The majority of computer and video games owing to J.R.R. Tolkien's works are based mainly on or influenced by The Lord of the Rings films; only some are based solely on Tolkien's canon of Middle-earth. From the early 1980's onward, numerous video games set in Middle-earth have been developed, including titles by Electronic Arts, Sierra, and Melbourne House.
Official games[]
Early efforts[]
In 1982 began a series of licensed The Lord of the Rings graphical interactive fiction games with The Hobbit, based on the book of the same name. They went on to release 1986's The Fellowship of the Ring, 1987's The Shadows of Mordor, and 1990's The Crack of Doom. A BBC Micro text adventure released around the same time was unrelated to Melbourne's titles except for the literary origin. In 1987, Melbourne House released War in Middle-earth, a turn-based strategy game, followed by its sequel Riders of Rohan.
In 1990, Interplay, in collaboration with Electronic Arts (who would later obtain the licenses to the film trilogy), released The Lord of the Rings Vol. 1 (a special CD-ROM version of which featured cut-scenes from Ralph Bakshi's animated adaptation) and next year's Lord of the Rings Vol. II: The Two Towers, a series of role-playing games based on the events of the first two books. A third installment was planned, but never released because Interplay couldn't decide whether to do it as an RPG like the first two, or as a strategy game. Interplay's games mostly appeared on the PC and but later they did a Lord of the Rings game for the SNES, which played nothing like their PC games and instead was more like The Legend of Zelda.
Film trilogy revival[]
Thereafter, no official The Lord of the Rings titles were released until the making of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy for New Line Cinema in 2001-2003, when mass-market awareness of the story appeared. Electronic Arts obtained the licenses for the three films, although they only produced games for The Two Towers and The Return of the King. Sierra Entertainment, having lost out on the film licenses, obtained the license to produce games based on the books (as opposed to the film trilogy) from Tolkien Enterprises instead, entitling them to use the story, but not material from the film.
This gave rise to an unusual situation. Electronic Arts produced no adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring, but Sierra did. However, they did produce adaptations of The Two Towers and The Return of the King. This produced an unofficial "complete trilogy" of games. Sierra's entry to the series received average reviews, and Electronic Arts' entries received rave reviews, although Peter Jackson has criticized EA for leaving him out of the development process and has declared that he is unhappy with the quality of the titles.[1]
While Sierra Entertainment's access to the book rights prevented them from using material from the film, it permitted them to include elements of the Lord of the Rings books that were not in the films. EA, on the other hand, were not permitted to do this, as they were only licensed to develop games based on the films, which left out elements of the original story or deviated in places. Fans' opinions differ on the better of the two styles. Some prefer EA's action-oriented hack and slash-style games, which tend to pass on large segments of the story and place a reliance on film clips and the film's music, citing the almost cinematic quality that the game produces as similar to the film. Others preferred the Sierra adventure title, which, while featuring less action and epic battles than the EA title, cover the story in greater detail and offer a more cerebral challenge.
Sierra's consequent adaptation of The Hobbit also received average reviews. It is unknown which developer/publisher would assume the task of adapting a film version of The Hobbit to a video game, especially since Jackson chose to work with Michel Ancel and Ubisoft on King Kong in light of his displeasure with EA.
Eventually in 2005, EA was able to secure the rights to both the films and the books, thus the Battle for Middle-earth II incorporates elements of a Northern Campaign only alluded to in the books.
Post-film trilogy efforts[]
The popularity of real-time strategy (RTS) titles led Sierra and Electronic Arts to independently produce two RTS games. Sierra produced The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring in 2003, based on the books. The title was well received by the press, but some criticized the derivative nature of the game.[2] Some fans also took issue with the many liberties taken with the source material. A year later, EA released The Battle for Middle-earth, based on the films. The title was given rave reviews in the gaming media and sold well.[3] However, as with War of the Ring, some fans took issue with the liberties taken with the books.
EA then released a console RPG in 2004 entitled The Third Age, based on the universe portrayed in the films, though not the original story. It was based on an original story that runs parallel to the events of the movies. The game received average reviews, with many quoting the poor quality of the story in relation to its source. The game also contains a range of unrelated situations that divert from the original plot, such as the final melee combat versus the Eye of Sauron.
In July 2005, EA was granted the rights to develop games based on the books, alongside the separate agreement for games based on the New Line Cinema films. EA released The Battle for Middle-earth II on March 2 2006. While it sold well, some fans, as ever, took issue with the liberties taken with the books, as with its predecessor. That November, EA released a PSP-exclusive title, The Lord of the Rings: Tactics. In October, 2006, an expansion pack for The Battle for Middle-earth II was released, called The Rise of the Witch-king, focusing on the war between the Witch-king and Arnor.
A MMORPG expansion by Turbine, Inc. entitled The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, endorsed by Tolkien Enterprises, was released on April 24, 2007.
In June 2022, developer Free Range Games and publisher North Beach Games announced the coming of The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria. It is due to release in 2023 exclusively on PC, through the Epic Games Store. It will be the only survival crafting video game set in the Fourth Age of Middle-earth. Summoned to the Misty Mountains by Lord Gimli Lockbearer, players take control of a company of Dwarves tasked to reclaim the lost spoils of Khazad-dûm in the depths below their very feet.
Unofficial games[]
Aside from officially licensed games, unofficial games have also been made. Two of the longest-lasting are Angband, an open-source game based loosely on The Silmarillion, and Multi-Users in Middle-earth (MUME), a MUD based on The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
Another is Shadows of Isildur, a free to play RPI MUD. Having started in the year 2460 of the Third Age, SoI allows its players to become a character on the side of either Gondor, or Mordor.
