With this complete text and video walkthrough of Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest, the action-adventure game for the Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, Playstation 2, and PSP, you'll be able to defeat the armies of dark minions of Sauron attempting to stop you from destroying the One Ring and taking your rightful place as king. Find the secrets you'll need to defeat every orc, goblin, troll, and ring wraith in your path, fighting your way through Moria, Rohan, the battle of Helm's Deep, and all the way to the final confrontation with Sauron's forces at The Black Gate. Developed by Headstrong Games and TT Games, and published by Warner Bros. Interactive, Aragorn's Quest was released on September 14, 2010.

In a stylized, child-friendly version of Middle-earth, players control Aragorn, the wanderer who would be king, from the time he meets up with the hobbit Frodo and begins his part in the fantasy epic. With a variety of weapons and attacks, Aragorn must battle hordes of orcs, trolls, and the other evil creatures seeking to enslave the world of Middle-earth. All of the most epic battles depicted in the films and novels are here, and players will have to fight their way through them all. Luckily, the other members of the Fellowship of the Ring are there by your side, struggling to destroy the evil ring and restore Aragorn to his rightful place as king.

The game features upgradeable, customizable weapons and abilities, allowing you to choose your preferred style of combat. You'll have to be flexible, though, since enemies also change their equipment and attack styles. That means that what works on one playthrough may need to be refined or outright changed in the next. To further assist Aragorn in his Quest, a second player can step into the fray at any time, controlling the wizard Gandalf.

Set across the three Lord of the Rings films, the game tells the story from Aragorn's perspective, as he struggles to defeat the forces of evil and rise to his rightful place as king. The action moves from one major battle to the next, making for a narrative experience both fast-paced and cohesive. After meeting and joining forces with Frodo and the rest of the brave adventurers of the Fellowship, Aragorn must lead the forces of good against the dark sorcerer Sauron and his countless minions, finally reclaiming the crown that is his birthright.

The game is a fast-paced action-adventure, with the player fighting huge hordes of enemies in the midst of epic battles. A variety of weapon types and other abilities mean that an element of customization is included as well, making for potentially different experiences each time you play a particular battle.

The battles in Aragorn's Quest are drawn from the Lord of the Rings film series, which is in turn based on the influential and acclaimed fantasy novels of J.R.R. Tolkien. The first film in the series, The Fellowship of the Ring, was released in 2001. Numerous games based on the trilogy have been released.

Aragorn

+: Pause

A: Interact

B (With Wii Remote Shake): Chain Strike

(With Nunchuk Shake): Heavy Strike

C: Center Camera

(Hold): Ranger's Eye Mode (First-Person View)

Z (With Shield or Bow Equipped): Block/Lock-On

(With Spear Equipped): Spear Brace

Control Pad: Move

Shake Wii Remote (Up/Down/Side-To-Side): Sword Strike

Shake Nunchuk: Shield/Torch/Spear Strike

Directional Pad: Select Weapon

(Up): Sword and Spear

(Down): Sword and Shield

(Left): Sword and Torch

(Right): Bow and Arrows

Gandalf

+/-: Join/Leave Game

A (With Controller Shake): Blinding Light/Lightning Attack

B (Hold): Target Fireball

(Release): Shoot Fireball

Z: Block/Lock-On Target

Control Pad: Move

Shake Wii Remote: Swing Weapon

Shake Nunchuk: Staff Strike

Directional Pad: Use Lore

(Up): Lore of Aeglos (Refills Aragorn's Strength

(Down): Lore of Athelas (Refills Aragorn's Health)

(Left): Lore of Belefirin (Strengthens Aragorn's Attacks)

(Right): Lore of Niphredil (Grants Aragorn Invulnerability)

In the slightly altered version of the battle of Mordor, destroy the attacking orcs and trolls. This is just a very brief introductory stage, to help get you comfortable with the controls. Swing the Wii Remote in whichever direction you want to swing your sword, up, down, left , or right. Keep attacking the enemies until the battle abruptly ends.

It turns out that the opening battle was just a story, told by Samwise to his son, Frodo, 15 years after the events in the Lord of the Rings saga. Now, as young Frodo, you can explore Hobbiton. First, find your father, then do what he tells you: check out the sword stall, then the shield stall, and, finally, complete your training by fighting a dwarf. Get used to the various techniques of battle: swinging your sword, deflecting with your shield, and evading enemies' attacks by rolling out of the way. You can also use your shield to smack opponents, making them drop their guard. You can find the path to your next destination at any time by standing still for a second or two, then pressing A.

