Whether it’s a book, a movie, or a video game, creative works usually exist for a reason. You can also make people happy by entertaining them with stories and fun gameplay. It also informs news and viewers by presenting them with different perspectives. Or make you think with interesting ideas that encourage you to think and ponder. But The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is a game that does none of these things. Instead, it does nothing meaningful to dictate the protagonist’s inner conflicts, and it shoves you into the role of that protagonist, sending him through a series of missions that are neither fun to play nor interesting to go through. . The only question it raises is why would anyone want to play this.
Playing as Gollum seemed like the right pitch for the game. Gollum is one of the most interesting and famous characters in Tolkien’s fantasy world. He and Smeagol are two sides of the same coin. A good man named Smeagol was tragically corrupted by the One Ring and twisted into this wretched creature. We stepped into his sticky bare feet, ostensibly to retrieve his ring from Bilbo Baggins. Most of the time, however, is spent experiencing the time Gollum spent as a prisoner in the years between The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. It takes place in a series of linear and story-driven levels. Unfortunately, Prison Simulator: Mordor Edition isn’t as fun as it sounds. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was supposed to take part in the epic adventures of The Lord of the Rings, instead collecting trinkets and trifles for forgotten NPCs and drab guards. They used to hide in the bushes to hide from the patrols.
Every level usually has three stages, ranging from uninteresting to downright awful. There is a chore phase where Gollum moves from one waypoint to another to complete simple tasks. There are always conceptually different scenarios, such as crawling through small gaps and detonating explosives, but functionally it’s a series of marches over the same area over and over again. I never think it makes sense, I’m just busy. Running around together can be fun thanks to Gollum’s amazing sprinting speed, but his stamina meter depletes in just a few seconds and takes much longer to recover. If you try to go anywhere, you’ll either go too slow, wait too long, or unfortunately hear Gollum choke on his own breath.
The platforming phase is more compelling, but still poorly designed. The action is fast-paced with spacious rooms where you can climb wheels, run walls, and jump, but Gollum’s loose, floating movements and imprecise controls feel like something from the PlayStation 2 era. make you feel For those of you who have experienced modern Assassin’s Creed or Tomb Raider games, this is because you jumped to the right spot and drifted off to one side or missed a ledge with a white line that was accurately established. , it feels too easy to fall and die. where you can grab it. Paths are rigidly defined and often require you to blindly jump or take your best guess at what the desired handle is next. It gives the impression of being outdated rather than throwback. Poor reproductions of classics like the Prince of Persia series.
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There is a stealth segment at the end, which is simply bad. If Gollum had to travel from point A to point B without being spotted, it would be a daunting task. The enemy’s parole pattern is very limited, extreme myopia, and seems to suffer from acute, rapidly-onset amnesia, forgetting that Gollum existed not long after he lost sight of him. These are the problems that plagued mediocre stealth games 15 years ago, and it’s uncomfortable to see them in 2023. There’s no cat-and-mouse game like Dishonored or Hitman, using interesting abilities and clever level design to outwit your opponents. It has no objective other than to reach the designated point, just taking advantage of the painfully obvious blind spots.
Gollum’s only tool is his ability to sneak quietly, throw stones, and disappear into tall grass and shadows. Enemy AI is so frightening that even simple maneuvers like standing on a table or knee-high rock can render you completely unbeatable. I was able to navigate a long stealth section of the animal pit in Baladur simply by jumping and grabbing an overhang when someone spotted me. Some orcs eventually get crossbows, but they’re still minimally threatening.
There’s no combat per se, but this makes sense since Gollum isn’t a fighter against foes bigger than the Hobbits. There’s also the option to strangle enemies, but that comes with some odd caveats. First, it has no effect on people wearing helmets. This makes sense for those wearing full battle courtesy. After all, Smeagol’s dirty mitts don’t bend steel. However, what defines a helmet in this game is open to wide interpretation. Is that orc wearing a hat? He is likely to be strangle-resistant. Also, strangulation only applies to orcs. Not surprisingly, beasts like spiders can’t be strangled, but other humanoid races like elves seem to have invulnerable throats, leaving stealth as the only way to circumvent their enemies. . This is also not good.
Some chase sequences change the pace, but are a little more complicated. One places Gollum on top of moving objects, where you have to carefully avoid oncoming obstacles and shooters, and he’s one of the few fun sections you can play. The other is crash bandicoot style running towards the camera, but the platforming is imprecise and you can’t see the obstacles until just before you need to avoid them, resulting in miserable results. It’s frustrating to play as a character who is looking forward and should be able to see an incoming object, but can’t see it himself and dies because of it.
For some reason, you can expect some replayability if you want to revisit Gollum’s lousy adventures instead of playing one of the many great games that have come out recently. There are no rewards for hidden collectibles. Just lay it out on an old piece of cloth and watch, and Gollum offers each conversation. Even I, who has an innate urge to find everything in most games, couldn’t muster the enthusiasm to find the next batch of bat wings or jars. To his sadness, it felt pointless to increase his not-so-precious treasures.
Precious, what is it for?
Die-hard Lord of the Rings fans know that Gollum himself is a complex character who is both victim and villain, but that is not meaningfully explored in this story. yeah. The occasional choice between answering questions or acting as Gollum or Smeagol never felt like it changed the story or had a lasting effect on Gollum himself. . There are times when one side of Gollum’s personality needs to persuade the other to follow his plan, such as when Gollum is hiding from the Orcs, or when he sees a picture of Sauron’s eye and becomes hysterical. The two options were “Kill the Orcs” as Garm favored, or “Keep Panic” as Smeagol favored. Mr. Sméagol won this debate, but it is difficult to say whether it was because I made a compelling argument that caused more panic, or because the multiple-choice option was just too easy. . In his 20 hours of exploring Middle-earth, there may have been only one time where he felt that the discussion did not go as expected and that it was pointless to discuss.
It’s not very interesting to watch. Even with all your PC graphics options set to Epic, places like Baradur look stark and flat, and in an age of gaming where lush flora and fauna have become the norm, Dark Forest’s empty lifelessness stands out. increase. Gollum’s model looks good enough, including his surprisingly detailed hair, and his quirks are well captured, but the other characters suffer from distractingly stiff animation and lack of facial expressions. increase.
The sound design is strong, though. Gollum’s harsh, almost suffocating way of speaking is well played, as is the more articulate and timid side of Smeagol’s character. It sounds exactly like what anyone who has seen Andy Serkis act in the movie trilogy would expect. Even small details, such as the loud sounds of Gollum tapping on various surfaces as he climbs and runs, or the reverberations of bells ringing in certain spaces, stand out as authentic with their impressive attention to detail.
But even though it looks and sounds equally great, the Gollum feels pointless to play. When technical problems arise, that feeling turns to despair. Three times during this review he had to completely redo the level. The first time I had an unlucky autosave in place, and the second time part of the puzzle was completely broken, leaving me with no way to proceed even though the solution was obvious. It wasn’t an outright game-breaking issue, as a reboot would fix it, but playing an area that wasn’t fun the first time was close to painful on the second go-around, which was never necessary, so it was a mental was something to break.
