The Fellowship of the Ring

Preview - Xbox to receive Vivendi's first 'Lord of the Rings' licensed game...

One Ring to rule them all, one Ring to find them, one Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

You may have read the books, seen the film, got the t-shirts, got the mug, got the trading cards, played the board game and collected the figures but now, just to top it all off, Universal Interactive is set to release a game later this year, based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece. Universal, in collaboration with Vivendi, are developing titles promising to have unprecedented richness and fidelity; you will be able to submerge yourself into the War of the Ring for the first time ever. Nice.

Tolkien; Professor of Classics (or something similarly academic) at Oxford University spent years creating a coherent world – based in pre-history, and his story centred around Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits and Mortal Men all fighting for their freedom against the Dark Lord “Sauron”, who has unleashed his forces of darkness against “Middle-Earth”, the name for this forgotten realm. Imagine the potential then, of an RPG-influenced title based around the very premise and world that invented the fantasy genre as a whole – be it books, films, or indeed games. It’s quite staggering, really.

Due to be released in October 2002, for the Xbox, is “The Fellowship of the Ring” (at the moment only only available for Xbox, which seems strange). Controlling Frodo, Aragorn or Gandalf you will play through eight different realms in Middle-Earth, solving quests on your journey from the Shire all the way to the Misty Mountains. It sounds rather like a linear RPG, if you will, which offers good scope for fans to indulge, as well as non-fans to pick up and enjoy the experience. If such folk exist. What’s more a number of key scenes from the novel (the first novel that is, “The Fellowship of the Ring”)will be included…