Later this year, the anticipated video game
Middle-Earth: Shadows of Mordor will be released. While it is certainly getting a split reaction (and by split, I mean split between the gamers who want it because it looks like a good game, and the Tolkein purists who hate it because it "doesn't feel like Tolkein"), there is certainly some excitement about it.
This got me thinking that there is still a market for
Lord of the Rings based games. As I thought about it, I thought of two games I wanted to see done. The first was sort of an open world, action/stealth type video game like
Theif, Arkham Asylum, or
Assassin's Creed. Players would take up the role of the wizard Radagast the Brown and attempt to expel the evil still residing within the fortress of Dol Guldur in Mirkwood
(Quick explanation: During the events of The Hobbit, the White Council--led by Gandalf-- expelled Sauron out of Dol Guldur. 60 years later, during Lord of the Rings, Sauron established a stronghold within Dol Guldur for the purpose of attacking the north). However, I felt that this idea felt too similiar to
Shadows of Mordor, so I dropped the idea.
The other idea I had, is the one I will be writing about in this article.
Developer: Koei Tecmo
For those of you, who have never heard of Koei Tecmo before, they are a Japan-based Developer. They produce hack-n-slash games. And that is the type of game I want thsi LOTR game to be.
You've probably heard of some of Koei's popular video games:
Dynasty Warriors series: Koei's most popular series of games. The games are set in the Three Kindgoms era of China. Players take control of one of several (the most recent game had over 82) characters and set out to unify war-torn China.
Samurai Warrior series: Similar to the Dynasty Warriors series, Samurai Warriors focuses on the Warring States (or Sengoku) period of Japan.
Warriors Orochi series: Rather than based in history, Warriors Orochi is more of a fantasy. A malevolent spirit fuses the time periods of the Three Kingdoms and Sengoku in order to challenge history's finest warriors.
The games definitely aren't for everyone. Koei has a pretty niche fanbase. But, the fans it does have are really loyal to them (I know, I'm one of them).
At E3, it was annoucned that Koei was working with Nintendo to make Hyrule Warriors; a game that follows the dynamic of Koei's other "Warriors" games, but set in the universe of the Legend of Zelda series. When I heard that announcement, that got me thinking that Koei doing a Lord of the Rings game could work.
For those of you who have never played a Warriors game, let me break it down for you:
Here is a screenshot from Dynasty Warriors 7. The blue represents your health bar. The K.O. Count represents the number of enemies you've taken out on the battlefield. The glowing yellow bar beneath your blue health bar is your Musou Meter. You fill that up by defeating enemies. Once you fill it up, you can unleash a "Musou attack" which is really powerful.
Every level in a Warriors game sets you on a map. The goal of winning the level is to defeat the enemy commander. You lose the battle if you or your commander (sometimes, you are the commander) are defeated. Later games have recently started givign you special objectives that could help you turn the tide of battle if you complete them.
Now that all that's out the way, let's start talking about how I would visualize a Warriors LOTR game.
First off, we'd have the main menu. I'll jump through the features on the main menu quickly.
*Story Mode: Play through one of several story modes:
I'm saying this here, because I don't know where else to put it. I'd want this game to incorporate as much of the books as possible. So there would be events, battles, and even playable characters, that were only seen in the books. But there would still be a lot of material from the movies as well.
-The Hobbit: Tells the story of Bilbo's journey to help the dwarves reclaim Lonely Mountain from the Dragon Smaug
-The Fellowship of the Ring Part I: Tells the story of the forming of the Fellowship all the way through to the breaking of the Fellowship at Amon Hen.
-The Fellowship of the Ring Part II: Tells of the journey of Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, Merry, and Pippin, as they lead the forces of Men against the evil of Sauron.
- The Fellowship of the Ring Part III: Tells of Frodo and Same and their journey to destroy the one ring.
-Rohan: The story of how the forces of Rohan defended themselves against the evil of Isengard, and later went to the aid of Gondor.
-Gondor: How the men of the White City held off Sauron's forces and later went with their king to confront Sauron one last time.
-Elves: A story of the various battles in the north involving the elves. As mentioned earlier, I would like to use a lot of material from the books in this game. The elf story would be where a huge chunk of book material comes into play.
--*Evil (becomes unlocked after completing all other story modes) - A purely hypothetical route about the forces of Sauron acheiving victory and dominating Middle-Earth.
*Free Mode: In free mode, you can re-play any stage without having to play through the story. You can also play a stage in free mode with any character.
*Conquest Mode: Think of it as an alternate story if you will. Sort of a Warriors game meeting the board game "Risk." You choose a character and territory to start out as. Then you set out battle to obtain allies and territories as you conquer Middle-Earth.
