The Lord of the Rings: Gollum Assessment

Whether or not it’s a guide, a film, or a online game, artistic works usually exist for a purpose. Typically it’s to thrill, by entertaining with tales or enjoyable gameplay. Different occasions it’s to tell, with information or by exposing the viewers to completely different views. Or it makes you assume, with fascinating concepts that problem you to think about or replicate. The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, nevertheless, is a sport that does none of these items. As a substitute, it thrusts you into the function of the titular character with out doing something significant together with his defining inside battle, and sends him on a sequence of missions which are neither enjoyable to play nor fascinating to expertise. The one query it poses is: why would somebody wish to play this?

Taking part in as Gollum sounded prefer it would possibly’ve been a good pitch for a sport, since he’s one of many extra fascinating and well-known characters in J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy universe. He and Sméagol are two sides of the identical coin; the great individual that was Sméagol was tragically corrupted by The One Ring, twisted into this pathetic creature. It’s his clammy naked toes that we step into, ostensibly with the objective of regaining possession of the Ring from Bilbo Baggins. Nevertheless, most of your time is spent experiencing Gollum’s time as a prisoner in the course of the years between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring in a linear, story-driven sequence of ranges. Jail Simulator: Mordor Version is unfortunately much less fascinating than it sounds. I couldn’t shake the sensation I used to be alleged to be on a grand Lord of the Rings journey, and was as an alternative caught gathering bits and baubles for forgettable NPCs and hiding in bushes to cover from monotonous guard patrols.

There are usually three phases to any stage, and so they vary from uninteresting to only plain dangerous. There’s the chores part, by which Gollum goes from one waypoint to a different to finish some menial job. There’s at all times some conceptually completely different state of affairs, like crawling via small openings to detonate explosives, however functionally it’s a sequence of marches throughout the identical areas time and again. It by no means looks like there’s any level to it, simply busywork. It might be enjoyable to run round with Gollum, due to his stunning dash pace, however he has a stamina meter that depletes in just some seconds and takes far longer to replenish. Making an attempt to get wherever includes too little pace, an excessive amount of ready, and an unlucky quantity of listening to Gollum choking on his personal breath. 

The platforming phases are extra compelling, however nonetheless poorly designed. Spacious rooms with handles to climb, partitions to run, and leaps to take deliver a quicker tempo of motion, however the unfastened and floaty method Gollum strikes and imprecise controls make it really feel like one thing from the PlayStation 2 period. Having skilled a contemporary Murderer’s Creed or Tomb Raider sport, right here it feels far too simple to leap towards the proper level and fall to your loss of life since you drifted to 1 aspect, or missed the a part of the ledge that has the white line that establishes precisely the place you may seize. The paths are rigidly outlined, and infrequently contain blind jumps or finest guesses at what the following meant deal with is. Relatively than a throwback, it comes throughout as outdated; a poor facsimile of classics just like the Prince of Persia sequence. 

These points plagued mediocre stealth video games 15 years in the past.

Lastly there are the stealth segments, that are merely dangerous. Any time Gollum must go from level A to B undetected, it’s going to be a slog. Enemies have extraordinarily restricted parol patterns, are terribly nearsighted, and appear to undergo from acute, rapid-onset amnesia, forgetting Gollum ever existed not lengthy after shedding sight of him. These are points that plagued mediocre stealth video games 15 years in the past, and it’s jarring to see them in 2023. There’s no cat-and-mouse sport of outsmarting enemies utilizing fascinating skills and intelligent stage design as you do in one thing like Dishonored or Hitman, you simply exploit their painfully apparent blind spots with no goal outdoors of reaching the designated level. 

Gollum’s solely instruments are his capability to sneak quietly, throw rocks, and disappear in tall grass or shadows. As a result of the enemy AI is surprisingly horrible, doing one thing so simple as standing on a desk or knee-high rock could make you utterly proof against seize. I used to be capable of navigate a protracted stealth part within the Animal Pits of Barad-dûr by simply leaping and grabbing an overhang anytime somebody noticed me. Finally a number of the Orcs get crossbows, however even then the risk is minimal.

