The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring for the Game Boy Advance brings the opening part of Tolkien's story into a top-down action RPG, in which the player guides the hobbit Frodo and his companions through key locations from the first book — from the Shire through Rivendell and the Mines of Moria to the breaking of the Fellowship on the banks of the Anduin. The game follows the plot of the book more faithfully than the console versions released alongside it, which focused mainly on the film trilogy and its visual style, while the handheld version builds on the text of the book itself.

The combat system combines simple action attacks with the gradual upgrading of the characters' abilities and the collection of items needed to solve puzzles and advance the story, such as keys, scrolls, or ingredients for alchemical potions. Over the course of the game, the player takes turns controlling different members of the Fellowship, which brings variety to the combat style and abilities — Frodo is quieter and more agile, while other characters rely on strength and endurance in battle. The graphics from Griptonite Games offer an atmospheric, darker setting matching the tone of the book, the music draws on themes associated with Tolkien's world, and underscores the somber atmosphere of the journey to Mount Doom.

Compared to the console titles under the same license, this was a more modest but solidly made game, which contemporary critics praised especially for its faithfulness to the book and for offering a different perspective on the story than the popular film adaptation. Today it is interesting as one of the few games drawing directly from the book rather than the film, and for fans of Tolkien's world it represents an unconventional, book-oriented take on the story of the Ring, even if in gameplay terms it doesn't rise above the average of licensed productions of its era. As a companion title to the film trilogy, it still offers an interesting contrast today against the more spectacular, more action-driven console adaptations of the same license.