I enjoy the Vivendi FOTR game, and have in fact been playing through it again just for fun recently. It features some pretty rich landscapes, solid character models, and a faithfulness to the book that's downright juicy. I love getting to go through Hobbiton and Bywater and talk to folks who are only even mentioned in the genealogies of the book, such as Milo Burrows and his son Minto.
The game, of course, also leaves in Tom Bombadil, and while he comes across as fairly ridiculous in song (imagine that), he's reasonably well-voiced and looks just like I pictured him.
The gameplay leaves something to be desired, though. It's action-adventure, which means you'll run around a lot, do some little quests, stealth your way around the Black Riders, and fight quite a bit. The characters each have only one button for attack, which means you'll go through the exact same combo over and over again in battle, no variety.
To me it's a must-have game for fans of the book, even if it's subpar, simply because of the amazing attention to detail and juicy bits for fans. But I think the gamers went to such lengths to make it fan-friendly that they didn't work very hard to give it a broad appeal.
So I like it, but it's not the best.
A better game is The Hobbit, also produced by Vivendi. It definitely remains faithful to the tone of the book, producing a nearly cartoony rendition of Middle-earth that works beautifully for its subject. You get to go all over the places from the book, and there is again a tremendous attention to detail. You'll hear the names Angmar, Arnor, Bree, Erebor, and Thranduil, even though none are mentioned in the book, and that means a lot to me. Plus the gameplay is better, even if it resembles Zelda. I heartily recommend both games to any fan of the books; neither approaches top quality, but I really enjoy them.
EA's Two Towers and Return of the King games feature more polish and just better gameplay, even if they are based on the films instead of the books. Hack-n-slash is the name of the game; if you don't like it, you probably won't like these games. If you do like it, it will be a joy to slash your way through Pelennor Fields as Aragorn, take down numerous Orcs at Cirith Ungol as Sam, and clear trolls from the courtyard of Minas Tirith as Gandalf.
The graphics and sound are absolutely amazing, and even though both games are fairly short, they provide a lot of fun and definitely some difficulty.
Another LOTR game I've acquired more recently is The Third Age, an RPG based on the films. I was a total rookie in RPG, but it wasn't hard for me to pick up. The game is pretty fun for a fan but gets kinda tedious eventually, but features great graphics and the opportunity at a couple of points to play as actual film characters such as Gandalf (the Grey and the White), Aragorn, Legolas, and Eowyn. I recommend at least a rent, if not a buy.
But what can I say? I'm a sucker for LOTR video games. Would Tolkien have liked them? *shudder* Well, no, I'm sure he wouldn't have, but I do. So it's OK to like them, right?
