With the demo now released on the PlayStation Network, we thought we’d give you our hands-on impressions of the parts of the game that we got to see. Included is some video footage and screengrabs of the training mission.
Starting off
The first thing that’s immediately clear is that this is very much a movie-based game. The menu that asks you to “press start” has some footage of the Last Alliance playing in the background. This is indeed the background for most menus. In the background the familiar movie score can also be heard – so no complaints about the atmosphere.
The demo presents the player with a number of options and gives a sneak peek at what is waiting for us in the full game. The Singleplayer option lists ‘Training’ as well as the two campaigns and instant action. Since only ‘Training’ is available – we jumped right in.
One of the Warriors Combo attacks
Training
The training mission starts as you fight a small skirmish on the ridges near the black gate. Starting off with a Warrior, we were taught the combos and skills of this class. Although the enemies thrown at us were basically cannon fodder, it was still a great way to learn the basics – without being killed. Overall we were glad that the game seems to automatically select a target for you. It felt very smart and was not intrusive at all. The great thing about this is that even small skirmishes get very hectic. You can quickly lose sight of what’s going on and indeed just want to kill as many enemies as you want. If you hit your combo buttons, you’re pretty much assured you’re going to hit your enemy. It’s a good thing friendly fire doesn’t seem to exist, or our attacks would have probably killed most of our allies as well.
The Warrior has three basic attacks: Light, Medium and Heavy. Since all we were facing was some lowly grunts, it didn’t matter which we used, we killed them on one blow. Combining the three however unlocks some awesome combo’s, and if you light your sword on fire these can deal some very serious damage.
Special arrows
We then moved on to the Archer class, which is a very different take on the game. Its very easy to get addicted to this class, and was probably my personal favourite. Picking off enemies in the distance is a lot of fun, especially when you get to throw some special area-of-attack attacks like the fire or multiple shots. The poison arrow is fun in theory, but in practice I found that its a lot more effective to use your precious shots to kill your enemies. Archers have infinite arrows and can shoot very very fast. In terms of rate think about the pistol sidearm you get in most FPS games. However, when zoomed in, you can’t fire as fast. The zoom itself can be handy when you’re farther away from the battle (which as an archer, you’ll want to be) but in close quarters “spraying” can be effective as well. The archer also has a kick ability to get your enemy off of you, which helped us a few times.
As the third class we moved to the scout. This class is great for killing the bigger enemies like orc captains and even trolls (we didnt see any in the tutorial). He also has a few neat tools, including a small bomb, which is basically a grenade. The Scout can also deal some damage in straight-on melee, but gets knocked down easily and takes a lot more damage then the Warrior. The three special melee attacks failed to impress us, but then again, we didn’t really need them.
The real battle
Finally, we moved out of the ridges and tunnels and onto the battlefield. The scale of the Singleplayer really shows itself here, since there are dozens upon dozens of units running around. We had to take and defend a point from an onslaught of orc grunts. They spawned in neat rows nearby, which admittedly kind’ve ruined the atmosphere. However, as soon as their AI took over and they started moving, chaos ensued. We got the opportunity to play as the Mage, which is very much a crowd control class. Like the archer it has a bunch of ranged attacks, but it can deal some serious area-of-effect damage with its spells. The fireball sets a small area on fire for a while, the lightning can do damage to multiple units, and the shock wave which knocks back your enemies. It also has two defensive abilities: a shield that blocks enemy spells and arrows in a short radius – and a heal ability which restores the health for allies nearby. You cannot resurrect dead allies.
Our first hero, Isildur
After beating the orcs, Sauron showed up. Here we got our first chance to play as a hero – in this case: Isildur. Isildur is basically a much more powerful version of the Warrior class, with some amazingly powerful combos. We got knocked back a few times by Sauron, but we killed him using some serious fire sword action. Sadly, Sauron did not “kawoosh” the same way he did in the movies. All we got was a small sand storm. Ah well…
This then concluded the training mission. It gives a nice taste of what to expect for the campaign – but we can only assume that the campaign will be a lot harder. We really didn’t sweat much during the tutorial, although there were tons upon tons of Orcs, they merely presented us with more cannon fodder.
Up next: Multiplayer!
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Comments:
Argetlam:
Still waiting for the pc demo.
roytjuh:
He's really cool, but the graphics are not on GTA-niveau xD.
Argetlam:
Now that I see some of the combat buttons I think I will get a PC game controller. And good job with the video.
Cheeky Hobbit:
The downgrade in graphics when playing online doesn't bother me in the slightest. Basiclaly all games with an online component do that - have you seen GTA IV's graphics online? Yuck.
I'd rather the game looked slightly worse online but played lag-free than the other way around. :)
Lotr Lover:
does anyone know exactly when conquest demo is coming to xbox 360
Illuminatio:
Can't wait for the PC-demo... still waiting Pandemic... still...
