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Hobbits Play at EA GAMES
Comic-Con hosted a number of The Lord of the Rings notables this year. Andy Serkis, the actor behind Gollum, was generous enough to be on hand for much of the conference, greeting fans and signing autographs. Saturday saw a remarkable flux of Hollywood talent on the exhibition floor when Elijah Wood (Frodo Baggins) and Dominic Monaghan (Merry Brandybuck) graced the EA GAMES booth to play The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King. A crowd instantly converged to catch a glimpse of the actors teaming up in co-op mode.
(A four-shot composite of the crowd gathered to see Elijah Wood and Dominic Monaghan)
Wood chose to play as Sam while Monaghan stepped into Aragorn's virtual boots. Monaghan jokingly asked, "Can I kill Elijah?" (the answer being no, of course, since the Fellowship is fighting cooperatively to save Middle-earth).
As the game's "Minas Tirith – courtyard" level loaded, EA representative David Silverman explained how Sam can wear his Elven cloak of camouflage to evade enemies. Wood responded, "Aw, sweet!"
Monaghan, anxious to get into the action, egged, "Where are the bad guys? Come on, bad guys, come on!" Then the game began and havoc erupted on-screen. Blue-robed citizens ran through the courtyard as enemy soldiers streamed through the gate. A storm of boulders flung from catapults crashed continually, creating thick clouds of gray dust. The sounds of orc cries, crumbling rock, and metal meeting metal filled the air.
Wood noticed the enemy slaying the women and cried out with indignation, “Hey, they’re killing the wenches, dude!”
Monaghan, meeting stiff opposition, muttered “Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish!” He seemed a bit embarrassed by his initial performance, but managed to remember Aragorn’s combo move on his own and cleaved an orc in half. Then he grabbed a blazing war pike and thrust it into an enemy with a triumphant yell.
Wood observed that Sam "isn’t the best guy for this particular level." Silverman described how the Hobbits have special levels designed to suit their stealthier style and detailed how they can actually interact more with the environment by pushing boulders off cliffs, tipping braziers of hot coals, and setting off ballista. Wood, genuinely impressed, responded, "Oh, that’s awesome."
Wood proceeded to coordinate a strategy of attack with Monaghan. "I’m taking out their archers," he informed as flaming arrows whizzed by. They teamed up directly to take out an orc in a few swift blows, but the pressure of the invasion did not let up even for a moment. Wood’s brow began to furrow in concentration. The pair played with the utmost attention, their eyes never leaving the screen. Suddenly, Wood yelled, “Die! Die! Die!” at a stunned enemy returning to his feet. He finished him off with a kill move as Monaghan encouraged, "Good! Come on!"
Suddenly, the entire courtyard shook as three colossal cave trolls trundled into the action. Wood and Monaghan looked at each other, eyebrows raised in amazement, and chime in unison, “Oooooh!” Wood’s Sam hacked and slashed tenaciously, leveling dozens of enemy warriors. “That’s right,” he declared, “took him down! One… down…. Another one down…. We are good, dude!”
Meanwhile, Monaghan seemed to be meeting more resistance. He stated, “Hey, these guys are hard core,” and fretted about Aragorn’s declining health until Aragorn finally collapsed and respawned. Someone from the crowd teased, “Dom, What’s going on there?” Monaghan immediately struck an air of nonchalance: “Nothing, nothing, nothing, just chilling!”
Soon, it was Wood’ turn to vent. Through gritted teeth, he said, “Really dying a lot here, really dying!”
Within moments, though, they vanquished the last cave troll and finished the level. Wood raised his hand in victory, “Yeaaaaah!” He pointed to the remaining fleeing women and told them, “Go, wenches, go!” He turned to Monaghan and yelled, “We beat it. We beat it! We beat it!”
For their valiant in-game efforts, each one received a high-resolution rendering of his respective character from the game in 8”x10” glossy print format. When asked what they thought of the game, Monaghan shrugged his shoulders and replied, “It’s alright.” Both he and Wood laughed. “It’s good man, really good! It’s kind of hectic, but that’s what Helm’s Deep is all about!” He raised his glossy of Merry and kissed the back.
Wood leaned over to Monaghan and said, “It’s not Helm’s Deep, it’s really Minas Tirith; really Minas Tirith,” eluding to how similar it is in the game to the location in the movie. With that, they turned to their crowd of fans and departed to enjoy the rest of Comic-Con.
By eagames.com | July 2003
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EA-games article