The American box art
A hack'n slash game based around The Lord of the Rings license, one of several examples of No Problem with Licensed Games released in 2011 for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. It tells the story of an alternate Fellowship, ranger Eradan (Nolan North), elf mage Andriel (Laura Bailey) and dwarf Champion Farin (John Cygan) as they attempt to destroy a new menace in the North of Middle Earth, Sauron's sinister lieutenant Agandaûr.
The game is a third person co-op Hack and Slash that can be played either online or locally with each character having melee and ranged attack.
The game provides examples of:
- Action Girl: Andriel.
- Adaptation Expansion: The untold story of the northern war... though not the one told in The Battle for Middle-earth sequel.
- As You Know: Partway through the game, there is an optional quest to obtain Athelas for a sick ranger. Upon curing him, all three characters can engage him in conversation about the Dunedain and their history. The problem is that each character can ask the same questions, meaning that all three of them are completely clueless about such characters as Elendil. This is arguably forgivable with Farin, since he's a dwarf, and probably not privy to Numenorian lore; less so with Andriel and Eradan — Eradan is a Dunedain Ranger and this is his own history, and Andriel is an elf of Rivendell, a place where such lore is common knowledge because quite a few residents were actually there at the time.
- Big Bad: Agandaûr, A Black Númenórean that Sauron seems to have empowered with sorcery and who the Witch King has entrusted with making war on the Northern Realms.
- Black Knight: Agandaûr again. Several of his lieutenants count as well.
- Black Magic: Agandaûr and his servants use this thanks to a series of scrolls.
- Bow and Sword in Accord: Eradan.
- Broad Strokes: The game is set in the film continuity, although a few details are ignored (and as of the film adaptations of The Hobbit, obsolete). For example, Arwen's struggle with choosing a mortal life is mentioned only briefly and Elrond doesn't seem to be in any hurry to sail westward.
- Radagast is an interesting case, he appears drastically different here to The Hobbit trilogy as it was still in development at the time.
- Another moment occurs when Elrond describes the War of the Dwarves and Orcs to the heroes, particularly how Azog was killed by Dain Ironfoot during the war, which happened in the book but was changed when the Hobbit films came out.
- But Thou Must!: There is absolutely no option to fight the dragon, Úrgost. The dialogue options prove to be utterly meaningless because no matter how much you antagonize him, the NPCs suddenly blurt out that you wouldn't be able to beat him anyway.
- Canon Foreigner: Quite a few, the main fellowship and most of their newfound allies and enemies.
- Agandaûr might be a Canon Character All Along if he's to be equated with a messenger of Sauron mentioned by Dain, as he fulfils the exact same role for the Dwarves of Nordinbad.
- Since this game is set in the film continuity and Farin's backstory states that he fought in the Battle of Five Armies, it's likely that he is one of the Dwarf soldiers in Dain's army in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.
- The Cavalry: The Eagles provide this on numerous occassions.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Radagast of course.
- Continuity Porn: Swimming in it, particularly if you utilise the conversation trees, which serve as an optional Info Dump .
- Death from Above: In most exterior levels, Beleram the Eagle can be summoned to inflict massive damage on a single enemy.
- Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: Both Agandaûr and Urgost lampshade this towards each other, with each referring to themselves. The weight of Agandaûr's threat comes from him being Sauron's lieutenant, while the weight of Urgost's threat comes from him literally being a dragon.
- Dragon Hoard: Arguably, Carn Dum itself becomes this after Agandaûr's defeat, when Urgost takes the fortress as his own.
- The Dragon: Whilst Agandaûr is one of Sauron's dragons, he spends most of the game attempting to recruit his own, including literal dragon Urgost. Others include the sorceror Wulfrun and the orc chieftain Tharzog.
- Enemy Mine: The heroes are forced to do this with Urgost.
- Evil Tower of Ominousness: Carn Dum. Fornost has also become this due to Agandaûr's meddling.
- Expy: The alternate Fellowship, with Eradan for Aragorn and Farin for Gimli, though there are notable differences. Also Agandaûr has elements of both The Mouth and The Witch King.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Agandaûr, Urgost, Tharzog, Wulfrum... pretty standard.
- Fighter, Mage, Thief: The three heroes utilize the trinity quite nicely. Farin is the fighter, Andriel is the mage, and Eradan is the thief.
- Flunky Boss: Tharzog, orc chief of Mount Gram.
- Gainax Ending: The ending cutscene occurs right upon conclusion with the battle with Agandaûr. It also coincides with the final defeat of Sauron, when Gollum is dumped into the lava of Mount Doom. The three heroes say a few lines apiece, then decide to head back to Rivendell, while Urgost takes Carn Dum to be his lair. And...that's it.
- Giant Spider: Saenathra.
- Lost Superweapon: The Dwarven war machine in Mount Gundabad.
- The Medic: All the heroes can resurrect each other, but Andriel displays the traits most typical to this trope.
- Mythology Gag:
- The conversation between Urgost and Agandaûr is almost identical to that between Dain and The Mouth of Sauron.
- You can ask Bilbo how to deal with a dragon; doing so opens an optional dialogue tree that allows you to flatter Urgost in the same way Bilbo flattered Smaug in The Hobbit.
- O.C. Stand-in: Agandaûr fits the description of a messenger who knocks on King Dain's door in the books.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: The Dwarves.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Dwarven prince Nordri volunteers for a Suicide Mission to destroy Mount Gundabad.
- Self-Destructive Charge / You Bastard!: You can summon Beleram to do his usual Death from Above during the final boss fight, but it will kill him.
- Shown Their Work: A tremendous amount of effort seems to have gone into including as much backstory from Tolkien's works as possible.
- The Siege: The penultimate mission consists of the siege of Nordinbad.
- Suddenly Voiced: Unlike the films, the Eagles are actually shown speaking the Common Tongue like in the books. One of the dialogue options upon first meeting and freeing Beleram lampshades this.
- You All Meet in an Inn: The game starts in the Prancing Pony.
