I remember renting the PC version of this game when I was a kid (yes, there was a time when you could rent PC games from video rental stores). My dad refused to let me install it on our computer because he was afraid it would have a virus on it. After a little arguing with him, I realized he thought that because that CDROM had been on a bunch of other computers it could be infected, like he thought that computer viruses act like STDs. A fun little childhood memory I had totally forgotten about until I started watching this video. Thanks! :D
As far as the rotoscoping goes, I remember reading that the dev team took photos of actors posing and used them as references. The line I remember, from an old Nintendo Power, was, "What ended up as Gandalf started out as [some dev team member whose name I don't remember] in a bathrobe, wearing a sombrero, holding a beard in his mouth." As for tie-ins to the movie, if I remember right, the PC CD-ROM version included some clips from the movie, using them as in-game cutscenes.
Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam sprites weren't rotoscoped. They were digitized characters - they took actual video of people and directly transferred the images to pixelized sprites.
Mortal Kombat doesn't use rotoscoping, it uses digitized sprites. Rotoscoping involves hand drawing over frames. Digitized sprites take motion capture n video and turn em into sprites directly.
Yeah, it came out in 1990, looks a little bit like Ultima VI, runs a ton faster, maps are not dogcrap, and the CD version had animated intros and okay music. The battles were turn-based overhead. Not amazing but okay.
That's not what rotoscoped means. Rotoscope is tracing 2D animation over live-action footage. You're thinking Prince of Persia and Another World, not Mortal Kombat.
Great review, Bro. I remember browsing an emulator ROM list back in the early 2000s and when I saw the title of this game, I got excited. I never did get around to playing it. I still want to beat this.
I remember getting this while visiting my Grandmother in Tennessee in the 90s at a KB toys and not being able to play it for several days till we got home... I wanted this to be good so badly... and I was just.... disappointed doesn't begin to describe it... But clearly... Everyone felt that way.
I have that exact same shirt. Like the exact same one. It makes me wonder why we don't see other people wearing the same stuff other than sometimes shoes. Who is making all these different shirts and pants and how is there so many different kinds? Is there some kind of formula they use so not too many of the same type of clothes wind up in the same store so we don't regularly see other people wearing clothes we have?
The opening music was unbelievable in this game, everything else was not good. Also the illustration of the Ringwraith in Nintendo Power for this game is still how I think of them.
I would rather every video game in existence turned into a copy of this game, permanently, than have to read Atlas Shrugged. I can't afford to lose any more brain cells.
Great review. Kept my attention the whole way through on this game I have no interest in, and you're very funny. Keep at it and you'll gain a very dedicated following!
There are rotoscoped games on the snes you could have used as examples. For instance, Flashback and Cool World. Both most likely have more rotoscoping than Lord of the Rings. You took two games with no rotoscoping instead.
This game WAS rotoscoped. Nintendo power did a thing on it and showed them making the game. Wish I knew the issue of the top of my head. But, it really is rotoscoped.
@@Runedavid45 It is in. Check volume 59, page 82, lower-right corner. Page 83 shows photos of dudes posing like Middle Earth characters. This was Interplay, the company that worked on ClayFighter. They were into turning real-life photos into in-game images. The article in volume 63 is about the game, not about the making of the game, so it may not talk about this behind-the-scenes stuff.
Wolves are an obvious enemy in Lord of the Rings. The books called them worgs and no, worgs aren't bear-sized hyena monsters, it's a fancy in-universe name for wolf the way orc is for goblin (derived from varg, which is the old Scandinavian language family's name for wolves). Worgs were also intelligent and could speak, so there's that setting them apart from normal wolves hence the usefulness of an extra term.
@@travtuck7646 I think it might've been spelled worg in a computer game I played in my childhood around the same time I read the books, and the O sounds closer to how it was pronounced when read aloud to me by one of my aunts when I was even younger. My memory is renowned among those who know me for being robust, but is still imperfect.
@@RoninCatholic after some research, its definitely spelled 'worg' in some instances (which I was totally unaware of) Though I can't find any by Tolkien, perhaps they do exist.
I'm gonna give them the benefit of the doubt here, the characters' animations do look rotoscoped. The walking frames look like an exaggerated walk of a real person, not your typical sprite animation.
I manage to play this game with 3 of my friends and a multitap. Game is still as shitty. Just a tiny bit less frustrating because you dob't have to deal with AI.