There’s no fight per se, which is smart as a result of Gollum is not any fighter in relation to any opponent bigger than a hobbit. You do have the choice to strangle enemies, nevertheless it comes with some odd caveats. First, it doesn’t work on anybody with a helmet. This is smart for somebody in full battle regalia — Sméagol’s grubby mitts gained’t bend metal, in spite of everything. Nevertheless, what defines a helmet on this sport is broadly open to interpretation. Is that orc carrying a hat? First rate likelihood he’s strangle-proof. Additionally, strangling solely applies to orcs. It is smart you may’t choke beasts like spiders, however different humanoid races like elves apparently have invincible throats, eliminating the one methodology to bypass enemies other than stealth. Which, once more, is just not good.

A couple of chase sequences change up the tempo, although they’re a little bit of a combined bag. One locations Gollum on a transferring object and requires cautious dodging oncoming obstructions and archers, and manages to be considered one of solely a handful of enjoyable sections to play via. The opposite is a Crash Bandicoot-style run towards the digicam, made depressing by the imprecise platforming and lack of ability to see obstacles till moments earlier than you have to keep away from them. It’s irritating to play as a personality who’s trying forward and may see incoming objects however not having the ability to see them your self, and die due to it. 

There’s some potential replayability should you for some purpose needed to revisit Gollum’s awful journey as an alternative of taking part in any of the various spectacular video games which have come out lately. Hidden collectibles don’t supply any form of rewards, you simply unfold them out on an previous piece of material to take a look at whereas Gollum gives a line of dialogue for every. Whilst somebody with a pure compulsion to seek out every part in most video games I couldn’t muster any enthusiasm to seek out the following bat wing or chunk of jar. It simply felt pointless so as to add to his unhappy hoard of not-so-precious treasures. 

What’s it for, Valuable?

Hardcore Lord of the Rings followers know Gollum himself is a fancy character, each a sufferer and a villain, however that’s not explored in any significant method on this story. There are occasional binary decisions to reply questions or take motion as Gollum or Sméagol, nevertheless it by no means felt like this altered the story or had lasting results on Gollum himself. Typically there’s a necessity for one aspect of Gollum’s character to persuade the opposite to go together with plans, like when Gollum is hiding from an orc and a portray of the Eye of Sauron sends him into hysterics. The 2 decisions have been “Kill the Orc,” which Gullum supported, or the Sméagol-endorsed choice to “Hold Panicking.” Sméagol gained the argument, nevertheless it’s arduous to inform if that’s as a result of I made a compelling case for additional panicking, or if the multiple-choice choices have been simply too simple to pick from. In my 20 hours exploring Center-earth there was possibly a single occasion the place the controversy didn’t go precisely as anticipated, which made it really feel pointless to interact with.

It’s not very fascinating to take a look at, both. Even with all of the PC graphics choices set to Epic, locations like Barad-dûr look drab and flat, and the empty lifelessness of the Mirkwood stands out in an period of video games the place lush natural world has develop into the norm. Gollum’s mannequin appears ok, together with his surprisingly detailed wisps of hair, and his mannerisms are properly captured, however different characters undergo from distractingly stiff animations and a haunting lack of facial features. 

The sound design, nevertheless, is powerful. The raspy, nearly choking speech of Gollum is properly acted, as is the clearer and extra timid Sméagol aspect of his character. It sounds precisely like somebody who noticed Andy Serkis’ efficiency within the film trilogy would count on. Even small particulars, just like the clammy sound of Gollum’s fingers slapping on completely different surfaces as he climbs or runs, or the reverberation of ringing bells in sure areas, stand out as genuine, with spectacular consideration to element. 

However even when it regarded and sounded uniformly spectacular, Gollum would nonetheless really feel pointless to play, and that feeling turns to despair when technical points crop up. On three completely different events throughout this overview ranges wanted to be absolutely restarted: as soon as due to an sadly positioned autosave, and twice as a result of components of puzzles have been outright damaged, so regardless of the answer being evident there was no technique to advance. They weren’t absolutely game-breaking issues as a result of restarting mounted them, however they have been spirit-breaking – taking part in via areas that have been uninteresting the primary time bordered on painful for a second go-around that by no means ought to have been vital.