A Baptism of Digital Fire
The dawn of the new millennium brought with it some pretty cool stuff, for what I remember. I may have been very young, but I can still recall some of those ground-breaking things that epitomised being a kid in the early 2000’s. Beating Pokémon’s Elite Four on Gameboy Colour; watching Samurai Jack tear Aku’s (thankfully robotic) minions to shreds; hearing the iconic melody of a dial-up connection-all things that send a nostalgic shiver up my spine. But there was just one iconic presence; one all-encompassing love affair that now defines my introduction to the 21st Century-and that is, of course, The Lord of the Rings.
To say that I was a big fan of Sir Peter Jackson’s epic film trilogy would be a gross understatement. To my 8 year-old self; cardboard Sting in hand and towel-cloak dragging along the floor, these films were the greatest things to ever happen, subsequently awakening in me an adoration for Tolkien’s timeless masterpiece. So when my best friend told me he had no interest in the series, my mission became clear. Little did I know that I would find the answer to my troubles in a videogame.
In retrospect, starting off by lending him the books was never going to work, but when he bafflingly rejected the idea of a nine-hour movie marathon, I was forced to break out the collection. At that point, I owned every action figure released for the three films, but not even the 16-inch talking Treebeard was enough to ignite his passion for Middle Earth. I was ready to give up, thinking that if nothing had yet worked, then nothing ever would. And then Electronic Arts threw me a lifeline with the release of The Return of the King for PlayStation 2. On that day I realised something: if there’s anything a kid is willing to try, it’s a new videogame.
The co-op campaign went on into the night, and it didn’t finish until the sun crept through the curtains the next morning. We had clocked the game, but more importantly, my friend had been converted into a fervent Lord of the Rings fan.
At the age of 22, he’s now just as big an enthusiast as I, and it all came from an all-nighter on PS2. I was initially astonished at how much he had picked up about the story from the game alone, until I realised that he had just been a part of it. The narrative was still there, the platform of a videogame had simply allowed us to join in. He experienced many of the emotions that the films evoked in me; there was real urgency as we frantically raced to take down Orc siege towers; genuine suspense as we hid from Shelob in her cave; utter relief when we finally destroyed The One Ring. Through engaging gameplay, cinematic cut scenes and narration from the films’ actors, the game retains the fundamental themes of Tolkien’s story, and embeds them into an interactive environment.
That night, a fan of the franchise was born, and a respect for videogames as a storytelling medium was fully realised in another.
