These choices let you piece together a portrait of his fragile personality and get a better understanding of the struggles he faces, explaining why Smeagle eventually gives in to Gollum. Gollum’s story is a known entity, so instead of trying to do something new and daring with it, Daedalic takes the introspective route. The clever thing about Gollum’s choices, however, is that they don’t have to matter. I only had time for one playthrough, and you get just one save file. It’s tough to say what effect, if any, these have on the broader narrative. It’s adequate but it pales in comparison to Andy Serkis, which it was always going to do and should have been reason #231 not to make the game in the first place.Gollum finds himself at a crossroad during some key moments, where he can either cave into his own horrible demands or let Smeagle’s better nature shine through. You learn nothing new of note about Gollum and while the moments where he’s talking to his alter ego of Sméagol, trying to get him to go along with his plans, are the best parts of the game, they’re let down by the voice-acting. While the storytelling is the best element of the game, that’s really not a compliment, given this is not a story that needed to be told. As is the defining nature of his character, Gollum’s goals are not complicated and so you spend the whole game simply trying to catch up with Bilbo, to get your precious back. The game is set just before the events of The Fellowship Of The Ring (in which Gollum is only briefly referenced), long after he’s lost the One Ring to Bilbo Baggins and while he’s still in Mordor, initially as a prisoner. If anyone had ever ended up pitching game ideas to him though we feel this one probably would’ve had a better chance than most, since it’s not really an action game and does try to focus on Gollum’s dissociative identity. Tolkien would not have been a fan of video games, had he ever lived to see them (he died in 1973 but we feel we would’ve heard if he spent his final years addicted to Pong) and we’re sure he would’ve hated the Shadow Of Mordor games in particular, given their loose adherence to his canon.
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