If there are two players, the second will now be able to take control of Frodo's little sister, who will pretend to be Gandalf in an imaginary game the two play with their friend. Go out into the woods, and fight the goblins there. Gandalf (Frodo's sister) can use fireballs and other magical spells to attack; this mission will introduce you to the basics of controlling the wizard. Fight your way through the forest, to the pool, where a tentacled monster awaits. "Gandalf" can use a powerful magical attack to destroy the beast. Then you can head back to Hobbiton for the party.

Talk to Samwise (who's put on some weight since his adventuring days). You can now either start the main campaign, or do some more mini-games at the hobbit party. Just looks for the hobbits with the yellow speech bubbles over their heads. At the various stalls, you can put your techniques to use, dodging more cabbages and doing more fighting. Each booth costs some money, but you can win a lot more if you complete the mini-game. You can do them multiple times, but they'll get tougher as you defeat them. You can also play another game in Mushroom Woods with the hobbit children if you'd like. When you're ready to start Aragorn's Quest for real, speak to Samwise.

In the village of Bree, after Aragorn--or Strider as he calls himself--has rescued the hobbits from certain death at the hands of the Black Riders, he must run around the village, rounding them up so he can can continue to protect them. As soon as you get control, talk to the villager straight ahead. After he tells you where he saw Frodo, the hobbit's location will appear on your map, and you can locate the path to him. Find him at the stables, but not before fighting off the thugs that jump you along the way. When you reach the stables, talk to Frodo, and he'll join you. On the way back toward the village, talk to the woman in your path, who will tell you the location of the second hobbit. Track him down at the village herb garden. Watch out; more thugs will attack you along the way. Frodo will do his little best to fight them, but you're going to have to do most of the work. After Samwise joins you, turn around, and talk to the man coming up the street toward you. He'll tell you where the last two hobbits can be found. Collect them, then head for the town gates. Talk to the gatekeeper, then fight the three ruffians who appear. One of them has a shield; remember to break his guard with your own shield. After defeating them, talk to the gatekeeper again to leave Bree.

Now you'll have to make your way through Chetwood Forest, which is crawling with ruffians. Fight them as they appear. Don't worry about hitting your hobbit friends; you can't. When you come to the two ruffians beating up the old man with the cart, beat them, then talk to him. He'll give you a reward. The next group has a tough shield guy with them. After you fight them, examine the tracks on the road up ahead, then head for the tree roots on the left and smash through them to conceal yourself and your friends from the Black Riders. After the cutscene, use the magical artifact up ahead. It will reveal the entire map, including the locations of all the Fellowship Tokens and other collectible items.

Up ahead is the swamp, inhabited by goblins and midges. Fight the goblins whenever they appear, and avoid the midges, which swarm around in dark clouds. In order to find a safe path through the swamp, you need to look for deer track. They'll point you in the right direction. If you get lost, just find a path to the next set of tracks. Smash through the fallen branches blocking your path, and move from one set of tracks to the next, examining each one and going in the direction they point. Before you know it, you'll escape the dangerous swamp.

After coming out of the swamp, you'll have to fight some wolves. If you follow their tracks around the corner to the right, you'll find a treasure chest. But be careful; there are lots of wolves in the lair. Climb the hill toward the ruins of the watch tower on Weathertop. Fight the enemies that try to stop you, including wolves and ruffians. When you get to the top, look for an Aragorn Token, then examine the tracks to find a good place to sleep. It doesn't turn out to be that good, though; the Black Riders attack your group in the night. In the eerie shadow world, defeat the Black Riders to protect the hobbits. Instead of your shield, you now have a torch, which you can use to stun the Black Riders when the torch icon appears on them. Watch out for his sword attack, and the black magic he spews out of his mouth. He'll usually leave himself open to the torch when he attacks, but wait until the icon appears. You can still evade while using the torch, but you can't block with it. Hit the first Black Rider when the icon appears. While he's stunned, hit him with a straight-ahead thrust attack to send him running. If you can't hit him in time, don't worry; you can wear down his health by hitting him with the torch and normal attacks a couple of times. Once you defeat him, you'll have to fight two Black Riders at once. Be ready for either one to attack; evade, then hit him with the torch. Defeat them the same way as the first. The last Black Rider has a special attack, which does damage in a wide circle all around him. When you see him preparing to do this attack, evade backward to get out of his range. Otherwise, fight him like you did the others. He'll take more damage before he runs away, but keep fighting, and you can defeat him.

