Those Middle-earth faring Pandemics have finally come clean - LotR: Conquest is a Battlefront style project letting gamers relive huge battles and more.
You can choose from orcs, elves, ents to Frodo, Gandalf and even ol ‘One Eye’ himself, with around 150 characters promised on screen at once.
Key battles are taken from the movie but also the books, plus once you complete the campaign for the goodies you unlock the darker side to Middle-earth. The evil conquests start with a Ringwraith capturing Frodo and delivering the One Ring to a certain eye in the sky.
Much like Battlefront, you pick a role and stick to it until death comes knocking. There are four classes to choose from, melee warrior, long range archer, supporting mage or a stealthy scout. Likewise with the Star Wars version you have no control of the army but can greatly influence the battle by completing certain objectives.
Of course you can also jump in as celebrity Middle-earthians but only for a limited time, the health of the heroes will slowly trickle to zero and only by slaughtering foes does it stand a chance at refilling.
The array of things you can be is any fans wet dream, Oliphaunts, Ents, Balrogs, Cave-trolls… there’ll be something for everyone no doubt. There’ll be multiplayer modes of course ranging from the typical to the addition of a rather interesting one called “Ring Bearer”.
Here a player takes the role of Frodo as the others become Ringwraiths; the goal is simply to stay in possession of the ring for as long as you can. When a Ringwraith gets the ring then that player will become Frodo in the next round.
The battles are going to be a visual and interactive feast if Pandemics boasting is anything to go by. With around 150 characters on screen, rideable beasties and useable equipment like siege towers and catapults - Lord of the Rings: Conquest is going to be one Pandemic game to rule them all.
