Really fun game, even if you don't follow the series.
I loved all these movies, and the games. I think it's a pretty fun series. In this particular game you follow the story of the movie fairly well with a few add-ins. You get to fight all the major battles, Pelennor fields, The Black Gate, Minesterith, etc. You can play as legolas, aragorn, frodo, sam, merry, pippin, gandalf, gimili, and more. As you play levels, you kill orcs, and so on. Killing without getting hit gives you what is similiar to a combat multiplier. As you kill it increases as you continue to kill, it contiues to increase. You can get kills that are Fair, Good, Excellent, and Perfect. You get points for making kills and obviously more points for better kills. After a level these kills are tallied up and using your acquired points you can purchase new hit combos, make your character stronger, get better ranged attacks, and new specials. There are 3 mini stories you could say, 3 roles to play in the story. You can play as the hobbits in one section, aragorn legolas and gimili in another, and Gandalf in the last section. The levels are set-up so that you start out as the hobbits and you play through levels like Shelob's Lair, and so on. Once there 5 or so missions are done you unlock the path of the king (aragorn) section. His levels take you through The king of the Dead, Pelennor fields and so on. Afetr you beat that you unlock Gandalf's section. His levels take you through Isengarde, etc. Once you beat all those levels, you unlock the Black Gate. In this level you can play as any character. Then you play the final level as the hobbits. Which is how the movie ends. Once you beat the core mission, there are a few bonus things that you can do. Cheats are given to you, etc. also before I forget, every level has pieces of interactive environment that can be used to kill enemies. Such things as spears stuck in the ground, pots of hot oil, hanging chandeliers, and more. These things can be very useful and fun, so don't be afraid to explore the battlefield and see what's available.
In conclusion:
The Good: This is a really fun game, that follows the story quite well, enough interesting gaming to keep you busy for a good 12 hours, good game play, interactive pieces of environment can be used to kill,and fairly decent graphics.
The Bad: Once you beat the game it's not much fun anymore, it's really just a button masher, and not much strategy, fairly easy game.