouse/keyboard is the best set up for a FPS by far. I was crushed when I found it had installed a virus that crippled my virtual drives. Removing secuROM from my system was a lengthy nightmare that involved risky registry editing that can damage your system permanently if not done exactly right.

Bioshock is a great game that contains a virus. Buy the 360 version if you want to play it.

5 stars for a fun game

1 star for infecting my computer with malware.

1 Star DRM needs to be protested
Just as everyone else is saying, the console version for this game was great. When I bought the PC version, I was distressed to learn that I could only install in 3 times. This is not worth your money, we must protest DRM in PC games.

1 Star Still not buying
I was seriously considering buying Bioshock until I read about the people who recently purchased the game and had problems with their computers. It seems that the company has decided to keep the DRM in the game. Why? The game is not current and I’m sure the sales are not too great. Not a wise decision. Sorry, but I am not going to spend my money on a game that may possibly screw up my new computer. If the powers that be finally got rid of DRM they would get hundreds of people willing to buy their game. Until then my money will remain in my pocket.

3 Stars Awesome action, sound and graphics, but at a cost!
This is an incredible game with stunning graphics, sound, and playability. Multiple difficulty levels, ability to save anywhere in the game, a cool story, sets and characters.

However, even though my system met or exceeded all the requirements, I could not play the game when I installed it.

I had onboard sound and a GeForce 7600 GS, but neither of these could handle the game. I upgraded to a SoundBlaster Xtreme Gamer and a GeForce 7950 GT, and now the game screams; but it cost me $300 to get there. Still, it has a memory leak somewhere and locks up randomly. A good idea is to stop every so often and reboot.

It takes FOREVER to load (seriously, like 3 or 4 MINUTES), but once loaded, you can play for a long time before you need to load again.

I know there are people out there who are afraid of SecuROM, but it hasn’t given me any trouble that I know of.

So if you think your PC can handle it, you will most likely enjoy it.

Buy/More Info

BioShock

BioShock lets you do the impossible as you explore a mysterious underwater city. When your plane crashes, you discover Rapture – an underwater Utopia torn apart by civil war. Caught between powerful forces and hunted down by genetically modified “splicers” and deadly security systems, you have to come to grips with a deadly, mysterious world filled with powerful technology and fascinating characters. As little girls loot the dead, and biologically mutated citizens ambush you at every turn. Now you’re trapped, caught in the middle of a genetic war that will challenge both your capacity to survive and your moral allegiance to your own humanity. Make meaningful and mature decisions that culminate in the grand question – do you exploit the innocent survivors of Rapture to save yourself – or risk all to become their savior?

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Fun and not frustrating, but also violent and a bit too easy
I enjoyed this game very much. The graphics were unique and the plot was ludicrous but engaging. You could use a wide range of weapons and “superpowers,” which made killing things a bit more novel.

This game is pretty violent, which may or may not be a downside to you, depending on your personality. I didn’t really mind it. However, every time I used nitrogen to freeze a mentally-ill person, then smacked them with a wrench as they whimpered helplessly, thus shattering them into bloody frozen chunks, I thought “This is probably desensitizing me in a way that is not healthy.”

The only real downside (again, to some it may be an upside) was that this game was not really challenging. I am a fairly unskilled gamer: I mostly just run and shoot until the ammo runs out, at which time I switch to the next weapon. Even so, I only died twice during this entire game. Just a note, when you die you reappear at a nearby location and all of the hits you made on enemies are saved; so there is almost no penalty for dying. This makes the game a little too easy, but it sure cut down on frustration and swearing on my part.

Anyway, I would recommend this game highly, because it is fun and not too expensive. However, you can expect to finish it in a week or less.

1 Star Don’t buy this game.
This is quite possibly the most boring game I’ve ever played. Not to mention it screws with your system and you can only install it three (3) times– *ever*.

3 Stars twisted. creepy. great prospects ruined.
the game looked great. it had all the makings of a 5 star game. that said, it’s too twisted, too gruesome, too sadistic. they could’ve gone in much better directions keeping the same gameplay/campaign style game in tact. if you don’t like scary things, (like i don’t), pass on the game. it’s not worth it. halfway through, i’m done. too creepy.

2 Stars Bioshock smells like it had more than one in the stink
Bioshock is a great game….for about 40 minutes. After that its story gets convoluted and tries to be smarter than it is. And like most things that fall into that hole, it throws in a M Night Shamalayn patented “twist” into the mix, which fails miserably.

This game had promise, it has an interesting mechanic and decent graphics, but the story leaves a lot to be desired and the combat is repetitive and boring.

Its a shame as what I read the original story was going to be, involving cult deprogramers and the like, was scrapped for this horrible stuff.

Download the demo, it will leave a better taste in your mouth and you won’t get to the crap nougat center of this game. And you can avoid all that license protection stuff too. Fun times.

1 Star Paying to rent
Don’t buy this game. Will NOT run without an internet connection. It is one of the many new PC games that installs a very intrusive copy protection scheme on your computer. It is very hard to delete this software from your computer cleanly. The game requires an internet connection even though it is mainly a single player game, so it can check to make sure you are using the software properly.(to the manufacturer liking). Basically you are paying to RENT it.

