You know that "word association" test that psychologists use? They say, "fin," I might say, "shark." They say, "Wisconsin," I say, "cheese." They say "licensed," I say "garbage."

You get the idea, right? Games licensed from films (which, in turn, were licensed from books) stand little chance of getting praise from the critic. Sure, the name brand association makes it an easy cash-in for publishers, but the standard action-platformer crap that gets spewed out on a seasonal basis, especially from big-name publishers like Electronc Arts, can get old fast.

But with the Lord of the Rings franchise, EA has really gone out of their way to attempt a variety of genres. They've done action-platformers, a traditional turn-based RPG, an RTS, a strategy RPG, and even an MMORPG. We have to hand it to them for at least trying.

The Lord of the Rings: Tactics is the aforementioned strategy RPG, released exclusively for Sony's PSP in 2005. John P. Hussey's got the review. Read it. Learn more about it. Potentially, buy it. The good news is that it's "not too bad." For a licensed game, I'll take it!

• LotR: Tactics Review