@@JasonGravesPoser yes and no. Think about it. You spend the whole week planning where, asking you parents for a sleep over, managing to finally rent the game AND the multitap. Everyone super hyped up about the idea of playing a LOTR game, to end up playing this. What a let down. We had a great time, but the game had nothing to do with it
@@peosea I would hope for no other outcome. 👍 Reminds me of a birthday sleepover where we rented 976-Evil 1 AND 2 because my friend (not in attendance) loved a single scene and hyped it up. Luckily Bomberman 64 salvaged that evening by providing *actual* entertainment...
I would kill for a good LOTR RPG. That EA RPG that ripped off Final Fantasy X's combat system was weird as hell. In the end, you warp to the eye of Sauron and kick its ass in combat. Your party are not cannon people in the movie or books, but could kick the living shit out of the Fellowship for 'reasons'.
this game is actually super short if you grind the tiniest bit and foregt about companions. There's really just the final dungeon, such a waste of a good engine
I remember used game shops jacking up the price of this cart when the first movie came out in 1999. I laughed because I remembered how awful this game was
Would you want the party in this game to lower you into your grave so they can let you down one last time?
Leave some salt for the chips
I would
I remember renting the PC version of this game when I was a kid (yes, there was a time when you could rent PC games from video rental stores). My dad refused to let me install it on our computer because he was afraid it would have a virus on it. After a little arguing with him, I realized he thought that because that CDROM had been on a bunch of other computers it could be infected, like he thought that computer viruses act like STDs.
A fun little childhood memory I had totally forgotten about until I started watching this video. Thanks! :D
The best thing about renting 90s CD-ROM games? Burn 'n return, baby. I still can't believe shops were dumb enough to rent them out.
As far as the rotoscoping goes, I remember reading that the dev team took photos of actors posing and used them as references. The line I remember, from an old Nintendo Power, was, "What ended up as Gandalf started out as [some dev team member whose name I don't remember] in a bathrobe, wearing a sombrero, holding a beard in his mouth."
As for tie-ins to the movie, if I remember right, the PC CD-ROM version included some clips from the movie, using them as in-game cutscenes.
The scary part is that they named the game Vol 1, which means that they probably had plans to make a sequel.
Would make sense for the password system, If there was saving and the password only shows at the end.
I really hope you r gonna win the algorithm lottery. Your "reviews" are ballsy, honest and personal, really like your style. Don t give up
Love how original each one of your reviews is. Keep up the great work!
You can control Drakken characters by changing the icon below the character you choose from red to blue. Choose wizard and just blast.
Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam sprites weren't rotoscoped. They were digitized characters - they took actual video of people and directly transferred the images to pixelized sprites.
Stanley Kubrick: Lord of the Rings is Unadaptable
Interplay: oh really?
I'll be damned, that was my Secret of Mana footage 6:18
First time anyone's used my stuff haha. Glad it was of use.
thank you for your service!
"the evil Lord Saruman" looks like Sauron to me pal.
Mortal Kombat doesn't use rotoscoping, it uses digitized sprites. Rotoscoping involves hand drawing over frames. Digitized sprites take motion capture n video and turn em into sprites directly.
Another game I'm glad I never had to play. Another great review.
This game on CD on PC-DOS was kinda not bad, the soundtrack was neat.
Is it the same game? Didn't know this was a pc port
Yeah, it came out in 1990, looks a little bit like Ultima VI, runs a ton faster, maps are not dogcrap, and the CD version had animated intros and okay music. The battles were turn-based overhead. Not amazing but okay.
That's not what rotoscoped means. Rotoscope is tracing 2D animation over live-action footage. You're thinking Prince of Persia and Another World, not Mortal Kombat.
wasnt rotoscoped what they used for prince of persia and the like?
That would have been a much better example for sure
I think we live in the timeline where the ring was never destroyed
Great review, Bro. I remember browsing an emulator ROM list back in the early 2000s and when I saw the title of this game, I got excited. I never did get around to playing it. I still want to beat this.
It's not long, just kind of bland
I remember getting this while visiting my Grandmother in Tennessee in the 90s at a KB toys and not being able to play it for several days till we got home... I wanted this to be good so badly... and I was just.... disappointed doesn't begin to describe it... But clearly... Everyone felt that way.
You've earned a subscription from me. Keep it up with these great SNES and RPG reviews
I have that exact same shirt. Like the exact same one. It makes me wonder why we don't see other people wearing the same stuff other than sometimes shoes. Who is making all these different shirts and pants and how is there so many different kinds? Is there some kind of formula they use so not too many of the same type of clothes wind up in the same store so we don't regularly see other people wearing clothes we have?
