By Alexander Bevier
Thursday, September 9, 2010 at 5:00 pm
 |
​Only Sean Astin and Jean-Rhys-Davies reprise their roles in Lord of the Rings Aragorn's quest; apparently everyone else is making movies. The concept for the game is that Sam (Astin) is reading the tale of the Ranger of North to his children; which is a brilliant way to explain the less-gritty tone.
Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest may be the only Lord of the Rings game geared for children and it seems to compliment it's counterpart, War in the North, rather well. Both Wii and Playstation 3 versions of Aragorn's Quest were playable at PAX this year and I managed to get my hands on a Move controller to check out the high-definition version.
The visuals look good. The game is most likely using a fraction of the Playstation's graphical capabilities, and they didn't immediately strike me as an improvement over the Wii version. Both games look fine enough and won't be a distraction.
Playing the game, however, leaves something to be desired. Gameplay on the Playstation 3 feels like a port from the Wii and it doesn't use any of the motion-based advantages of the Move controller. Playing Aragorn's Quest felt exactly like playing a Wii with a red ball on my controller.
The playable section of the game took part in Balin's Tomb; one of the major moments in the middle of the first book. I found a few hordes of goblins, then the Cave Troll shows up, and then you fight him the same way you have in every other Lord of the Rings game. After the tomb section, you and the fellowship start to run through Dwarrodelf and there are two more Trolls waiting for you.
I played this section twice and died both times to the trolls. Each time I died, Sam Gamgee goes into a spiel similar to The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time at the game over screen.
To put in the vaguest terms possible, the game seems like a decent game. It captures a feel very similar to the films, but with a kid-friendly tone.
Aragorn's Quest comes out on the fourteenth of this month.
Join The Joystick Division!
Become part of the Joystick Division community by following us on Twitter and Digg and Liking us on Facebook.
