There’s a clear parallel between J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels and the video games set within the same universe: moments of greatness, interspersed with disheartening setbacks.

Video games set in Middle-earth span myriad genres, from turn-based strategy to combo fueled, hack-and-slash action. Although some of the games proved to be compelling additions to the Tolkien mythos, not all of them lived up to the fantasy world’s pedigree. So now that Shadow of Mordor has raised the bar to even greater heights, let's explore the high and low points of the Lord of the Rings in video games.f

Before we cover the very low lows of LotR's video game history, let's go over a few games that got it right:

Lord of the Rings Online

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With endless plains, towering mountain ranges, and a plethora of cities ripe with character, Middle-earth just begs to be explored. Turbine’s Lord of the Rings Online grants players that opportunity. Released in 2007, the MMORPG was the first use of the license that came close to capturing the scale of the sprawling fantasy world, and it did so with with bravado. There are standard fetch quests and the like, but LOTRO succeeds when it’s telling engrossing stories tangential to the main plot. Middle-earth is a nuanced place, and Turbine’s MMO conveys that tenfold.

LEGO Lord of the Rings

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TT Games continually makes good use of source material with the LEGO franchise, and LEGO Lord of the Rings is no exception. It released in 2012, and despite its quirky aesthetic, it’s actually one of the better games set in the Lord of the Rings fiction. Dozens of characters can be unlocked from across Tolkien’s rich history, and the seemingly endless supply of collectibles is not only a warm invitation to explore Middle-earth, it’s also a reason to stay.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

EA’s first attempt at recreating the skirmishes from Peter Jackson’s trilogy wasn’t a failure by any means –– The Two Towers combined a combo-based combat system (a la Devil May Cry) with the environments and characters of the Lord of the Rings films with flying colors. But with its second Middle-earth outing in 2003, EA Games expanded the cast of playable characters and allowed players to relive skirmishes however they like. Although Faramir never made it to the Black Gate in Jackson’s film, players can bring him into Mordor’s gaping maw over, and over, and over again.

The Lord of the Rings: War in the North

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While Jackson’s films captured the spectacle and implications of men’s battles in the South, there were countless other struggles unfolding simultaneously across Middle-earth. In Snowblind’s 2011 cooperative action-adventure RPG, players assume the role of an elf, a man or a dwarf as they fight their way through one such event. Progressive skill trees emphasize teamwork and strategic use of skills, and although the combat can become repetitive, War in the North succeeds because it tells a story that was heretofore unseen in the medium of video games.

Battle for Middle-earth II

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Like War in the North, Battle for Middle-earth II shies away from the Southern struggle between men and Mordor, instead opting to focus on alternative storylines. This time, though, players sit in the general’s chair. The real-time strategy game released in 2006, and follows the elf Glorfindel and dwarf Gloin –– father of the famous Gimli –– across Middle-earth as they unite their respective races against the growing threat of Sauron. The storyline is mainly a vehicle for players as they build fortifications, harvest resources and assault enemy bases with multifarious units, but the plethora of multiplayer maps and well-balanced factions are more than enough to keep strategists storming enemy ramparts, time and time again.

Unfortunately, there are far more LotR games found throughout history that didn't manage to do Tolkien's universe the justice it deserves. These 5 misfires, while not exactly awful, still disappointed:

The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

Unlike the second and third novels in Tolkien’s renowned trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring never received a respectable video game adaptation. It’s based on Tolkien’s book, not Jackson’s movie, so it includes characters and events that were missing from the silver screen experience. But the game was developed by a handful of different developers for different platforms, and the incongruity showed in the final product in 2002. The plot is erratic, the combat is overly simplified, and some graphical problems even prevented it from running when it was released. Lord of the Rings games have come a long way since this, and (hopefully) don’t show signs of returning.

Lord of the Rings: Conquest

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The interstellar battles of Star Wars: Battlefront unfolded gracefully on the Xbox and PS2, and with its own trilogy and wealth of conflicts to draw from, Lord of the Rings Conquest seemed braced for similar success in 2009. But the repetitive combat, clunky controls and lack of replayability made the game one of the weaker uses of the legendary encounters in Tolkien’s works. The full-scale war against Sauron and his armies has set the stage for a handful of exceptional video game adaptations, but Conquest isn’t one of them.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings

As one of the earlier video game forays into Middle-earth, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Vol. 1 didn’t have a lot of precedents to follow in 1994. It was preceded by The Hobbit, a text-based adventure on PC that didn’t delve too much into the source material. And somewhere between the redundant fetch quests, poor AI, and treks through indistinguishable environments, The Lord of the Rings Vol. 1 lost its way. The tale of Frodo and the Ring has been deliberately crafted several times over since, leaving the SNES adaptation behind like a bad memory.

Aragorn’s Quest

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Aragorn’s Quest is, essentially, a 2010 recap of Peter Jackson’s film trilogy. Players step into the boots of the titular ranger and make their way across Middle-earth, reliving the events of the films while they learn a handful of new abilities. These skills, however, rarely help Aragorn’s Quest deviate from monotonous button-mashing. The game takes about as long to beat as the film trilogy takes to watch, and time would be better spent on the latter.

The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age

The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age borrows almost as much from Final Fantasy as it does from Jackson’s movies. EA Redwood Shores borrowed from the combat of Final Fantasy games VII and up, hoping it would be more accessible than the grid-based combat the developer originally planned. And from the outset of The Third Age, the system is actually promising. But following in the original Fellowship’s footsteps with a more clandestine group of travelers becomes a chore, as difficulty spikes and character imbalances make The Third Age stumble its way through Middle-earth.

Like any franchise, the Lord of the Rings has had its peaks and valleys in video game adaptations. Did we miss any great titles that you’d like to see mentioned? Have you played any not-so-great entries that we didn’t discuss? Let us know in the comments below.

Mike Mahardy is a freelance writer for IGN and various other outlets. To hear him rant, you can follow him on Twitter.