The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (video game)

"...It is a long tale..." — Aragorn This article or section needs expansion and/or modification. Please help the wiki by expanding it.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Video game
Developer	Surreal Software (PS3, Windows) The Whole Experience (Xbox) Pocket Studios (GBA)
Publisher	Vivendi Universal
Platform	Playstation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance, Microsoft Windows
Release date	Game Boy Advance   USA: September 24, 2002   PAL: November 8, 2002 Xbox   USA: September 26, 2002   PAL: November 8, 2002 PlayStation 2   USA: October 16, 2002   PAL: December 6, 2002 Microsoft Windows   USA: October 22, 2002   PAL: November 8, 2002
Genre	Action

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is the title for a set of similar 2002 video games published by Vivendi Universal, produced for four platforms by three developers. Though its title is similar to that of Peter Jackson's movie, it is based on the book rather than the movie.

Characters

The three playable characters in the game are Aragorn, Gandalf and Frodo Baggins.

The narrative of the game can be roughly divided into four acts, each played out by one of the three main characters, with some variation.

Act 1 (Frodo): Bag End, Old Forest, Barrow-downs
Act 2 (Aragorn): Weathertop, Trollshaws
Act 3 (Gandalf): Moria
Act 4 (Aragorn): Lothlórien, Amon Hen

Synopsis

Act One

The Shire

The first act deals with Frodo's journey to Bree. It begins peacefully in the Shire as Frodo has to make the final arrangements for his departure. Although there are many optional quests involving the inhabitants of Bywater and Hobbiton, the main story focuses on the selling of Bag End. Once this is complete and the Ring is retrieved Frodo must escape the Shire undetected by Black Riders to meet with his companions and Maggot's Farm.

The Old Forest

Frodo must find Merry, Sam and Pippin who have lost themselves in a fores labyrinth. He must then free Merry and Pippin from the clutches of Old Man Willow. Finally Tom Bombadil intervenes, rescuing the Hobbits and setting them off in search of 12 water lilies whilst defending themselves from the giant spiders. Once recovered Tom takes them to his house to recuperate.

The Barrow-downs

Frodo's companions are again lost and Frodo has to find them in the fog of the wight-haunted downs. In the final barrow Frodo finds his new weapon, one of the Daggers of Westernesse, and uses it to defeat the Barrow-wight Boss with the help of Tom, who guides the hobbits to Bree.

Act Two

Starts in Bree when it is apparent that Merry is missing and gameplay switches to Aragorn. Having found Merry he then hunts for objects to construct Hobbit decoys to fool the Nazgûl who are still on their trail, battling wolves and ruffians along the way.

Weathertop

Aragorn escorts Frodo and Sam to the summit of Weathertop. On the way Wargs and Orcs are first introduced into the game, they are extremely fast at attacking 'beware'. Aragorn must battle a troll on the summit before returning to the campsite to protect Frodo from the attacks of the Ringwraiths armed with a burning brand.

The Trollshaws

Aragorn must clear the area of enemies including orcs, wargs and about 5 Trolls. Once all enemies are defeated Glorfindel takes the company to Rivendell. In other versions the enemies are mainly goblins(including the xbox version).

Act Three- Moria

Act three begins with Gandalf as the playable character as he searches for the doors of Moria. As he attempts to open them, play switches to Aragorn as he fends off the Watcher in the Water before returning to Gandalf on entering Moria. in the other system versions you must defeat the watcher in the water with Gandalf. With Gimli the dwarf as a companion, Gandalf must navigate the dark maze of the Dwarrowdelf fighting off the orcs and trolls that stalk its shadows. in other versions you do not fight all enemies like trolls and so not have Gimli as a conpanion at all. The game becomes more objective based when the Fellowship reaches Balin's Tomb from which Gandalf must find an escape route as the other characters fend off the trolls, using slabs of stone which redirect the light onto the huge keyhole, and the only thing to open the humungous door is the light, this is a real puzzerler. Play then switches to Frodo in the 21st hall, retaining Gimli (no gimli in other versions) as a companion, who must find a way through the various ladders, walkways and bridges to reach and open the gates on the other side. The act reaches its conclusion on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm where Gandalf duels with the Moria boss, the one and only Balrog.

Act Four- Amon Hen

Act Four sees Aragorn resume the role of playable character after a brief interlude in Lothlórien. First there is a short level in which he spies out an orc-dam on the river Anduin in which the game introduces its final minor enemy, the Uruk-hai. Play then moves onto the final level of the game at Amon Hen in which Aragorn battles his way through most of the previously-encountered enemies to the Seeing Seat. The very summit has to be reached twice, first as Frodo who must get to the top of a stone hill while other members of the fellowship are dueling orcs. Aragorn battles the game's final boss, the Fell Beast using only his bow and arrow at the top of the hill. The game ends in a cut-scene where Legolas shoots the winged beast with an arrow.

A final cut-scene shows Galadriel over her mirror, where she recounts the future of Sam and Frodo. It features two pieces of artwork from Alan Lee, one showing Gollum and the other Frodo and Sam.

Sequel

A sequel was planned for this game, and was to be titled The Lord of the Rings: The Treason of Isengard. The game was in development, but was cancelled before its release.

Cast

Role	Actor
Frodo Baggins	Steve Staley
Gandalf	Tom Kane
Aragorn	Daran Norris
Gimli	James Horan
Boromir	James Horan
Sam	Scott Menville, Cliff Broadway (X-Box version)
Galadriel	Jennifer Hale
Lobelia	Jennifer Hale
Gollum	Quinton Flynn
Merry	Quinton Flynn
Tom Bombadil	Daran Norris
Legolas	Michael Reisz
Goldberry	Kath Soucie
Celeborn	Steve Staley
Elrond	Jim Piddock
Bilbo Baggins	Jim Piddock
Pippin	James Arnold Taylor

External Links

• Vivendi's The Fellowship of the Ring at Moby Games
• Wikipedia article