Many Tolkien-inspired addon mods, custom maps and total conversion mods have been made for many games. An overview of some notable examples:
It is important to note that legal action was threatened against MERP (Middle-earth Roleplaying Project), a mod designed to convert the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim into Middle-earth, suggesting a future game on the same scale as Skyrim may be released.
List of video games[]
| Title | Year | Publisher | Developer | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Hobbit | 1982 | Melbourne House | Beam Software | Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, BBC (no graphics), Dragon 32, Oric Atmos, MSX, Apple II, IBM PC |
| Lord of the Rings: Game One (AKA: The Fellowship of The Ring) | 1985 | Melbourne House | Beam Software | ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, BBC, Dragon 32, Apple Macintosh, Apple II, IBM PC |
| The Shadows of Mordor | 1987 | Melbourne House | Beam Software | Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Apple II, IBM PC |
| War in Middle-earth | 1988 | Melbourne House | Melbourne House | C64, Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Amiga, Atari ST, IBM PC |
| The Crack of Doom | 1989 | Melbourne House | Beam Software | Commodore 64, IBM PC |
| The Lord of the Rings Volume 1 | 1990 | Interplay, Electronic Arts |
Interplay, Chaos Studios (Amiga) | Amiga, IBM PC |
| The Lord of the Rings Volume 2 | 1991 | Interplay | Interplay | IBM PC |
| Riders of Rohan | 1991 | Konami, Mirrorsoft | Beam Software, Papyrus | IBM PC |
| Multi-Users in Middle-earth (MUME) | 1991 | Non-commercial | Volunteers | Any telnet or web capable device |
| J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Volume 1 | 1994 | Interplay | Interplay | Super NES |
| The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | 2002 | Vivendi Universal Games | Surreal Software | MS Windows, PlayStation 2 |
| The Whole Experience | Xbox | |||
| Pocket Studios | Game Boy Advance | |||
| The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers | 2002 | Electronic Arts | Stormfront Studios Hypnos Entertainment (GCN) |
PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube |
| Griptonite Games | Game Boy Advance | |||
| The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | 2003 | Electronic Arts Aspyr (Mac OS X) |
Electronic Arts,Hypnos Entertainment (GCN & Xbox) Beenox (Mac OS X) |
MS Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, Mac OS X |
| Electronic Arts | Griptonite Games | Game Boy Advance | ||
| The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring | 2003 | Sierra | Liquid Entertainment | MS Windows |
| The Hobbit | 2003 | Sierra | Midway Austin | MS Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube |
| Saffire | Game Boy Advance | |||
| The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age | 2004 | Electronic Arts | Electronic Arts | PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube |
| The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (GBA) | 2004 | Electronic Arts | Griptonite Games | Game Boy Advance |
| The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth | 2004 | Electronic Arts | EA Los Angeles | MS Windows |
| The Lord of the Rings: Tactics | 2005 | Electronic Arts | Amaze | PlayStation Portable |
| The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II | 2006 | Electronic Arts | EA Los Angeles | MS Windows, Xbox 360 |
| The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-king | 2006 | Electronic Arts | EA Los Angeles | MS Windows |
| The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar | 2007 | Turbine, Inc., Midway | Turbine, Inc. | MS Windows |
| The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria | 2008 | Turbine, Inc., Midway | Turbine, Inc. | MS Windows |
| The Lord of the Rings: Conquest | 2009 | Electronic Arts | Pandemic Studios | Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, MS Windows, Nintendo DS |
| The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood | 2009 | Turbine, Inc. | Turbine, Inc. | MS Windows |
| The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest | 2010 | Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment | Headstrong Games TT Fusion |
Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3 |
| The Lord of the Rings: War in the North | 2011 | Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment | Snowblind Studios | PlayStation 3, MS Windows, Xbox 360 |
| The Lord of the Rings Online: Rise of Isengard | 2011 | Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment | Turbine, Inc. | MS Windows |
| The Lord of the Rings Online: Riders of Rohan | 2012 | Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment | Turbine, Inc. | MS Windows |
| Guardians of Middle-earth | 2012 | Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment | Monolith Productions | Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC (Steam) |
| LEGO The Lord of the Rings: The Video Game | 2012 | Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment | Traveller's Tales | Microsoft Windows, Wii, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360 |
| The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth | 2012 | Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment | Kabam | Android, Apple iOS |
| The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age | 2013 | Kabam | ||
| Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor | 2014 | Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment | Monolith Productions | PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One |
| Lego The Hobbit | 2014 | Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment | Traveller's Tales, TT Fusion, Feral Interactive | PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation Vita, macOS, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS |
| Middle-earth: Shadow of War | 2017 | Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment | Monolith Productions | PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One |
| Untitled Lord of the Rings MMO | Canceled | Amazon | Amazon Game Studios, Leyou Technologies | PC, consoles |
| The Lord of the Rings: Gollum | 2023 | Daedalic Entertainment, Nacon | Daedalic Entertainment | Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X |
| The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria | 2023 | North Beach Games | Free Range Games | PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows |
| Tales of the Shire: A 'The Lord of the Rings' Game[4] | 2024 | Private Division | Wētā Workshop | PC |
References[]
- ↑ Thorsen, Tor (October 26, 2005). Report: Peter Jackson displeased with Lord of the Rings games. Retrieved on 2006-05-23.
- ↑ Paulsen, Jakob (June 3, 2003). War of the Ring impressions. Retrieved on 2006-05-23.
- ↑ Adams, Dan (December 3, 2004). The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth. Retrieved on 2006-05-23.
- ↑ Unveiling Tales of the Shire on YouTube.com