The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

"An inult to a great movie series"

Wow. I can't believe I was so excited about this game. I remember waiting eagerly as I stood in line at best buy to purchase this game, admiring the great shots on the back, thinking how fun it would be to play a Lord of the Rings based video game. I had played the demo, and it had seemed good, so I bought the game.

And that was the biggest waste of 50 bucks ever.

Take my word on this, don't buy it.
First off, EA ripped us off with online play. There is no online play for the PC version, only the PS2. They took money from sony, and decided only to release online for PS2. This is one of the most terrible things I've ever seen. I can't believe a company would do that.

Well, here's the runndown:

Graphics: 10

They're very good. Some of the top of the line. However, these seem to be just a way for EA to gain money. They produce pictures with gorgeous graphics, and make the game look good. However, this is one of the few great aspects of the game.

Sound: 10

All music and sound is from the movie, so therefore, it is really awesome. Not much more to say here.

Gameplay: 1

Here's where things really start to fall apart. This game is composed of levels. These levels are not that long, and in fact, some of them are annoyingly short. And, there are not that many levels either. This takes a huge chunk away from gameplay. It is one of the shortest games I've paid 50 bucks for. The levels are very difficult and intense however. But, they are not difficult as in challenging. Thye are difficult as in annoying. You are forced to repeat the same boss over 1000 times, and no I'm not exhagerating, just to try to get by him. It is not a challenge. It is an impossibility. No matter how hard you try, it will take you tons of hours to get by certain areas, which are not even fun. Also, you'll die a lot. However, there is no save feautre within levels. When you die, you will go back to the nearest checkpoint, which is pretty far back, as the game makes about 1, sometimes no checkpoints per level. This can get frustrating, because you have to repeat what you just did again. Also, if you have to turn off the game for some reason, it does not save your checkpoints, so you have to go to the beginning of the level all over again. Another thing is that the pace of the game is ruined by cutscenes. OK, so you die, you gotta start over because its so hard. Well, whenever you start, theres a cutscene that you can't skip. In the middle of battles, suddenly, a custscnene comes up. These scenes are unskippable. The only ones you can skip are at the ends of the level, and the very beginning of the level. However, you are forced to watch these when you load up the level for the first time. Also, there is a dumb New Line Cinema cutscene at the beginning of the game that is unskippable no matter what you do. These detract from the game. I'll give it a 1 just cause of the RPG element that they managed to shove into this thing which they call a game.

Multiplayer: 0

The co-op sucks, since it doesn't makes things harder. One person has to use a controler, and the other the keyboard and mouse. However, the enemies are not more difficult or anything. Also, you can only play certain levels with co-op. ANd there is no online play, because EA took bribed from Sony. Jeez, what a company. I won't even give it a 1, because they don't deserve anything, for this no effort part of the game.

Replay Value: 0

Ha ha! Oh my god don't joke with me. Replay value? Yea right. They shove in three secret characters, which are just texture swaps of the previous ones, and they call it replay value? An old NES game like the original Mario has better replay value than this.

Buy or Rent:

Well, here you have several options. If your wealthy, buy as many copies as possible, then burn them so others won't have to suffer through this torture. If your poor, or don't feel like buying a bunch, you can ''accidentally'' set the shelf which has these in the store on fire, or just not buy it. And if you do rent it, your the stupidest man alive.

All in all, it sucks. Its terrible. Don't even come near this crud that they call a game. EA is insulting the LOTR franchise with this BS.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 01/04/04