EA ships tactical take on Tolkien tale

It seems like the battle for the one ring to rule them all has been waged in every genre short of a dating sim, but the list of venues for epic Tolkien-esque battles expands by one today with the release of Electronic Arts' turn-based strategy game for the PSP, The Lord of the Rings: Tactics.

In the game, players take command of either the heroic Fellowship (Frodo, Aragorn, and the rest) or the assorted forces of Mordor (Sauron, Saruman, Grima) and play through the by-now-quite-familiar story of Frodo's quest to destroy the one ring, and Sauron's quest to reclaim it.

Whichever side they choose, players can customize their forces with new items, upgrades, and skills that will give them the advantage in battle. Of course, given the name of the game, players will also have to use sound tactics to see their way to victory, grabbing the high ground when possible, setting ambushes, and using strategy to trap their enemies. Players can even take their customized forces and hard-earned lessons of battle and test them against their friends with the game's multiplayer mode for up to four players.

Whereas previous EA Lord of the Rings games were based solely on Peter Jackson's film trilogy, Tactics is the first game to make use of the company's newly-acquired literary rights to the J.R.R.Tolkien trilogy of books that was the basis of the films. This lets the developers use the character likenesses and monster designs from the films, but also allows them to incorporate the numerous settings, creatures, and characters from the books that never made it into the movies.

Lord of the Rings: Tactics is rated T for Teen and retails for $49.99. Check back later for GameSpot's full review.