This week I attempted to trudge through the recently release Lord of the Rings: Conquest. I say trudge because in single player it's an incredibly frustrating experience. The constant knock downs, pinning against the environment, and the constant rain of enemy arrows really rub my hobbit feet the wrong way. Thankfully the game supports co-op, and jumping into a session of that helps alleviate the pain.
I found myself stuck in Minas Tirith, a battle in which you needed to hold the front gates and then slowly retreat up each ring of the city. Luckily Jim was there to save the day with his sword. Queue the Gimli/Legolas sound bite - "you have my axe, you have my bow."
The great part about co-op in this game is the ability to balance classes off each other. While I stuck with an Archer, Jim covered me with his warrior. He was designated troll slayer as he climbed up each one of their lumbering bodies, and I covered him with my exploding arrows keeping those nasty orcses off him. Later on we switched at the nearest flag point as his mage defended our group from incoming arrows with the shield.
A great success at Minas Tirith (but no achievement...hmmm) led to a battle on Pelinor fields. The game truly shines here in terms of visual presentation. Oliphaunts, siege towers, Nazgul, and hundreds upon hundreds of warriors are fighting on the battlefield. Our job was to take down the bigger creatures. We each called out our respective targets, and tried to cover each other. One by one the Oliphaunts fell as the siege towers burned to the ground with them.
Then the Witchking came, and with him - came the dying and the restarting. No amount of co-op here seemed to work, and after the 6th or 7th time we did the "Just one more time" thing. That's when Jim had the bright idea to get on a horse and simply plow over that Witchking like a squirrel on a highway. Add in my explosive arrows and victory was ours.
Don't forget you still have a few days for your chance to win this title! Details here.