Lord of the Rings is finding it’s way onto all mediums. It’s a hit movie, you can buy action figures and there are collectable minatures to paint and battle with. But one of it’s main platforms are video games. The developers can be creative and allow players to replay the film. The Two Towers on Playstation 2 was good but it hasn’t yet been ported to Xbox, so here is the next best..or worst thing.

Gameplay: 4/10 The story follows the literary works of JRR Tolkein of the first book in his Lord of the Rings trilogy: The Fellowship of the Ring. First thing you notice when you start up the game are the unofficial characters as Black Label Games doesn’t own the movie license. A short cg movie sets the scene for the following story, then you get some terribly long winded, half arsed attempt at an in-game cutscene. Not only is the lip synchronizing totally off, but also the voices are weak and badly recorded. These low production values can really bring down the enjoyment you should be having whilst playing a game. Most gamers will be familiar with the beginning story line so you might as well skip the first cutscenes. Once you finally get to control Frodo you’d think the problems would rest up, but they get worse. Your character moves extremely slowly, even at a full run you could describe their movement as a walk. This makes traversing the environments slow and boring. Add to this unstructured gameplay and a very choppy framerate the game becomes virtually unplayable to even the most die-hard Tolkein fan.

Graphics: 5/10 Visuals are sub par and would look bad even on the Playstation 2. There is no surface detail on the landscapes and the colours are bland. So is there any bump mapping used? I doubt it, the game looks like any previous port to the Xbox and lighting effects aren’t used to their full potential. The high quality cg movie sequences look good and some of the more detailed character models, such as Gandalf add to the authenticity. There are flaws but some detail has been added to the landscapes, like sheep which graze around Hobbiton. The environments are also vast so if you like to explore then there is plenty of play, but when you have to play using this game’s engine then the exploring is more of a pain than pleasure.

Sound: 4/10 What’s the point in Dolby Digital 5.1 when you have crap sound built into the game? Absolutely none, you might as well turn off your surround speakers and amp. On offer is a range of character voices from unknown actors/actresses. As well as that the sounds are low quality and do not add to the atmosphere of play. Without the film license the developers were held back, so it’s hardly surprising that the game doesn’t impress in this category.

Replay-ability: 1/10 Simply because the game is a horror to play. Even children would feel hard done by when faced with the prospect of them and this game alone in the same room. You probably wouldn’t persevere to the end and unless you were given this title by a clueless aunt then you’d be running back to the shop, receipt in hand.

Overall: 4/10 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring contains a few good elements but has too many flaws to make it a good experience.

Rent or Buy? Don’t even waste a rental, the game is so poor that it doesn’t seem worth it to test just for a couple of nights. Maybe a younger child would get some enjoyment from this title but others should keep far away, like Frodo from a Ring Wraith.