The main theme Is always nice to hear on a Retro Game Music radio, because I hadn't played this. :3
The opening music was unbelievable in this game, everything else was not good.
Also the illustration of the Ringwraith in Nintendo Power for this game is still how I think of them.
I would rather every video game in existence turned into a copy of this game, permanently, than have to read Atlas Shrugged. I can't afford to lose any more brain cells.
Great review. Kept my attention the whole way through on this game I have no interest in, and you're very funny. Keep at it and you'll gain a very dedicated following!
There are rotoscoped games on the snes you could have used as examples. For instance, Flashback and Cool World. Both most likely have more rotoscoping than Lord of the Rings. You took two games with no rotoscoping instead.
This game WAS rotoscoped. Nintendo power did a thing on it and showed them making the game. Wish I knew the issue of the top of my head. But, it really is rotoscoped.
I did some checking. It was volume 63. Check it out.
I will for sure now
but why tho
@@SaxcatGamingCorner I did some checking. It was volume 0. Cause its not in.
@@Runedavid45 It is in. Check volume 59, page 82, lower-right corner. Page 83 shows photos of dudes posing like Middle Earth characters. This was Interplay, the company that worked on ClayFighter. They were into turning real-life photos into in-game images.
The article in volume 63 is about the game, not about the making of the game, so it may not talk about this behind-the-scenes stuff.
Wolves are an obvious enemy in Lord of the Rings. The books called them worgs and no, worgs aren't bear-sized hyena monsters, it's a fancy in-universe name for wolf the way orc is for goblin (derived from varg, which is the old Scandinavian language family's name for wolves). Worgs were also intelligent and could speak, so there's that setting them apart from normal wolves hence the usefulness of an extra term.
*wargs
@@travtuck7646 Thank you. It's been a while since I actually read the books. Warg is even less changed from vargr.
@@RoninCatholic I had to go back & check, you had me questioning myself.😂😂
@@travtuck7646 I think it might've been spelled worg in a computer game I played in my childhood around the same time I read the books, and the O sounds closer to how it was pronounced when read aloud to me by one of my aunts when I was even younger. My memory is renowned among those who know me for being robust, but is still imperfect.
@@RoninCatholic after some research, its definitely spelled 'worg' in some instances (which I was totally unaware of) Though I can't find any by Tolkien, perhaps they do exist.
I'm gonna give them the benefit of the doubt here, the characters' animations do look rotoscoped. The walking frames look like an exaggerated walk of a real person, not your typical sprite animation.
i had it paused at 11:26 and my wife comes in and says "who's the lesbian?" sorry bro
I concur. This Mike character is a saint.
I wanted to love this game SO BADLY when I was younger. Too bad it sucked so much ass.
Do the Fellowship game on the GBA, it'd be hilarious it's probably worse than the SNES one (except the music is pretty awesome in the GBA one)
Hey I love that song!
Good review, never knew this game even existed.
I manage to play this game with 3 of my friends and a multitap. Game is still as shitty. Just a tiny bit less frustrating because you dob't have to deal with AI.
Anything can be fun with friends, so if you actually find people who'd want to play this with you.. Probably wouldn't be a bad evening
@@JasonGravesPoser yes and no. Think about it. You spend the whole week planning where, asking you parents for a sleep over, managing to finally rent the game AND the multitap. Everyone super hyped up about the idea of playing a LOTR game, to end up playing this. What a let down. We had a great time, but the game had nothing to do with it
@@peosea I would hope for no other outcome. 👍 Reminds me of a birthday sleepover where we rented 976-Evil 1 AND 2 because my friend (not in attendance) loved a single scene and hyped it up. Luckily Bomberman 64 salvaged that evening by providing *actual* entertainment...
Thank you for the deep look of this game.
9:32 why the fake bottle?
Sometimes I considered playing through this as one of those "so bad it's good" games, but it honestly looks tedious and boring.
This is very funny. I like it.
I would kill for a good LOTR RPG. That EA RPG that ripped off Final Fantasy X's combat system was weird as hell. In the end, you warp to the eye of Sauron and kick its ass in combat. Your party are not cannon people in the movie or books, but could kick the living shit out of the Fellowship for 'reasons'.
this game is actually super short if you grind the tiniest bit and foregt about companions. There's really just the final dungeon, such a waste of a good engine
Hilarious
I remember used game shops jacking up the price of this cart when the first movie came out in 1999. I laughed because I remembered how awful this game was
I like this game but it does have flaws. Need more games with playable hobbits.
Man, I can't watch bc of spoilers.
I'd rather tend to chickens than play this trash.
cringe
There were worse games
Not many...