Matt Miller
Better gameplay pacing and more interesting level designs might have kept this from being such a missed opportunity
Moments of beauty and distantly spaced moments of sublime discovery are separated by hours and hours of tedium and frustration
An easy skip, even if you like mecha-infused action
A shameless cash-in attempt is only redeemed by passable cooperative multipayer
A deep progression system isn't enough to save these survivors from repetitive and poorly balanced missions
I constantly struggled against the controls, camera, and objectives as they were presented. And nothing about the story or characters of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum offers reason to push past the frustration. As a longtime fan of Tolkien’s fiction, it’s possible that I liked the game even less for the way it seemed to misuse the source material. It’s hard to have a more damning indictment than to say that this Gollum game isn’t for fans of The Lord of the Rings, but here we are.
I was happily surprised by the breadth, depth, and challenge of the Iki Island expansion. For new players, it will extend an already lengthy adventure into something more. Meanwhile, returning players should be thrilled at how well this experience dovetails out of an already stellar game. Iki Island is what I want out of single-player game expansions. And it’s further proof (as if we needed any more at this point) that Sucker Punch has a standout new property to continue building on.