Favorite non-Jackson LotR video games

[bookworm1138]

For me, there would be two: Fellowship of the Ring and War of the Ring.

FotR follows the book rather closely, despite some of the sillier moments and it's dated, Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind style graphics (except for faces). Also we get the noted voice actress Jennifer Hale as both Galadriel and Lobelia Sackville-Baggins. I feel as though this version of the story should be concluded with next-gen graphics, especially since it's been long enough that some of the hype from the movies has died down. It would be a great time to bring this series back, with The Treachery of Isengard and The War of the Ring, where we get to see the rest of the book's adventures played out.

WotR is very similar to another nostalgic RPG/RTS, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, but it's still very fun to play. It only has two sides and a decent campaign, though the lack of the Siege of Minas Tirith and the Battle of Pelennor Fields is a disappointment (but playing the siege of Osgiliath with Boromir and Faramir and the Battle of the Hornburg are certainly high-points). I've also seen that some of the Edain modders must be in some way fans of this game, as I've recognized bits of the dialogue of the Elf Lightbringer and Goblin slave-master in 3.8 and 4.0 (though in German). An expansion that would be bigger (especially with more characters for the Battle of the Pelennor Fields maps - think Eowyn having similar abilities to Boromir, Theoden being fleshed out, Eomer and Imrahil both being DPS/Tank style cavalry heroes, and maybe even more units like the Knights of Dol Amroth and Variags of Khand - i love me the men of Dol Amroth) would certainly be welcome, though it's never going to happen, as the game is so old that Sierra has likely forgotten about it.

How about you? What are your favorite non-Jackson Lord of the Rings games?

[Adamin]

Aren't that many (recent) games left beside WotR and FotR.

I kinda came to respect LotRO, although I haven't yet played it. Its accuracy and dedication to the story is really amazing and its chief lore monkey Chris Pierson seems to be a great person. ^^

[ThorinsNemesis]

I also like Lotro very much, it's a wonderful game that follows the lore pretty closely and sometimes creates a smart storyline by taking inspiration from the Appendices 
Also, if it counts, I like War in the North and the Shadow of Mordor games.

[Eandril]

I don't really think that WitN is a really good game. I had fun playing the Coop with my brother, but none of us thought of it as a good game.
Same goes for Shadow of Mordor: It's nice, but not good, a bit repetetiv an boring after some time, actually. And don't ever get me started aboubt the Story of SoM...
I played LotRO for some time, and liked it very much. I don't know why I stopped playing, actually.
But my favourite non-Jackson LoTR game is The Hobbit (2003). I really love that game... music, voice-acting and overall atmosphere are just great, and it's a lot of fun to play.

[TiberiusOgden]

I kinda came to respect LotRO, although I haven't yet played it. Its accuracy and dedication to the story is really amazing and its chief lore monkey Chris Pierson seems to be a great person. ^^

I am there since 2007 (and my money as well  ) ... During 2012 - 2014 I was leader of elven kinship on one of the server. "Protectors of Nenya" was name of that kinship, we had around two hundred members.

The main advantage of Lotro is that they have rights only for books ... and additional stories are really great, there are many posibilities for character progression.

[Adamin]

WitN has good atmosphere and certainly tries to be as LotRsy as possible, but unfortunately it wasn't really memorable as itself.

SoM though is a great game imho. 
It's like GTA, you can just jump in for a couple minutes, cause some mayhem in Udûn, maybe play a mission, and then pause it again. Since I already tanked some 50 Hours into it (with just one story playthrough and the Bright Lord DLC), I wouldn't say its repetetive in a bad way. ^^
(Also the story actually does make some sense inside LotR lore, but I guess discussing that would need an own topic.)

[ThorinsNemesis]

Well I like WITN mainly because it portrayed locations not seen in the movies or we know little about what happens there at the time, like Fornost, Carn Dum, Sarn Ford, and as you mentioned it has a nice atmosphere. Overall, a nice game to play, at least once 
SoM portrays Mordor a little bit after the Hobbit, and I like that, and also the game fits in with the movie lore of the Hobbit movies, because Minas Ithil is not captured by the Nazgul still, and Mordor is not filled with fell creatures at the beginning/prologue; and it portrayed Nurn, a location not seen in the movies. And as mentioned, the gamestyle is great 

[bookworm1138]

I've played War in the North only once. Never picked it up again (also, stylistically, it borrows from Jackson's film trilogy, as does, in my opinion Shadows of Mordor, especially regarding Celebrimbor's outfit: though it was nice to hear Jennifer Hale as Galadriel again).

I played LotRO once, but it was years ago and on a very old laptop. Might give it another go, though, and I'm just playing devil's advocate here, I often place that game in the category of "MMORPGs made to cash in on the success of World of Warcraft." Is it good? I haven't put in enough hours to make an informed judgment on it, unfortunately. Probably is.

[Adamin]

If it was supposed to be another WoW Clone, it would have added wizards/magicians as playable classes. But it did not. On purpose. 

[Linhir]

War in the North wasn't so bad. I enjoyed playing dunedain. And with two other persons it's just great to play at. ^^

[Schnittwin]

WotR was one of the first games I had; sometimes still play it with my brother. Besides that I play of course the Edain Mod and I did play Total War Third Age; i know its Jackson based.. I dont play it any longer; no more support or updates. Waiting For Total War Rise of Mordor

[The_Necromancer0]

I really liked conquest, I played both on the console and PC, singleplayer and local multiplayer and I really enjoyed it.

[Elite KryPtik]

Does anybody know where to get ahold of either a cheap copy of War of the Ring, or a reliable torrent? I've searched all over and cannot find either, been itching to play that game again.

[Smaug_the_golden]

I really liked Third Age Total War, that keeps a cineverse look in some things but the the amount of Tolkien mitology they were able to fit in there is amazing (especially if you consider the submod Divide and Conquer, that as far as I know is the only branch still undergoing changes).

Visually i would say the mod for Mount and Blade ( and Warband too) The Last Days of Third Age in which they could fit many aspects of the books that were overlooked in the film. I really appreciated their depiction of the Silvan Elves, whose apparel and weaponry look 90% after the books (for example they carry mostly spears) and i think they made the right choice not to change it after the Hobbit came out, even if people were buggering them with requests.