TokyoBlade:
Samus1111111:
It would be cool if they released it tomorrow as a Christmas gift to all of us loyal fans :D
Warrior123:
I wait demo for pc.I love this game but i cant wait more
Freek:
There probably won't be a PC demo, so please stop asking for it in every demo related thread.
Rayman:
"Hope for the best ,prepare for the worst" they say ,let's keep the first sentence...
LegolasGreenleaf:
Anyone Know when the Pc's demo will be released?????^^
Freek:
No.
/10char
Illuminatio:
It would be really odd if there wasn't going to be a PC demo, first to test your system, so you can see if you can handle the game. And second to look if the game is good and fun, so worthy to buy. I miss the old days where demo was a PC-only thing :(
TokyoBlade:
Like Freek said: Please stop asking about the PC demo. Just wait until it gets confirmed (if there even will be a pc demo for it), constantly begging for it will not make it arrive any sooner :P
Warrior123:
But a x360 demo?
TokyoBlade:
lexx82:
can som1 plz tell me if there are any good videos on lord of the rings conquest multiplayer??plz:S
TokyoBlade:
There are a load of videos on youtube :) type in "lord of the rings conquest multiplayer demo" into the search.
BalrogOfMorogoth:
There will be no conquest demo on the 360 so stop asking!!!
krapyl:
Yes xbox360 demo is confirmed. I am not sure but i beleve that it will come out today :P Idk...don't really care either sience i have a PS3
Freek:
BalrogOfMorogoth:
Idk issue your dumb warnings this is just a website for people who like lotr conquest not some important ****. There will not be a demo i just found out freek shut up now because you have no idea what the **** you are talking about you dumb *******!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BalrogOfMorogoth:
And if i get banned over this i could care less because im on 10 different websites contributed to lotr conquest.your all fools to think there will be a conquest demo. Now stfu and go play hello kitty island adventures nubs.
Thorgaz:
Ahahah... what a happy discussion. Patience people, the game soon enough... just make one of your friends buy it so you can see how you like it before you spend your own money.
krapyl:
Sledgehammer and ComposerRyan have conformed that the xbox360 demo will be aveble today or tomorrow ;)
FraserGT:
Quick first impressions:
Bad - Trolls are annoying (if you are good) and trolls get in the way (if you are bad)
Scouts backstabbing is annoying, not very lord of the ringsy
Good - You need to work as a team in multiplayer
- Mage, Archer and Warrior seem to be well balanced
Great game (demo) in my opinion, definitely going to get the game
FaceCake:
Wow. This was supposed to be a thread about playing the demo, not a "when will the demo be released" Thread. You should have gave warnings to people who asked about it.
Anyways, I thought the game was pretty balanced. I however found that its pretty hard to kill people. Also i absolutely hate when I'm Gandalf, and a scout comes up behind me and kills me in one hit. There should be a class that can see the scout while he is invisable.
erm,
I also like how the troll has alot of health, making it both challenging and rewarding to kill him, altho you should get about 200 pts instead of 10 when you finally kill one.
I also like how teamwork is very important in large scale battles, with the mage deploying sheilds around archers and what not.
Freek:
The best way to avoid the scout is to "hop" or walk around like you're drunk (left to right and frequently change directions)
krapyl:
Anyways, I thought the game was pretty balanced. I however found that its pretty hard to kill people. Also i absolutely hate when I'm Gandalf, and a scout comes up behind me and kills me in one hit. There should be a class that can see the scout while he is invisable.
erm,
I also like how the troll has alot of health, making it both challenging and rewarding to kill him, altho you should get about 200 pts instead of 10 when you finally kill one.
I also like how teamwork is very important in large scale battles, with the mage deploying sheilds around archers and what not.
FaceCake:
yea i agree. Im by myself in the shire, wondering around, exploring it while there is battles happening north of the map in the orc camp. Im by that bridge where the good team starts out, and a balrog just spawns right infront of me. I was like "HOLY SH*T" but i killed it somehow, and yea only 10 points. I also found that when playing as the balrog, when you press "A" on the xbox controller, his little bar goes up making his speacial abilities avaliable.
After i got the hang of it, i was going 19 for 4 on each map. I use mostly the mage and the scout. Being the scout is fun when you start using his nasty combos. Hes a lot more useful then just going invisible. Being an archer balances out well. Unlimited ammo, but it is difficult to shoot at people if they keep moving around. And if you are a troll, its easy for archers to hit you, but you can heal, and you have ALOT of health.
I love this game, so, so much. All those years of playing battlefront, wishing it was lotr, finally came true.
OiXerxes:
Almost one week for all of us in the US of A...and I have it during finals week...thank somebody for giving us a four-day weekend...