The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest [PS2]

Storytelling is humanity's foremost time-honored tradition. Before the advent of language, humans were already gathered around fires as if waiting for stories to be told. Once these creatures could speak, mythology soon took shape and gods were born in this intimate setting. The earliest verbal stories were, of course, not written and naturally evolved alongside the story tellers. For instance, after about a thousand years, the Old Norse god Tiwaz eventually became Wōðanaz, then Wōden and, ultimately, Odin…

Modern humans now gather around light-emitting diodes instead of fires, and continue to change their stories. Occasionally for better, but more often for worse despite advancing from verbal to digital record keeping. In this example, The Lord of the Rings movies initiated a great retelling of the famous trilogy from literature to screen. Video game adaptations were subsequently made in the image of the movies and Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest delivers the ring-bearer story in its most basic form: Aragorn, son of Arathron II, single-handedly saves Middle Earth.

The Challenge? Complete all Levels on King Difficulty in Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest on the PlayStation 2.

Is this a worthy Challenge? Let's find out.

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Gameplay

Both the Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings franchises have developed games across all genres with varying success. Installments such as the third-person shooter, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, and the role-playing game, Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, are unique experiences with satisfying Challenges. However, it was only a matter of time for a hack-and-slash version to emerge for ripe consumption.

By definition, the hack-and-slash video game genre is self-explanatory and inherently negative. Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest exemplifies the mindless nature of this combat style by forcing battle against hundreds of the same half-dozen enemies. By fireside, Father Gamgee instills shock and awe into his offspring as he recounts Aragorn's exploits:

Therefore, it is immediately apparent that tiny humans are the target audience for Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest. Battle success can simply derive from using strong swords coupled with effective tapping of the two combat buttons. On default Ranger Difficulty (i.e. Medium Mode), the specific abilities that the player chooses to learn are negligible. It makes little difference whether enemies are stunned or not prior to their swift death.

Aragorn's strength grows immensely by destroying the Goblin and Orc species. Upon each Level gain, an Ability Point is earned and the Sword, Bow and Defense metrics increase automatically. These can be further improved upon by equipping items found throughout the game. Unfortunately, archery plays a minimal role in combat and is not worth the investment, even though the game attempts to encourage otherwise. Prioritize the Sword attribute and Defense will organically rise alongside it.

During the first half of Lord of the Ring's Aragorn's Quest, obtaining the optional items are initially worthwhile. Enemies die faster with higher Sword power and Aragorn survives longer with increased Defense. However, by the time the player reaches Level XI: The Deeping Wall, Aragorn's strength outmatches even the mighty Uruk-hai. Scouring the maps for items, thus, isn't necessary and may only attract the most diligent of Dúnedain warriors.

Across the seventeen Levels, there are two obscurely located items for such warriors to note, and the relevant maps are indicated below. First, during the tedious search for the eight Mithril Bars on Level V: The Mines of Moria, the fourth bar is in the southernmost portion of the first area. From there, walk to the left of the Goblin bonfire and jump over the abyss onto a platform that includes a treasure chest. Second, Journal entries technically count as items as well and are located along typical paths; aside from Journal # 13 on Level XVI: Minas Tirith. This is found after killing the four Orc archers and immediately heading south on the fallen wooden planks.

Journal entries don't contribute to Aragorn's prowess. Instead, these items are actually the only respectable attempt by the developers to expand on the hyper simplistic storyline of Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest. Middle Earth historians will not learn anything new, but these Journals offer slight engagement when read by the esteemed Samwise Gamegee himself (actor Sean Astin).

Nevertheless, Lord Rigor admits to this completionist mindset and humbly displays His end-game statistics. With all items purely focused on the Sword, Aragorn achieved a maximum metric of 341 for the mighty blade, Andúril:

King Difficulty

Over the course of His existence, Lord Rigor has vehemently reiterated that Difficulties should not need to be unlocked. Aside from creatively incorporating this logistic into an expanding storyline, such as those within Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders, unlocking Harder Modes is rarely worthwhile for Difficulty seekers.

Alas, Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest violates this simple principle and demands Ranger Difficulty to be completed first in order to unlock King Difficulty.

Indeed, it is then encouraged to recruit a young human to complete Ranger Difficulty on the player's behalf. Then, become a King and be a role model to said recruit through the relative Challenge that is King Difficulty. Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest is not worth playing twice because Ranger Difficulty is incredibly easy, making the regurgitated movie content even more unbearable. Nothing is gained aside from a slightly Harder Difficulty.

King Difficulty has tougher enemies with increased health and stronger attacks. Conserving Aragorn's health becomes important since charging into large groups of Orcs is now much more dangerous. On Ranger Difficulty, health can generally be maintained by absorbing the spiritual remains of the defeated. That automation isn't sufficient on King Difficulty though, making restorations from Athelas Leaves and Elven Health Pools particularly glorious.

