The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest

Set in the early Fourth Age, 15 years after the destruction of the One Ring and downfall of Sauron, Samwise Gamgee waits for the return of Aragorn to the Shire for a great party. As the Mayor, Sam is in charge of arranging the festivities for King Elessar's arrival; in the mean-time, he regales his children with tales of Aragorn's exploits. (Cf. Aragorn and Arwen meeting Sam at Brandywine Bridge in Fourth Age 15.)

Sam's son, Frodo Gamgee, runs around Hobbiton completing tasks, whilst also re-living the Aragorn's adventures (as retold, not always perfectly accurately) by Sam.

The player controls Frodo Gamgee in the hub world of the Shire, where he can talk to people and perform simple tasks. When sitting down with his father, the player can control Aragorn in a fairy tale-like setting. Wii players can also control Gandalf as a second character.

Aragorn will wield a sword, a shield, a bow and spears, and can mount a horse.

Controls

The controls on the Wii have been compared with those of Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, with the analogue-stick being using to control the on-screen character, with swiping of the Wii Remote up, down or to the side makes Aragorn perform similar on-screen actions; the D-pad switches weapon (to bow-and-arrow and flaming torch, for example), and the Z-button locks on, and C looks around. The controls for the PlayStation 3 - which only works with PlayStation Move - is much the same as those for the Wii.

The Nintendo DS version of the game uses rudimentary touch-screen controls (such as tracing a rune in order to open doors).

Multiplayer

At any point (on the Wii and PlayStation 3), a second player can drop into the game as Gandalf, and work co-operatively in order to complete the tasks. Gandalf wields his staff and can utilise powerful magic to defeat enemies, such as hitting enemies with lightning and shooting firebolts, as well as the ability to heal, and use his sword; Gandalf's magic is recharged with orbs from dead enemies.

When in the Shire, a second player can also play as Elanor (dressed as Gandalf) to help Frodo Gamgee complete the mini-quests in Hobbiton; the second player has the same magical abilities as Gandalf in the Aragorn quests.

Playable

Frodo Gamgee
Aragorn
Gandalf - by a second player
Elanor - by a second player

Non-playable

Arwen
Bilbo Baggins
Boromir
Elrond
Éomer
Éowyn
Frodo Baggins
Gamling
Gimli
Legolas
Merry Brandybuck
Merry Gardner
Pippin Gardner
Pippin Took
Rose Cotton
Samwise Gamgee
Théoden

Cast

Cast members are billed by name only; no roles are specified in the game's credits.

Archive sounds from The Lord of the Rings (film series) were used for many of the main characters. It is unclear whether Chris Edgerly provided additional lines for Aragorn as he did in previous games. But Crispin Freeman did replace Orlando Bloom as Legolas

Since the first announcement in May 2009, Warner Bros. have periodically released trailers (and one interview) demonstrating various aspects of the gameplay. All video links are to YouTube, and times are in minutes:

<table class="TGtable" border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0 auto;"><tr><td style="background: #F2E6CE;">Video</td><td style="background: #F2E6CE;">Length</td><td style="background: #F2E6CE;">Release Date</td><td style="background: #F2E6CE;">Description</td></tr>

Debut Trailer1:05c. 29 May 2009Displays Sam's story-telling and Aragorn's fighting prowess

Trailer #21:1714 December 2009Gameplay and, for the first time, two-player co-operative

Overland Trailer<td>5:1218 June 2010Lengthy gameplay sequences

Vignette1:5710 August 2010Action sequences of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields

Co-op Trailer1:24c. 26 August 2010Co-op gameplay and tutorial, with controls

Behind the Scenes2:0910 September 2010Sean Astin and John Rhys-Davies explain the game and their characters

Launch Trailer1:2614 September 2010Generic clips of gameplay and enemies (with an Oliphaunt and the Balrog)</table>

In May 2009, it was announced that Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment had taken over from Electronic Arts and entered into partnership with the Saul Zaentz Company and New Line Cinema (itself a subsidiary of Warner Bros.) to produce video games based on The Lord of the Rings books and films. The game's title was initially leaked at Electronic Entertainment Expo (more commonly known as "E3"), before being confirmed a week later by Warner Bros., "accessible gameplay set in a friendly, colorful rendition of Middle-Earth. Players assume the role of Strider and embark on his greatest quests from The Lord of the Rings trilogy." The press release promised a more family-friendly experience in which the player relives Aragorn's adventures, as retold by Mayor Samwise Gamgee, available on the Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable in the Fall 2009. Kotaku were luke-warm to the announcement of "a kids' game".

In August 2009, Warner Bros. announced that Aragorn's Quest had been delayed until Spring 2010, but no reason was given for the delay. Come Spring 2010, however, no release date had been announced; on 10 March 2010 Warner Bros. informed Kotaku that Aragorn's Quest would be ported to the PlayStation 3, supporting PlayStation Move. Kotaku speculated that this why the game was being delayed, again, until Fall 2010.

The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest has received generally mixed reviews, with reviewers praising the sound quality and accessibility, but ultimately believing that the easiness of the game and the visuals hold it back from achieving the sort of sword-fighting The Lord of the Rings game that many would like to see. There is a general feeling amongst reviewers that Aragorn's Quest was an opportunity missed to make a truly great The Lord of the Rings action adventure hack and slash game.

1UP compared the controls of Aragorn's Quest to Nintendo's Twilight Princess, praising the varied gameplay and the game's accessibility, but complaining that the game's side-quests were too repetitive, the Wii controls were too simplistic and "a bit iffy", with the experience of the two-player co-op mode being ruined by lag. Similarly, GameTrailers said "The bottom line is that combat is not fun, and enemies are typically a cakewalk." and that the Wii controls were a nuisance, as was the lack of camera control; they also thought that the voice acting was "awkward" (although the soundtrack "fits right in") and that the game looks "drab".

However, GameSpot, in a more positive review, said, "The environments impress with their variety, attention to detail, and the way they so faithfully reflect the visual style of the films." but that Aragorn's Quest lacks challenge, with the Wii controls being "imprecise"; they wish that more attention-to-detail had been paid to enemies. IGN thought the Wii version was far superior to the PlayStation 3 version of the game, but still suggested this was a game for just J.R.R. Tolkien aficionados as only they would be able to overlook the game's flaws; IGN also complained about the mixed visual style, but loved reliving moments from the films.

CNET describes the storytelling as "charming"; they also found the motion-controls on the Wii "frustrating" but felt it didn't matter because defeating the "very easy" enemies was still "satisfying". CNET also said the ending of the game was an "anti-climax", but praised the environments: "The environments impress with their variety, attention to detail, and the way they so faithfully reflect the visual style of the films. Finally, Kotaku loved the game's film-based adventure, "attractive" visuals, variety of characters and film-based soundtrack, but absolutely hated the easiness of the game, claiming that one person could play the two-player co-op mode.

In Short: reviewers enjoyed the graphical style and musical score, faithfully recreating the feel and atmosphere of the films (although some thought the mixed style was confused, and some thought the attention-to-detail was inconsistent), but felt that the Wii controls were frustratingly inaccurate and that enemies were far too easy. Though aimed primarily at families and younger gamers, reviewers were keen to point out that anyone could enjoy it, but it would appeal primarily film-fans who would be able to over-look the game's faults.

1. Esta ficha se ha importado inicialmente de TolkienGateway.net el día 30/05/2026.