The Lord of the Rings: Tactics Critic Reviews

Comparing Lord of the Rings Tactics to "Metal Gear Solid" -- another turn-based, tactical PSP title with a famous franchise attached -- this game comes out on top in almost every way.

A very decent strategy-RPG that scores extra points for being the only full-on PSP role-player available so far. Add five marks if you're a massive LotR fan.

As a total package, Lord of the Rings: Tactics is impressive. It's a reasonably intricate strategy game in its own right, and, thanks to its slickly produced presentation, it's also one of the better video game adaptations of the films made to date.

The ability to play as both the Host of Mordor and the Fellowship is noble, but the lack of character customization really takes away from the charm of this franchise.

It’s an acquired taste, but if you enjoy strategy RPGs and like the Lord of the Rings franchise, you’ll find more to like than not in the game.

While playing as members of the Fellowship and the host of Mordor is inherently cool, it's not so great seeing these characters limited to dull attacks and skills. The strategy, however, is engaging for the most part and benefits from a good mix of maps.

Lord of the Rings: Tactics is a solid, albeit totally ordinary strategy RPG released in the first six months of the PSP life cycle.

The four-player mode is a great addition and will certainly beef up the replay value.

I can think of a dozen things that would have made this game better, or at least more attractive to the casual gamer, but for those who love the Lord of the Rings and need a solid strategy fix on their PSP, this will easily fill that need for a few months to come.

The chance to play as the Fellowship or the Host or Mordor is a very cool thing.

Tactics probably would've been a better game if it had left out the half-baked RPG elements, and focused on more varied units and capabilities.

While in terms of accuracy to the world it's the least accurate LoTR licence yet, in other areas it's terribly close to the books. It's slow-paced. It's a little unwieldy. It's hardly glamorous. However, it's also something which wraps you up in its own world for hours at a time.

Taking away the Lord of the Rings license you'll still find a solid, if a little predictable (and sometimes frustrating), tactical-RPG - add the Hobbits and the Goblins and it's a PSP title that RPG loving fans of the series will enjoy.

The film's distinctive environments are employed to great effect - hills and ridges mean characters with different specialities come into their own when used properly, and the buildings and natural obstructions add to the game's surprising depth.

Lacking the foundation of gameplay to offer the kind of choices that strategy fans have grown accustomed to, LOTR: Tactics is a disappointment.

The only glaring issue is that the game does feel far too familiar. Veteran gamers may find the game too mediocre and boring to even last through the entire adventure.

While the memorable battle sequences from the movie trilogy would lend themselves perfectly to a strategy game, this one just isn't put together well enough to do full justice to the source material.

This game is simply trying to cash into the Lord of the Rings franchise, so lets be smart enough and not fall for that old trick, just walk on buy this one on the store shelves.

A disappointing package that seems to have received even less development time than most of the PSP launch titles.

A by-the-book tactical RPG that takes no chances, but can be engaging. It's also short (campaigns under 15 hours) and whoever heard of a short RPG?