A few years back, a relatively unknown development studio created a game called Star Wars: Battlefront. Chances are that even Pandemic themselves didn't realise at the time what an unremittingly fun game they were creating; Battlefront stripped the third person shooter down to its undercrackers and redressed the incredibly simplified mechanic they were left with in a Stormtrooper outfit. It wasn't exactly genre-defining but it did bring something new to the table with its mix of iconic imagery and epic, out-and-out mayhem. Now, almost five years later, Pandemic are hoping to recreate some of the popularity of the Battlefront games with their spin on the Lord of the Rings universe. Although the characters are less iconic, the settings arguably less instantly-recognisable and the appeal of the movies not so widespread, they may well have managed to pull it off... but only just.

Immediately upon seeing the intro screen, The Lord of the Rings: Conquest feels very Middle-Earthy; the by now familiar musical scoring and Elvish writing make you feel instantly at home in the established universe. Besides a comprehensive training session that negates the need for any annoying in-game tutorials, the single player aspect has three other modes available: Instant Action thrusts you straight into a quick skirmish on a map of your choice, while the War of the Ring mode is essentially the Good campaign that sees you defending such classic and familiar locations from Peter Jackson's epic trilogy as Helm's Deep, Minas Tirith and Balin's Tomb. A particular highlight is the Battle of Pelennor Fields, complete with marauding oliphaunts and a horde of Easterlings to slaughter. In contrast, the Rise of Sauron campaign - unlocked upon completion of the War of the Ring - interestingly explores an alternate storyline in which Frodo is killed and the Dark Lord regains the Precious, where you destroy said locations and eliminate the good folk of Gondor, Rohan and the Shire.

Similarly to the aforementioned Battlefront games, there are four classes to choose from: the Warrior, a broadsword wielding tank; the Archer, a lighter-armoured ranged attacker; the Mage, a healing, area-of-effect support class; and the Scout, for all you sneak 'em up fans out there. Controls and tactics vary between all of the classes, as do the button layouts. A warrior's advantage comes in the form of strong armour, higher health and heavier attacks; his special skills involve the Fire Sword, whereby a tap of the left bumper ignites his broadsword and adds speed and damage to each attack. Standard moves are a simple case of X for standard attack, Y for medium attack and B for strong attack, which, unfortunately, become all too reminiscent of button-mashing horde-killers like the Dynasty Warriors crapfest. I'm not implying that LOTR: Conquest is anything near as uninspired as Koei's over-long "strategy" series, but the mere comparison may be enough to put many gamers off purchasing Pandemic's latest.

Variety is offered in the Scout… no, wait, the scout is pretty much the same as the Warrior in a fair fight - his only difference is that pressing the left bumper renders him invisible for a short while, meaning that he can put his speedier talents to good use by sneaking up on an unsuspecting enemy and killing them unawares. His satchel toss, whilst a handy ranged attack, is unfortunately too inaccurate to be of any real use. The archer has his moments, able as he is to call upon fire and poison arrows or utilise a handy multi-shot special move, whilst the mage can cast chain-lightning from his fingertips, summon a defensive shield, or heal nearby allies. Special moves, once used, must regenerate either via an individual icon that slowly grows brighter or - in the case of the warrior and the scout - a bar that builds up whilst landing and taking blows.

At certain points in the game you are given the choice of taking control of one of the famous heroes or villains from the trilogy and while it's fair to say that the heroes are much better remembered, there is surprising appeal in taking on the role of, say, the Witch-King of Angmar and battering hell out of Frodo Baggins. Most of the obvious characters are present: Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas and Gimli (among others) for the good guys, with the aforementioned Witch-King, Grima Wormtongue and Saruman the White for the bad. Boromir is sadly missed, though his less-affecting brother Faramir makes an appearance. Each hero character is basically a stronger version of the four classes: Aragorn is a warrior, Saruman a Mage, Grima a Scout and Legolas an Archer, to give a few examples, each with some truly devastating special moves, and the game comes alive once you're in charge of these guys.

Problems arise with two main areas, in this reviewer's humble opinion: story and voice acting. Obviously there are only so many famous battles in the movie trilogy, meaning that some rather minor confrontations have been somewhat bastardised to fit into the game's template: a completely made-for-the-game siege of Isengard is a prime example. For fans of the movies it can be somewhat distracting but in many ways it's a necessity so it's a forgivable transgression. The voice acting, however, is not so forgivable; almost woeful in its hammy, pigeon-Shakespeare attempt to mirror the dialect used in the movie trilogy, the voice work comes courtesy of a group of bob-a-job actors who possess the not-so-unique ability of "sounding a little bit like that bloke out of A History of Violence doing a half-arsed English accent". It all comes across as a little forced and genuinely removes a great deal of the atmosphere that's generated by the detailed environments and faithful score.

In terms of gameplay, the earlier reference to sub-par button-mashers is both fair and harsh - fair because the game occasionally becomes so punishingly difficult that blind, rabid thumbwork is all that can carry you through it before you smash your 360 into tiny fragments, and harsh because, in truth, there is enough variety and depth for the patient, skilled player to find a pretty enjoyable hack 'n' slash action game here. Between the Good and Evil campaigns, the only real difference is aesthetic, since the gameplay mechanics remain exactly the same. Most levels are comprised of advance and conquer sections that require you to hold a checkpoint until it becomes yours or otherwise defend an area to stop the enemy from taking it. The occasional escort mission pops up now and then but they're spread pretty thin; mostly you're just moving from objective to objective with extreme prejudice. Pandemic for some reason saw fit to give you the option of using a mount once or twice, but whilst it fits in with the overall theme of the game, it's almost completely and utterly pointless, as the mere act of stepping into a stirrup instantly paints a bullseye on your face for every archer within about ten miles. You'll be in the saddle for thirty seconds before you give up and decide that there's more fun in seeing what happens if you attack the horse instead. Similarly, the unique challenge presented by pitting you against the might of a cave troll is also diluted from genuine exhilaration the first time you defeat one to mild tedium when the game starts throwing them at you in groups of eight or so.

The multiplayer aspect adds a great deal of longevity and depth, featuring sixteen-player mash-ups with a wealth of different modes, and local co-op for the campaigns also helps to make finishing the frustratingly unforgiving Legendary difficulty mode much more achievable. Having each player take control of a different class also expands upon the strategy element of the game, allowing for co-ordinated advances and exhilarating do-or-die defending.

What The Lord of the Rings: Conquest boils down to is a third person action fantasy game with small glimmers of tactical depth and the occasional epic confrontation that just happens to be set in Tolkien's universe. Graphically it doesn't particularly shine next to other games on the 360 but Pandemic probably knew that it wouldn't have to, since Middle-Earth is so immediately-recognisable. The voice acting is pretty lame but the musical score is unmissable due to the game literally becoming less compelling without it. Though some characters are notably missing (Boromir, Théoden, Sam Gamgee), others seem to have been shoehorned in merely to justify the evil campaign (Lurtz, The Mouth of Sauron, Grima Wormtongue) and the game actually suffers for this seemingly mild imbalance. Still, it's long enough and accessible enough to keep fans of the genre or the trilogy hooked for a week or two - and longer if you partake of Xbox Live and all its wonders. Arguably offering more for the fans of the movies than anyone else, it still manages to be fun, frantic and satisfying enough to appeal to a wide range of gamers. One game to rule them all? Maybe not, but if you like fast, large scale battles in varied, detailed locales, and you know your Nazgúl from your Balrog and your Isengard from your Orthanc then this game may just be the one you're questing for this winter.

Reviewed by Mick Fraser for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).