J. R. R. Tolkien's Riders of Rohan

J. R. R. Tolkien's Riders of Rohan

European cover art
Developer(s) Beam Software
Papyrus Design Group
Publisher(s)
Series Middle-earth
Platform(s) DOS
Release date(s) 1991
Genre(s) Strategy
Mode(s) Single-player

J. R. R. Tolkien's Riders of Rohan is a computer video game from 1991 based upon the fictional War of the Ring set in the Middle-earth world created by J. R. R. Tolkien, centered in the Lord of the Rings novels. The massive-scale simulation takes part in the realm of Rohan and the player controls the forces of Good during the onslaught of the forces of Evil, namely centered on the conflict with Saruman of Isengard. It was published by Konami and Mirrorsoft.

Gameplay

In terms of gameplay, it is very similar to the 1988 War in Middle Earth, except the setting was downsized from the entire world just to the land of the Rohirrim, engulfing mostly the storyline from The Two Towers, and to a small extent ending in The Return of the King. In a combination of a single-unit adventure, small-scale battlefield tactics and broadscale campaign warfare, the player must coordinate the Fellowship and Rohan's troops in order to fend of the invasion of Saruman's Orcs and save the Rohirrim lands, as well as mounting enough forces to push the war on the fronts in the east in order to contribute to Sauron's defeat.

At the beginning, the player can in the starting menu choose to start a new game, load an old one, quit, access encyclopedias dealing with featured units and characters, or practice. The practice folds down to tutorials in single-fighter combat: - Archery: the player takes control of Legolas attempting to shoot down (18) Orcs from a wall, while crouching from their spears - Dual: the player chooses between four Heroes: Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and Eomer, to fight either an Orc or a Dunlending in melee combat - Magic Duel: the player takes control over Gandalf fighting a Nazgul flying mounted on a Felbeast

The game begins just before the Battles at the Fords of Isen, with the player taking control over Rohan's western armies (an army consisted of an infantry unit [Westfold Militia], a light cavalry unit [Outriders], a horse archers unit [Harrowdale Bow] and three heave cavalry units [Helms Deep Guards and Edoras Guards, the Grimslade squadron being under Theodred's personal leadership]). The main army is led by Theodred, while there is a separate unit of heavy cavalry [Harrowdale] that is still behind on the road. The game ends when Sauron is destroyed after the Battle at the Black Gates and Frodo and Sam reach Mount Doom.

Units

The player can control only the good side in the conflict.

Characters

The game features a number of characters, only conditionally "heroes":

Reception

Computer Gaming World called the game's graphics "simple, yet pleasing", but described it as "a lightweight strategy game that includes several action sequences and some very limited character interaction". The magazine stated that those who had not read Tolkien's books would likely not understand the game's backstory, and that strategy players would dislike how closely they needed to follow the original story's actions to succeed in the game. Computer Gaming World only recommended it to devoted Tolkien fans.[1]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Greenberg, Allen L. (February 1992). "Riders of the Video Mage". Computer Gaming World. p. 66. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
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