*Options: Adjust the game settings.
*Gallery: View unlocked cinematics, character models, weapon models, and even listen to dialogue.
And now, we've come to the last part. The playable characters. Koei's games boast a large roster of playable characters. Some of the characters I have would be recognizable from the movies. Some only known through the books. For those book exclusive characters, or characters you may not know, I'll include a picture and quick description.
Note: In free mode, the characters are divided into five factions to choose from: Hobbits, Men, Elves, Dwarves, Evil. All characters have 2 costumes to choose from. Some costumes are actually different from each other, and some are just pallette swaps. I will list a couple of the alternate costumes because I've thought that far.
It should also be noted that not every character is available in story mode. Some characters can only be played in Free Mode.
Hobbits:
* Frodo
* Sam
* Merry
* Pippin
* Bilbo (alternate costume: The Hobbit, Old)
Men:
* Gandalf (alternate costume: the gray, the white)
*Aragorn (alternate costume: Ranger, King Elessar)
*Boromir
*Faramir
*Beregond
In The Return of the King, Beregond is a sentry of Gondor. He served as Pippin's guide in Minas Tirith. During the seige of Gondor, Beregond abandoned his post to help Pippin save Faramir from his insane father.
*Imrahil
Imrahil was the brother-in-law of Denethor and the uncle to Boromir and Faramir. It was Imrahil who led the defense of Minas Tirith during the seige of Gondor (in the movies, it was Gandalf).
*King Theoden
*Eomer
*Eowyn
*Gamling
In the movies, Gamling is Theoden's lieutenant. In the books, he is notable for his actions at Helm's Deep. When the orcs first infiltrate the Depp, Gamling is the one who leads the attack
*Radagast the Brown
*Bard the Bowman
Elves:
*Elrond
*Arwen
*Galadriel
*Elladan
*Elrohir
Elladan and Elrohir are the twin sons of Elrond and Arwen's brothers. Despite being twins, they both would have different weapons and play differently.
*Legolas
*Thranduil
*Haldir
*Glorfindel
Glorfindel was one of the mightiest elves in Middle-Earth. He is most notable for returning to Middle-Earth after his death (much like Gandalf).
Dwarves:
*Gimli
*Thorin
*Dain
*Kili
*Fili
*Nori
*Dori
*Ori
*Oin
*Gloin
*Balin
*Dwalin
*Bifur
*Bofur
*Bombur
Evil:
*Sauron (alternate costumes: Dark Lord, Necromancer)
*Gollum (alternate costumes: Gollum, Smeagol)
*Saruman the White
*Grima Wormtongue
*Nazgul (Ringwraith)
*The Witch-King of Angmar
*Khamul
Khamul was one of the nine kings of men given a ring of power. Along with the others, Sauron corrupted him and turned him into a wraith. If the Witch-King is Sauron's number one, then Khamul is his number 2. He is also notable as the only other Wraith, besides the Witch-King, to be named. During the War of the Ring, Sauron placed Khamul in charge of Dol Guldur.
*Suludan
The only thing known about Suludan is that he was one who led the Easterlings and Haradrim (both tribes of evil men who served Sauron) during the battle of Pelennor Fields. During the battle, he was killed by Theoden.
*Ugluk
Ugluk was an Uruk-Hai who served Saruman. He led his Uruks and attacked the Fellowship, killing Boromir and kidnapping Merry and Pippin in the process. In the film adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring, he is partially replaced by the original character Lurtz.
*Shagrat
Shagrat was the commander of Orcs in the tower of Cirith Ungol. During the War of the Ring, Shagrat came across Frodo who'd been paralyzed by Shelob and ordered him taken to the tower. Tensions rose as Shargrat and an orc from Minas Morgul, Gorbag, fought over what to do with Frodo's belongings. As a brawl broke out among the orcs of Cirith Ungol, Shagrat fled with Frodo's belongings to Bara-Dur.
*The Mouth of Sauron
Sauron's representative, and the Lieutenant of Bara-Dur. A black Numenorian (another race of evil men). He had served Sauron so long that he forgot his own name. While under Sauron, he learned black sorcery. He was known to be more cruel and cunning than any orc in Mordor.
*Great Goblin
To get out of a storm and avoid a battle between giants, Bilbo, Thorin, and Company took shelter in a cave. That night, they were kidnapped by goblins who took them to their kingdom of Goblin Town and their leader the Great Goblin. The Great Goblin recognized Thorin's sword, Orcrist, and believed him to be a goblin murderer. As he prepared to execute Thorin, Gandalf arrived and slew him.
So what do you guys think? Would you play this game? Tell me int he comment section below.