The Gollum game is now out and it is safe to say that a lot of people are not happy with it at all. You just can’t risk making games this bad any more. Daedalic Entertainment’s game didn’t look very good when it was revealed and the entire concept of it didn’t even excite fans. There was a bit of a confusing take on the character and many people hoped that it would end up being better when the game came out.

This is yet another game that is bound to the smouldering dunes of Mordor. So why is this game so bad? Why does it deserve to be thrown into the pits of Mount Doom kicking and screaming? Part of it comes down to the horrendous game mechanics but it also comes down to harsh visuals and the fact that the designers haven’t given any thought to the game or how it comes across to players. So how did this thing even happen?

Surviving on the License

There is a high chance that this game survived on the appeal of its license alone. At the end of the day, Lord of the Rings is always going to be a big deal and a stealth-focused puzzle set during the time of Gollum’s captivity does make a lot of sense.

He cannot fight, he is very weak and also vulnerable. On top of this, he has to deal with a split personality which makes things even more difficult for him. In the right hands, it is safe to say that this could have resulted in some fantastic gameplay scenarios. The one issue is that it doesn’t, and it would seem that Daedalic has fumbled the ball in every possible way. A lot of people didn’t think that it would end up being such a  disaster, but they did think that it could have been a bit more of a success.

Cutting Losses

Half-formulated ideas and even duds like this do not often see the light of day. They end up being stuck in the prototype phase and they also end up being cancelled later down the line. Developers often say that if a game does end up happening it is nothing short of a miracle. In spite of everything that is mediocre about it, you should still play it. You should pay your respects to the creators who have invested months of their time into making this game happen and it’s evident that they tried their best.

Sure, the developers probably invested blood, sweat and tears trying to make this happen but there is no way that someone didn’t look at this game and thought that it looked a little bit rubbish. It has a dire companion system and the visuals would not look out of place if you listed this as being a PS3 game.

There are Free Games Out There- Including Casino Games

At the end of the day, there are free games out there to play and with the cost of living crisis, people want to make sure that they do not spend more than they can afford. Of course, if you look at the free games you will soon see that some of them are themed. You have Pirates of the Caribbean slot games, along with Star Wars casino games. One thing to take note of is that even though Gollum was a monumental disaster, you don’t need to put a lot of effort into a game to make it good. Take slot games for example. Most of the time, you just press a button and let the slots do their thing. This is great, but the ultimate function of the game is beyond simple. With that in mind, people love it.

This just goes to show that it is not the game that is the issue, it is the fact that they tried to over-complicate an idea that wasn’t ready to hit the market yet. If you look at slot games such as Ugga Bugga, or if you look up an unbiased Ugga Bugga slot review, you will see that people sing their praises about this game.

It doesn’t have half the features that Gollum promises, but at the end of the day, it does what it promises well. It’s interactive, the graphics are great and it can provide you with hours of fun. This is great, to say the least, and it just goes to show how audiences don’t always want a high-tech masterpiece. They just want a game that is done well, and that lives up to expectations, regardless of how big or small they might be.

Games are Expensive

Games are, at the end of the day, very expensive. They are too risky to make in this era. Stinkers such as Gollum are doomed to being too obscure or they never end up being made to start with.  If they are, pedigrees come together in service of the games that they know are going to be great. It is admissible that the Avenger’s game is a true exception to that rule. That being said, it is responsible for breaking the camel’s back.

Gollum stands as being a bit bizarre and it is a fantastical dud that, somehow, managed to make it through the entire production stage with the green light. It doesn’t earn any credit in terms of being a good game,  but die-hard fans will probably give it a go anyway.

There are Other Great Alternatives

The main thing to know is that there are cheaper games out there. There are way cheaper alternatives too, and that is why Gollum is having such a hard time right now. When you break it all down you will soon see that there are some free LOTR games out there and you also have the epic trilogy from the PS2 series.

After they came out, you had Shadow of War, a LOTR-inspired game that involved you battling your way through orc strongholds with your army. Of course, this game was so successful that it had fans demanding a sequel as soon as possible. People wanted to make sure that they got more great content and they demanded that developers get to work on the next instalment as soon as possible. To this date, they have not come out with any news regarding it but when the news is released, you can expect a bit of a frenzy.

Sure, LOTR has a solid fan base but they are also quick to point out when a game is not quite hitting the mark. Right now, it looks like Gollum is falling into that category. If you want to find out more about the game and its current features then there are lots of reviews out there, but you should prepare yourself for the fact that nobody is really happy with how this game has turned out.

Lord of the Rings Deserved Better

Lord of the Rings deserves better. True fans out there know that they live and breathe LOTR and at the end of the day, even the most dedicated of fans are having a hard time seeing anything good about this game.

People are scoring it 1.5/5 and this is awful, to say the least. Gollum might be misunderstood but it is hard to play this angle when you look at how it has been received. It is falling apart at the seams in such a way that fans cannot wait for the post-mortem look at the game to see how it could have been better. How did this game even make it out the door? At the end of the day, it would seem that right now, we are dealing with two different extremes. You have games that are untouchable masterpieces or that are absolute disasters

If you have a game that falls in between this then you are likely to have something that is going to grow into a cult classic or that unfortunately, is going to be forgotten about entirely. When something is bad and not passable at all, people try and find out why or they are the offending game everywhere for people to see.

Nobody looks to be playing Gollum right now but at the end of the day, everyone loves to share bad screenshots about it or talk about the comically-positioned models and animations. Even the dialogue is to be laughed at and this shows how bad the whole thing is.

Of course, there is a bit of joy to be found in this though. Games of this calibre are often so few and far between that in this day and age, they have become a topic of hot discussion. Some people feel as though they want to join in with the jokes but at the end of the day, it’s important to know that if we want to move on from games like Gollum then more work has to be done to get to the root of the issue.