Lord of the Rings: Conquest Attract Mode (2009, Pandemic/EA Games)
4The Lord of the Rings: Conquest is an action game developed by Pandemic Studios and published by Electronic Arts. It is derived from the The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, and borrows many gameplay mechanics from Pandemic's Star Wars: Battlefront games. The game allows the player to play as both the forces of good and evil, but unlike The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth, the latter option is based around Sauron stopping the One Ring from being destroyed and using it to regain his lost power. On December 23, 2008, the PlayStation 3 demo was made available on the PlayStation Network while the Xbox 360 demo was released January 2, 2009.
Pandemic was aided by Weta Digital in developing the game. They provided many of their digital models, including the fell beasts. Pandemic also used elements that were cut from the films, and have taken inspiration from J. R. R. Tolkien's original fantasy novel, such as a level based loosely around Balin's conquest of Moria, in which Gimli attempts to retake the dwarven city from the orcs. Some inspiration was less direct: the armies of Rohan and Gondor decide not to attack Minas Morgul in the novel, but a level in the game is based on what might possibly have happened if they had. The game uses Howard Shore's score to the films as its soundtrack.
On March 16, 2010, the online multiplayer modes of The Lord of the Rings: Conquest were shut down for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. On August 16, 2010 a group of fans launched the non-profit CNQReboot servers, allowing users of the PC version to play online using tunnelling software that allows network play via the local area network option
The player takes the role of a soldier of Rohan, Gondor, Rivendell, Harador, Mordor or Isengard, depending on the campaign or side the player chooses. The game is generally objective based, requiring the player to defeat a certain amount of enemies, or hold a position until a timer runs out. If a soldier dies the game continues from the point of death and the death has no impact on the storyline or flow of the game. However a player is given a certain amount of lives and if those are used up he/she must repeat the level.
In the "War of the Ring" campaign, containing eight levels, the player loosely follows the major battles of the films with some additions such as the Mines of Moria and Minas Morgul. In the "Rise of Sauron" campaign, the player controls the forces of Sauron in a reworking of the storyline set over seven levels of a film called The final war for Middle Earth. In this story it tells how 3 years later the eye is rebuilt and reclaims the ring bringing him back to his original form like the movie when Frodo Baggins was corrupted by and failed to destroy the One Ring before being killed by the Witchking of Angmar leading to Sauron subsequently conquering Middle Earth. Both campaigns are narrated by Hugo Weaving, who played Elrond in Peter Jackson's film trilogy.