Perception is required in hand-to-hand combat, especially if an enemy bowman is firing from behind a shielded ally. When possible, archers should be killed first and remaining stragglers methodically eliminated thereafter. Aragorn's health would otherwise be slowly whittled down by arrows as he attempts to batter through enemy shield walls.

An important component of combat is parrying with the sword and the player must be facing opponents to successfully block attacks. Enemies can parry as well and is the Hardest logistic to navigate in Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest. Lord Rigor was defeated a number of times by shield-wielders as seen in the below Death compilation:

In these Hard-fought encounters, the player must wait until the shield-wielder begins its own attack in order to successfully avoid their parries and subsequent counterattacks. This is manageable against a single enemy, but multiple enemies will take advantage of such openings and thoroughly rip Aragorn apart.

Level V: the Mines of Moria, is the first truly Challenging Level on King Difficulty based on these hardships.

Fortunately, Sword abilities such as Sweeping Scourge overpowers enemy blockades and is also useful to execute enemies cowering on the ground. Other abilities like Bowman's Bane stuns opponents to provide the player a moment to recalculate the battle strategy. Similarly, Ranger's Fury makes Aragorn momentarily invulnerable while he increases his attack power. Across the nearly two dozen abilities available, these were the select few that Lord Rigor committed to.

Because, utilizing more than three abilities is, unfortunately, a cumbersome process. In short, to change abilities, combat is paused and a list of memorized symbols that are associated with each ability must be cycled through. By the end of the game, Lord Rigor had twenty unused Ability Points because He only invested in a single Sword, Bow and Defense ability; no cycling needed. Thus, this fact alone speaks to the simplicity of Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest, even on King Difficulty.

Level XII: Hornburg Courtyard, is the most Challenging. It is here that Aragorn prepares to die for the people of Rohan. King Théoden, Lord of the Riddermark, beckons his noble Rohirrim warriors to stand against Saruman's overwhelming Uruk-hai armada.

Aragorn faces up to four of these brutes simultaneously, all vying for the chance to slay the future King of Gondor. No, Aragorn himself is of King Difficulty incarnate and with Andúril, the Flame of the West, spatters their wretched black blood upon the high walls of Rohan's greatest citadel.

The enemy siege upon the Helms Deep fortress is relentless, and Aragorn valiantly kicks down siege ladders whilst firing ballista at battle platforms to defend it. A battering ram approaches the main gate and he attempts to stall its menacing progress. Here, on Level XII: Hornburg Courtyard, the side quest "Ambush" is arguably the most Difficult because ten deadly Uruk-hai must be defeated within seventy seconds. If not, the Hornburg Pendant item is lost and the player must be without its increased Sword power and health bonus.

Avoiding enemy blocks are key in this time sensitive Challenge and is a true test of the player's hack-and-slash finesse. Entering the battle with a full Morale gauge, Lord Rigor carefully calculated His use of the Sweeping Scourge and Bowman's Bane special abilities. If the Uruk-hai onslaught cannot be stopped in time, the Hornburg Pendant item is lost and the player must be without its increased Sword power and health bonus.

Bosses offer much needed variation from the countless waves of standard enemies. Abilities that stun are typically ineffective during boss battles. Instead, the player generally must perform a unique combat sequence while often avoiding enemy area-of-effect attacks. Take note of crates littered across these battlefields and utilize Athelas Leaves accordingly.

Whether lighting Sauron's Nazgûls on fire or severing the tentacles of the Misty Mountain's Watcher, there are a few engaging and Challenging boss fights; especially on first attempt. Lurtz, the leader of the Uruk-Kai scouts on Level VIII: Amon Hen, is one of the fiercest opponents. Memorably, Aragorn felt blood spill from his mouth and was nearly chopped in half!

Conclusion

Is King Difficulty a worthy Challenge? No.

Despite requiring King Difficulty to be unlocked, Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest was absolutely not designed with Difficulty in mind. Instead, it is perhaps the epitome of a commercial franchise being used in one of the simplest video game genres known to humankind. Only committed Tolkien fans hellbent on consuming every piece of Middle Earth content should even consider such an unworthy undertaking. The Wii version is highly likely to be of similar nature.

Popular culture demanded much of J. R. R. Tolkien's world... dwarves, elves and even wizards don't contribute to the ring-bearer story that is portrayed in Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest. Here, Samwise Gamgee's childish fireside story depicts Aragorn, son of Arathorn II, as the sole hack-and-slash savior. As someone that directly participated in saving Middle Earth during the Third Age, Sam egregiously undermines the heroism of countless others. By only focusing on Aragorn, the story changes. His offspring will go on to spread such fiction across the land and help remove even their father's legacy from history.