Buy/More Info

BioShock

BioShock lets you do the impossible as you explore a mysterious underwater city. When your plane crashes, you discover Rapture – an underwater Utopia torn apart by civil war. Caught between powerful forces and hunted down by genetically modified “splicers” and deadly security systems, you have to come to grips with a deadly, mysterious world filled with powerful technology and fascinating characters. As little girls loot the dead, and biologically mutated citizens ambush you at every turn. Now you’re trapped, caught in the middle of a genetic war that will challenge both your capacity to survive and your moral allegiance to your own humanity. Make meaningful and mature decisions that culminate in the grand question – do you exploit the innocent survivors of Rapture to save yourself – or risk all to become their savior?

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Fun and not frustrating, but also violent and a bit too easy
I enjoyed this game very much. The graphics were unique and the plot was ludicrous but engaging. You could use a wide range of weapons and “superpowers,” which made killing things a bit more novel.

This game is pretty violent, which may or may not be a downside to you, depending on your personality. I didn’t really mind it. However, every time I used nitrogen to freeze a mentally-ill person, then smacked them with a wrench as they whimpered helplessly, thus shattering them into bloody frozen chunks, I thought “This is probably desensitizing me in a way that is not healthy.”

The only real downside (again, to some it may be an upside) was that this game was not really challenging. I am a fairly unskilled gamer: I mostly just run and shoot until the ammo runs out, at which time I switch to the next weapon. Even so, I only died twice during this entire game. Just a note, when you die you reappear at a nearby location and all of the hits you made on enemies are saved; so there is almost no penalty for dying. This makes the game a little too easy, but it sure cut down on frustration and swearing on my part.

Anyway, I would recommend this game highly, because it is fun and not too expensive. However, you can expect to finish it in a week or less.

1 Star Bioshock Disappointment
Have struggled with Bioshock for several weeks now. I am finally throwing in the towel. Amazing art work and scene sets cannot compensate for the frenetic, shadowy and fleeting fps combat situations, all taking place in a dark, poorly lit (albeit artistic) underwater civilization. Give me the light and air of Half Life 2, or Crysis, or FEAR. My sense is that this a game for gamers–especially younger gamers, who might have the endurance and inquisitiveness/inventiveness to traipse through an endless array of beautiful, but ulimately obscure rooms/locales. Bioshock is beautifully crafted, but dreary, uninteresting, and not nearly as engaging as an fps as reviews had led me to believe.

4 Stars “Spiritual Successor” to System Shock 2? More like COPY! (Which isn’t sooo bad…)
I originally played this game last year when it first came out on my PC. I had an XBox at the time but opted for the PC version instead since my monitor was much better than the TV I was planning to use with the console version. In short, I wanted this game to look as good as it possibly could.

So I bought a new video card, an extra gig of RAM and attempted to play Bioshock……bad idea.

Bioshock for the PC is a resource hog and if you have a 360 I recommend just going for that version to ensure you have a consistent and good overall visual and gameplay experience. That’s all I’ll say about that…

As for the gameplay, I loved Bioshock’s setting and characters. The voice-overs were done exceptionally well and the visuals (when turned up all the way or shown as-is on the 360) are jaw-dropping for sure. Bioshock is a beautiful game. I loved the atmosphere of many of the levels and the truly creepiest part of the game is when you enter the level of the crazy artist who has turned an area of Rapture (Fort Frolic) into a bizarre museum filled with plaster-covered dead people…very, very disturbing.

All that said though, Bioshock does have a couple bad flaws: First, and most obvious to anyone who’s played these type of games before: Bioshock is an updated, underwater version of System Shock 2…I mean, it’s almost an identical copy. Ghosts, a huge plot twist in the middle, your narrator helping you, etc. are all direct rip-offs of the 1999 PC masterpiece. I’m not saying Bioshock isn’t worth playing because of this – I just think it could’ve been so much more on its own if it hadn’t copied SS2 so much in major ways.

Another gripe is the inventory system – the system was obviously dumbed-down to make gameplay progress faster and not confuse so many gamers – but for players who liked SS2’s way of finding things and rationing items out bit by bit, this is a letdown. The game’s difficulty also needs to be addressed since all players will come to a point when they realize Big Daddies are easy to kill and the regeneration booths essentially make the game a breeze since there is no penalty of death. Also factor in some huge gaping plot holes that were deliberately ignored (Why only Little Sisters? How was Rapture created in secret in such a short amount of time, etc.) and you have a game that is far from perfect.

And finally, you have an ending that many people weren’t happy about. I’ve never been a fan of “boss battles” in shooters because they all play out the same and it usually boils down to shooting parts of the environment in the right order at the right time to damage or kill the bad guy. Hardly impressive. Even so, Bioshock’s final fight was very cinematic in its presentation and felt like it needed to be there. However, the very short ending makes you feel sorta cheated, so I can’t rate the last part of Bioshock too highly.

Overall, Bioshock is a very fun game and is definitely worth checking out. It’s got an amazing and beautiful world to explore and has laid the groundwork for an interesting setting future games in the series could explore in more detail. I do recommend System Shock 2 more than BS though, simply because it did everything Bioshock does now nearly a decade ago and is truly a more challenging, atmospheric and scary game.

(Reviewed Sep. 1, 2007 by Gamer X