A shadow over hobbits and games…

I don’t think anyone would be too terribly surprised that I like The Lord of the Rings.

I think what would actually surprise people is how relatively late I got into it. Despite my love for the fantasy genre, I didn’t actually read The Lord of the Rings until 2001, in preparation for watching The Fellowship of the Ring. I hadn’t even read The Hobbit until then, either; I read that first, and when I was done I read my mom’s copy of The Lord of the Rings (which was actually older than I was). Since then, I’ve picked up my own hardcover collectors’ editions of both books.

The movie trilogy is also one of my favorite movie series. Jennifer and I happen to watch it whenever it’s on TV, even if we happen to be flipping through channels and just happen upon it by random. Needless to say, we were both excited by the prospect of a movie series based on The Hobbit, and had originally been looking forward to it.

I know I’m a bit late to the game in saying this, but neither one of us particularly enjoyed the films as an adaptation of The Hobbit. The big problem, of course, is that the film trilogy is the same length as the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, while the source material is about half the length of The Fellowship of the Ring. The amount of padding needed for the film trilogy was best shown when I was re-reading The Hobbit; at one point early on, I turned to Jennifer and said, “Hey, honey? I’m on page 42 and am already an hour into the first film.”

The additional changes were also an annoyance. As much as I like Sylvester McCoy, Radagast did not need to be in the movie. Jennifer was also surprised when I pointed out that not only was Legolas not in the original book, Tauriel was a character invested solely for the movies. Once we finished watching the second movie and noticing all of the changes made, I decided to myself that it would be much better if I simply enjoyed the trilogy on its own merits. On its own merits, The Hobbit trilogy is a decent fantasy series. As an adaptation of the original novel, it leaves a LOT to be desired.

What might also be a surprise is that I don’t have any Lord of the Rings video games. The closest I’ve come to getting one was being tempted to get The Lord of the Rings Online, after seeing it demonstrated while at E3 in 2006. What stopped me was the simple fact that I had burned out on MMORPGs a few years before, and could not see myself getting back into them. I simply hadn’t had much interest in getting them, especially as the majority of them appeared to be real-time strategy games; I tend to be terrible at strategy games. :-)

Recently, however, WB Games announced a game that actually piqued my interest: Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. Instead of being a strategy game or a straight adaptation of one of the films, the game takes place between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and follows a ranger named Talion who, after being killed and brought back in a form of undeath, investigates the rise of Sauron in Mordor. The gameplay is described as a cross between Assassin’s Creed and Batman: Arkham; the latter drew my interest as it’s one of my current favorite game series.

While I’m interested in getting it, there is a slight problem. As I don’t have an Xbox One or a Playstation 4 (and have no plans to get either), I would need to get the game for either my Xbox 360 or my PC. Unfortunately, my PC doesn’t quite meet the minimum requirements; I would normally download a demo to see if it would work, but there is no demo available on Steam. As a result, that platform is off the table. However, the Xbox 360 version has its own issues. One of the game’s main features is referred to as the “Nemesis” system, where orcs you encounter and fight remember you and adjust their tactics and actions to take your own actions into account. However, word is that the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions had to have the Nemesis system scaled way back due to the difference in system capabilities.

The Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions aren’t due out for another couple of weeks. If the reviews are not promising, I may skip the game. Otherwise, I might just rent it from Redbox and see if it’s worth purchasing.

It’s a shame that the two biggest and most recent adaptations of Tolkien’s work are so hit and miss. Still, while I’m questioning whether to get Shadow of Mordor, I’ll definitely still see the third Hobbit film. While it’s terrible as an adaptation of the original novel, I can still enjoy it as a fantasy movie. I just hope it won’t be a disappointment. :-)