With the impending release of Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor, the next great video game set in the fantastical world created by J.R.R. Tolkien, we here at GameNGuide wanted to break down the long history of Middle-Earth in video games and deliver to you only the finest bits.
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What is intriguing about the video games based in Middle-earth is how few of them there were prior to Peter Jackson's film trilogy back in the early 2000s. Now, the argument can and will be made that if you've ever played anything based in Dungeons & Dragons, you're playing in Tolkien's world. The Hobbit and later, The Lord of the Rings was the inspiration to Gary Gygax, who created the original D&D because he wanted to run around with Halflings and Dwarves and other creatures of Tolkien's folkore.
Since 1982, only about 30 games (not including expansions) have been released based on the works of Tolkien. Hell, Assassin's Creed is going to pass that number in five years, and the first one came out 7 years ago. The total number of pre-Jackson games stands at 9. I guess somehow...some way, we regained our love for all things Middle-earth.
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Now, when we think of Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson's trilogy is what comes to mind. It manages to do everything right. Even reading the books now, one cannot help but picture the characters as their film counterparts. The films have supplanted the novels as the best form of the story.
The games, however, not so much. Many of them are good, a lot are bad, but few are truly great in the way that Jackson's epic sort of revolutionized the fantasy genre. But there are still a few worth checking out. GameNGuide counts them down.
5. The Hobbit (1982)
The most enduring Tolkien title to date, though, remains Lord of the Rings Online. Released in 2007 and still going strong, the game recently received its 14th patch update and, which added the Paths of the Dead. Five expansions have been released over the years, the latest coming in 2013 titled 'Helms Deep' Developer Turbine received a license to develop the game based on the books only, so it has a very different look to it than the EA officially licensed film work. This allowed the good people over at Turbine the chance to open up the very vast, very well thought out world of Middle-earth and bring it to players.
The game was originally subscription-based like World of Warcraft, but was one of the first to switch to the free-to-play model, which opened the gates to more users. The game is still the 5th most played MMO title and commands 4% of the total market share. The only other North American developed MMOs that are more played are World of Warcraft and Star Wars:The Old Republic.
Any game that will allow you to play as a Bear, as Lord of the Rings Online will in an upcoming expansion, will always make the top of my list.
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Special Mention goes to LEGO Lord of the Rings, too. Those LEGO games are derivative of each other, but damn if they aren't so much fun.
All of these are leading up to Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor which is potentially game of the year material. The graphics are akin to those used in the new Hobbit films. The new Nemesis system could also potentially revolutionize the way enemy AI works in future games, and at the very least should make for some exciting gameplay elements.
Tune in to GameNGuide later where we'll be giving you the updates regarding the Shadow of Mordor panel at this year's Comic Con.
