If you liked the soundtrack of the movie then the soundtrack in LOTR Tactics will please you. A lot of the background music has been taken from the movie and used nicely during the game. The sounds of the swords clashing and arrows hitting also sounds very similar to those of previous games as do the characters sounds when they get hit. Unfortunately there's no character speech in the game.

LOTR Tactics is quite a simple game to pick up and play, but is difficult to master. The game takes the form of having simultaneous movement and attack phases. Each map has a playing area based upon scenes from the movie ( e.g. Helms Deep, or Weathertop) which is divided into a grid. During the movement phase you'll have the opportunity to move your men where you'd like. Each character has the ability to move a certain amount of spaces and will travel these spaces at different speeds, depending on character and terrain. Whilst you're doing this the computer is also thinking about their movements. What this equates to is being able to block opposing forces by guessing their movements. It's kinda like chess but you both move at once.
The 2nd phase is the attack phase. Like the movement phase this is done simultaneously. You can pick which targets you'd like your characters to attack. You can forego an attacking move and choose instead to use any number of potions which increase strength, reduce fear, improve armour and replenish health. During this phase you can also choose to unleash special attacks of hero classes (such as Gandalf, Aragorn and the The Witch King). Once this is done you sit back and watch the attacks carried out.

The amount of damage depends on several factors such as the armour class of the foe you're attacking, the strength and skills of the attacker, the line of sight, as well as the ability of the enemy unit to block and counter attack your attack. You can hide certain characters behind objects on the 3-D playing field which can protect them from harm whilst allowing you shots at other units.
LOTR Tactics is not a fast paced game. Don't expect to be frantically moving your troops around the battlefield and button mashing to attack. It is a change from a lot of the faster PSP games and won't suit everyone but if you have the patience to play strategy games then it works quite well.
The RPG elements of this game are relatively minor. You wont have a chance to decide where experience points go (it just goes into a big pool of experience). You will have the option to buy certain skills which can be used on the battlefield but this is about as far as the RPG elements go. One thing which makes no sense to me is that after a battle all your heroes will gain experience, even the one's who did not partake in the battle. I'm not quite sure how this works, nor why it would work this way

There are three difficulty levels, easy, medium and hard. On the easy level you'll win more often than not but will have to think. Playing on Hard is quite difficult and requires a lot more skill and strategy in order to succeed. Each hero has certain skills they can buy and use, for example Frodo has a Stone's throw which results in a strong long ranged attack. Sauron is able to unleash the Eye of Sauron which results in an enemy unit being struck with fear and unable to move or attack. The vast array of potions add an x-factor to enemy attacks, as you wont know what they're planning, using the potion to reduce fear may or may not be a wise use of your attack phase – you wont know till you see what the enemy does.

If you like Lord of the Rings and like strategy games you'll love this. The 24 levels have enough variety to keep you involved – some are simply kill all the enemy, others involve you making sure a certain character survive, some involve you capturing or protecting a flag whilst others involve you getting a character to a certain area of the map without being killed. Depending on whether you play as the Fellowship or the Host of Mordor will determine what your objectives are in each level which means that playing as the opponents will be a different experience. There's also a multiplayer mode so you'll be able challenge your mates for bragging rights.

LOTR Tactics is another good PSP specific title. LOTR Tactics suits the PSP well and is great when you don't want to be playing a hectic button mashing game. The graphics are quite nice and the gameplay is a breeze to pick up and learn. The differences in difficulty level means you won't just be cruising through the hard level doing as you please. Those expecting a smaller version of Battle for Middle Earth will be disappointed as will those expecting the action in Return of the King. However LOTR Tactics stand up well by itself. Even if you don't like LOTR, but are interested in strategy games then this is well worth a look as something different to the norm.

Graphics: Sound: Gameplay: Difficulty: Value: Score:

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