There’s a difference between a complex (let’s say Square Enix) RPG and EA’s Lord of The Rings homage to Final Fantasy, and it’s the same difference that you’ll find between Lord Of The Rings Tactics and a more complicated turn-based strategy game like, say, Makai Kingdom. So this is tactics-lite, but with that EA polish.

Following the story of the book, however, is easily the game’s biggest problem since in all other areas it’s a decent lightweight strategy title. This adherence means that you’ll fight in familiar scenes with familiar heroes where you know what the outcome must be. Frodo should never die because he’s got The Ring, but that doesn’t mean that others can’t regularly get filleted and missions can be completed. Orcs, usually violent thugs now have the totally annoying but intelligent habit of using healing potions. This is in keeping with what happens in a tactics game, but it doesn’t make sense to the movies. If this was just War In Middle- Earth using freshly rolled characters there would be no confusion, but it isn’t and so you get a rather weedy Aragorn to build up and a Legolas with initially all the archery skill of, well, us. Get used to such silliness and you’ve got the PSP’s second best tactics game.