In the battle with the Black Riders, Frodo was poisoned. Runs over to him and hold A to heal him. He still needs medicine to counteract the poison, though. Head down the hill in search of the herbs you need. Make sure to stop and hold A next to the glowing herbs when you find them. This will extend your time limit. Without them, you'll never have enough time to reach your destination. Hold C to look toward your goal. You can't run straight to it until you get to the bottom of the hill, though. Along the way, you'll battle goblins, wolves and giant spiders. Destroy them as fast as you can, and keep moving. Look for the glowing herb patches to extend your time limit. Use the torch (you can switch between it and your shield with the Directional Pad) to burn through the spider webs blocking your path. When you come to the cave, you can get a secret item from inside, but only if you have Gandalf with you. Keep going until you meet the Arwen elf. Then you'll have to battle a troll. Stay clear of the troll's powerful club. When he does a strong attack, he'll leave himself open to one of your attacks; the icon on the screen will tell you which kind of attack to use to stun him. While he's stunned, thrust forward to damage him. Repeat this a few times, and the troll will fold. Then, just speak to Arwen to have her take Frodo back to the elf city to heal him. this will end the first chapter of your quest.

Before recommencing Samwise's story of Aragorn's adventures, you'll take control of young Frodo again, and get the chance to learn to use a bow and arrow. Find the archery booth, and follow the prompts top shoot the targets. Return to Samwise when you're ready to restart the main quest. When you do, Aragorn will be able to use the bow and arrow too.

Once you reach the vicinity of elf city of Rivendell, you'll have to unite the members of the council so they can decide what to do with the One Ring. On the way, you'll run into Boromir. Save him from the goblins surrounding him, and he'll follow you to Rivendell. There, speak to Elrond, the leader of the elves, and he'll tell you to find the dwarfs and the elves to represent their species at the council. You can choose which one you want to find first, but you'll have to get them both eventually. When you have multiple quests active at once, you can choose which one appears when you look for the path by pointing at it on the map in the pause menu and pressing A.

The dwarfs are led by Gimli; help them in their battle against the trolls, and they'll agree to accompany you to the council. The elf chosen to sit at the council is Legolas. You can find him down by the river. He'll give you a bow, and ask for your help against the birds. Practice your archery on them, and take them all down. Then speak to the elf to get him to join you. When you've found both Gimli and Legolas, bring them back to Rivendell. On the way, you may run into some more elves, who ask for your help against a group of Orcs attacking from across the river. Use your bow and arrows to take them out. You can get more arrows if you run out by holding A at the arrow rack, then gathering the brace of arrows that appears. You may also run into another pack of orcs. You can use your sword here, since they're on your side of the river. Wolves and spiders occupy some of the ground on your way; fight them whenever you find them.

Once you're back in Rivendell, you'll have the option of speaking to many of the inhabitants there, and accepting the side quests they ask you to perform. Bilbo the hobbit wants you to find his sword and shield; if you want to help him, look for his things across the bridge, and return them to him when you locate them. He's also missing his shirt, which you can find at the watchtower in the west. After giving it back to him, he'll want you to retrieve his book from Frodo. Go get the book, and bring it back to Bilbo. Other side quests, given to you by the elves with the yellow bubbles over their heads, include battling packs of orcs, destroying spiders and their nests, and taking down more birds. You can choose to do these quests or not; their locations will be marked on your map, and will appear when you seek the path. Remember, you can switch which quest is active by selecting it on your map.

While in Rivendell, you'll learn how to use your strength bar, which will appear at the top of the screen. You can gain energy by collecting the blue orbs that appear when you damage or defeat enemies. Each level on the meter lets you do a special attack. When your meter is at full, you can do a Battle Cry, which will raise all of your party members' stats, making them better fighters. You'll have the chance to use the strength meter when you have a practice fight with Boromir. Build up your strength meter, then whack him with special attacks.

Before gathering the council together, you need to retrieve two of your party members, the hobbits Merry and Pippin, who have gone missing. Follow your path to their location to discover the reason for their disappearance. They've been wrapped in web by a giant spider, and you have to rescue them before you can move on. Battle the spiders all around the two helpless hobbits. The bigger spiders present prompts, like the trolls, telling you the best form of attack to use against them. You'll also need to destroy the spiders' nests. Aragorn can use flaming arrows to reach the nests, which are high up in the trees. Gandalf is very good at destroying them too, using his fireballs. Destroy the spiders and their nests, and their queen spider will attack. Defeat her and her minions, then free the two hobbits from their sticky situations, and head back toward Rivendell.

Along the road back to the elf city, you'll have to battle more evil minions of Sauron. Orcs will attack you, then trolls. Defeat these enemies, and continue back to the city. Now is a good time to wrap up any side quests you still want to do; the council will convene shortly, and that will end the chapter. Talk to Elrond, then go find his daughter, Arwen, and talk to her. Return to Elrond when you've done everything you want to do in Rivendell. Speak to him, and tell him you're ready to hold the council. There, it's decided that Aragorn, Gandalf, Gimli, Legolas, Boromir, and the hobbits should all take the One Ring to Mordor to destroy it. When the council concludes, this chapter will be over.