Summary
- Gollum has appeared in a variety of video games with different interpretations of his design, some of which are good while others are not.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Middle-earth: Shadow of War have the most accurate and well-received depictions of Gollum.
- The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Online feature unique and arguably less appealing interpretations of Gollum's character design.
The Lord of the Rings has a ton of different games, all with their own unique artist renditions of the Gollum design. While some of these are tragically bad, others stand as solid depictions of the Hobbit formerly known as Sméagol. The J.R.R. Tolkien character leaves a lot of room for interpretation when adapting him to a video game, and though meant to be a villain, the endearing nature of the ring-obsessed creature has made him a lovable personality in The Lord of the Rings fan community.
Whether the game was developed in the early 2000s or more recently, Gollum has appeared in many iterations, which makes sense as he's an integral part of the story. As a 2D sprite or a more modern take, his appearance has seen an evolution over the years, with game developers having very different interpretations of the iconic character.
9 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
LOTR: The Return of the King is considered one of the best games based on The Lord of the Rings universe and was originally made for the PS2, GameCube, and Game Boy Advance. In this entry based on the movie franchise, Gollum is terrifying, boasting a skeletal frame, razor-sharp teeth, and a vacant, emotionless stare. Much like the movies the game is named after, it's not actually Sauron that players must defeat at the very end, but Gollum, as the group seeks to destroy The One Ring.
Gollum is also featured in the Game Boy Advance version of the title, though there's not really much to say about the small pixilated sprite. While it does look like it's modeled after the character from the movie franchise, the 32-bit limitations on the handheld restrict what players can see, though he does retain the creepy movement he's known for.
8 The Hobbit
Like other characters in the 2003 release of The Hobbit, the game's creators took a significant amount of artistic liberty when considering design. While most people probably don't even The Hobbit game, it was released just a few months before the highly-anticipated The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King movie. Though many players that purchased the game were probably anticipating characters that looked like their movie counterparts, they were sorely let down as the game instead opted for a much more cartoony aesthetic.
This extended to Gollum too, as the character was depicted as more of a cave-dwelling reptile. With long protruding fingers, a lizard-like dewlap under his throat, and a shiny black exterior, The Hobbit's version of Gollum is one of the most unique interpretations the character has ever seen. Interestingly enough, this design arguably lines up more with the books than other depictions of the creature, including his appearance in the movies.
7 The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth
One of the goofiest depictions of Gollum in a video game is his appearance in The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth. Each one of Gollum's bugged-out eyes wanders in different directions, making the player second-guess whether he's leading them in the right direction or if he even knows where he's going generally. While an obvious attempt to duplicate Gollum from the movies, this 2004 Electronic Arts title ranks as one of the worst depictions of the character in a video game.
6 The Lord of the Rings Online
Gollum from The Lord of the Rings Online is arguably one of the worst character models, considering that he has been transformed into a skeletal green-eyed goblin-looking creature. A clear downgrade in the worst way from the movie character; this is one of the most ugly interpretations of the character. LOTR Online is an MMO that was released in 2007, and Gollum is featured in a few of the game's quests. Whether gamers actually wanted to complete a quest with him looking like this, however, is a completely different question.
5 War in Middle Earth
J.R.R. Tolkien's War in Middle Earth was released in 1988 for the Commodore 64, Atari, and other platforms of its time. As one of the earliest depictions of Gollum, the game designers didn't have a lot to work with in of graphics capabilities. Much like The Hobbit from 2003, War in Middle Earth opts for the book description of Gollum, as the movies would release over a decade later.
With black skin and large yellow eyes, Gollum moves across the screen on all fours when players first encounter him in the game. Though it couldn't hold a candle to more modern takes in of detail, the developers did a pretty good job of depicting the creepy little creature in all his glory with the technology of the time.
4 The Lord of the Rings: Gollum
If there's one thing going for the Gollum-centric The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, it's that the developers of the game, Daedalic Entertainment, managed to make Gollum a lot cuter and less menacing to look at. And it makes sense, too, as players control the character as the main protagonist throughout the game, which would be harder to relate to if the character model was horrifying to look at. With big cartoony eyes and a fragile frame, this is arguably the cutest rendition of Gollum players have seen. Tragically, the adorable design wasn't enough to save The Lord of the Rings: Gollum from negative reception from both fans and critics.
3 LEGO The Lord of the Rings
Though known for its simple graphics, LEGO Lord of the Rings may have one of the better depictions of Gollum in a video game, which is saying a lot, considering that the character models are meant to look like blocks. As the fiend pops off the player's LEGO hand in the final act of the game, the designers were able to pull off the perfect balance of cute and scary while retaining the same feelings of excitement and apprehension from the movie. Similar character models would also be used in the subsequent 2014 LEGO The Hobbit and 2015's LEGO Dimensions.
2 Guardians of Middle-earth
While players probably didn't spend much time zoomed in on the character model for this 2012 MOBA published by Warner Bros., Guardians of Middle-earth boasted a pretty impressive appearance for Gollum in the character select screen, when it was around. With Precious and Sméagol variations, this is actually one of the better designs based on the movie version of the character. While it doesn't say much about how gamers felt toward the title when it was active, it was a better interpretation than many other LOTR games.
1 Middle-earth: Shadow of War
Middle-earth: Shadow of War contains perhaps the most accurate movie version of Gollum in a video game. While he is a bit balder than his movie counterpart, the 2017 game release had graphics that still hold up today. As arguably one of the best games based in the Middle-earth universe, the appearance of Gollum in this entry doesn't disappoint.
While the game does have the benefit of time on its side, it still stands as one of the best character models for Gollum in any The Lord of the Rings game. The previous title in the franchise, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, took the same approach to the character, albeit with slightly worse graphics.
Source: Global Gaming/YouTube, Death-King/YouTube, Rogue Mando Gamer/YouTube, LemonTubeAmiga/YouTube
