The single player part is best started with the training and there you'll immediately meet a dark side of this game. To go to another area in training you need to complete some missions like holding of an Orc attack. However, that sometimes isn't enough to open up the passage and when you then start all over again and do exactly the same thing magically you'll be able to progress after all. Painful for a first impression of a game.

After having acquired basic techniques like sword fighting and a couple of special attacks you get to start with the real campaign. To play as a bad guy you'll first have to finish as the good one though. Once started up you'll immediately get some movie footage that tells the story of the different missions. Also the surroundings will be very recognisable for those that have seen the films.

The missions themselves are the well-known battles from the trilogy and you'll sometimes have to start over again to succeed because the tends to fail, just like in the training mission. Sad is also that you can skip the intro and after a couple of missions you'll notice you're constantly hammering the same buttons over and over again and that the different attacks aren't that different after all.

Also the classes are pretty simple. Archer, mage, scout and warrior are present with their predictable attacks that get triggered by the same buttons. The heroes are a nice variation but look too much alike to the standard characters. Playing as a troll or ent is one of the highlights of the game and when you're trying to conquer or protect an area during battle you'll get some help from friends but they'll regularly let you down.

There's plenty of choice when it comes to multiplayer options. Offline you can go head to head in split-screen or complete a campaign together while online several standard modes are available for up to 16 players. It's fun for a while but in the end the same problems reoccur and you'll quickly get a feeling of "been there done that".