The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest was demonstrated on the Wii for us, and the game supposedly is a recount of Samwise Gamgee’s travels through the Lord of the Rings trilogy. As he recalls his stories, players assume the role of Aragorn through the battles in a playable flashback. Aragorn’s controls almost completely mimic those of Link from the 3D console Zelda titles, though obviously Zelda’s controls are more polished and better overall. Multiplayer is possible, where the second player takes control of the invulnerable Gandolf. This was explained to me as a “helper” type of player where older players can assist their younger companions.
The two characters actually have quite different styles of gameplay, where Gandolf relies on magical spells that are aimed at the enemies and then fired. Characters actually do upgrade as the stories progress but to what extent was not expressed. The developer did mention that, for instance, when Gandolf becomes Gandolf the White, he gets an entirely new arsenal of moves at his disposal. The game is clearly targeted to the younger audience, as the developer continually emphasized this point.
