From the trenches of Daedalic Entertainment, the Lord of the Rings: Gollum stealth adventure video game was a long-awaited one. While it didn’t look so promising before, there’s not much to rave about after it’s out either. In the realm of Middle-earth, the trials of Lord of the Rings Gollum reviews are not just a mere disappointment – but a testament to how not to drive a beloved series to an unbridled disaster of Tolkien-level monumental proportions.
Technowize has surmised a review of the Lord of the Rings PS5 game to give you a perspective on why Gollum’s narrative is a faux pas which has frustrated ardent fans. J.R.R Tolkien’s Hobbit and War of the Ring trilogy have garnered criticism and the lowest review scores – many would say a ‘missed opportunity’.
Lord of the Rings Gollum Review: Descends Into Chaos
Centering around one of Middle-earth’s frail and split personality characters Sméagol aka Gollum, the Lord of the Rings game thrusts players into the orc-infested outskirts of Mordor, Cirith Ungol. The titular character is a twisted one, turned into a mid-aughts CGI icon but it isn’t exceptionally heroic or embodies any cool abilities – it was merely belittled into a background plot device in the books.
We embarked on the perilous journey of evading Sauron’s wrath amidst my task of reclaiming the ‘One Ring’ from Bilbo Baggins. While the entire experience of the game maneuvers in a third-person perspective, in a bizarre disrupting twist, swimming shifts into a first-person experience.
The Lord of the Rings Gollum reviews parade fans disappointments. Image Courtesy – PlayStation.
While we’re unreticent to ambient dialogues in games, at too frequent but boring points in Gollum’s PS5 game, you’ll be able to choose how he acts, replete with a nuanced moral compass like ‘crush the harmless insect’ or ‘don’t’. But you can’t interact with anything while the somber conversations take place, which takes up droves of time. Uninterestingly, some of the dialogue and UI appear to use Microsoft’s deadpan font, Calibri.
In its span of an 11-hour campaign, we were unimpressed at the lackluster gameplay mechanics which were subjected to dull and seldom stealth segments. The stealth mechanics should have been the saving grace of the game but were disappointingly just basic.
Most of the stealth action zeroes into Gollum platforming around environments to hide from guards. The moment he is caught like an infant with its hand in the cookie jar, the screen blacks out and Gollum restarts from a game over. What could one do after encountering Gollum’s PS5 game bugs that stalled progression and left the story incomplete? Frustrating enough innit?
Gollum Video Game Review: Lord of the Rings Gollum Metacritic Bugs Has ‘Bugged’ People
The Lord of the Rings PS5 reviews seat Gollum at a 38 on Metacritic for the PS5 version and 43 for the PC version, placating a few points below 2022’s Babylon Fall which was shut off its server just a year after its disappointing performance.
While technical achievements aren’t the sole determining aspects of fun, many games that were riddled with issues on releases made up to be an overall enjoyable experience with the strength of their gameplay. Lord of the Rings Gollum game feels unfeignedly unstable as if one mistake, and the whole thing burns to cinders.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum game falters in its technical execution but takes it up a ‘we don’t likes it, preciousss’ notch with the monotonous quest. In a slew of humdrum missions bombarded with repetitive objectives of ‘Follow the person’ or ‘Collect the thing!’ or just a ‘Stand in line!’ task, the absence of exploration and variety is glaringly felt.
The elephant-sized problem in Gollum’s PS5 game has to be acknowledged – it left no room for creativity or free thinking with its linear nature restricting players to predetermined paths.
The internal struggle between Gollum and his alter-ego Sméagol. Image Courtesy – Shutterstock.
One of the jejune reasons for the ill-fated The Lord of the Rings Gollum reviews is the compounded frustration of being doomed to the dreaded “save data corrupted” message which wiped off significant progress, single-handedly. Gollum PS5 game bugs encountered a crash at an astonishing every ten minutes. Despite our determination to advance ahead, game-breaking bugs like the inexplicable repeated deaths of a companion we were tasked with protecting forced us to restart levels. Admitting defeat at 40 percent completion due to an onslaught of crashes and insurmountable setbacks left us nettled.
The graphics of the Lord of the Rings Gollum video game are remarkably underwhelming for a 2023 release. The environmental art design of the nightmarish underground fortress of Barad-dûr is impressive but on a closer look, the textures resound flat sans detailing with the occasional blur. Gollum’s animation appears to offer a flicker of hope but the cartoonish, cross-eyed appearance isn’t appealing to everyone and is often rendered out of focus.
To conclude, like Gollum’s unwavering pursuit of the One Ring, our journey through the Lord of the Rings game felt like a futile quest. The only redeeming aspect of Gollum’s PS5 game is the complementary soundtrack that sounds epic. Trudging without the finesse of Andy Serkis’ iconic portrayal, the dialogues between Gollum and his alter-ego Sméagol are intriguing glimpses into the character’s internal struggle. New characters have added depth to the underexplored Tolkien’s universe, but regrettably, the game’s myriad distractions have rendered it a dissatisfying overall experience.
