The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

"Not as good as watching the movies, but very entertaining nontheless."

Lord of the Rings, the Return of the King

Introduction
This is the official game, made by EA Games, and it's based on the movie: The lord of the Rings, the Return of the King. That movie is based on the third chapter of the book The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. It's available on PC, PS2, X-Box and Gameboy Advanced.
You play as the following Characters: Gandalf, Legolas, Aragorn, Gimli, Frodo, Sam and three unlock-able characters. This game has no online multiplayer mode, but it has a 2 player Co-op mode in which 2 players can play on one PC without any internet connection, but you need a gamepad to play this mode. Also, you can buy combos and upgrades to make your character stronger, and to slay enemies in a cooler way. You can buy those upgrades with points that you gain when you kill someone, the more you kill in a short time, the more points you get. And every Character is equipped with a short-range weapon and a long-ranged weapon like a bow.

Gameplay, 7/10: The gameplay is fairly simple, straightforward, hack and slash in a LOTR-based setting. Most levels involve nothing but killing all your enemies, and sometimes a boss-fight. The controls are very easy to learn, and they can be easily altered, if you do not like them. The only bad thing is the camera, which uses a third person, stationary view. So you'll have situations where there is a wall between the camera and your character, which is very frustrating. And in some occasions you will see an enemy just a second before he's in range to hit you. But an experienced gamer can time his offensive and defensive moves in such a way that no normal enemy is able to hit him. Over all the gameplay is quite entertaining if you like LOTR and hack and slash games. There are a lot of objects in the game that can be used to kill enemies, like torches and spears. This game is very good if you have a gamepad and you invite a friend who likes both LOTR and this type of computer-games.

Sound, 9/10: This is one of the best parts of the movie, the sound has been taken directly from the movie's soundtrack, and it all fits in perfectly. The heroic music from Amon Hen during the battle of Pelenor Fields, and the Isengard theme in Helms Deep. I can just start up this game pause it, and listen to the music for 30 minutes. It's perfect. The movement and fighting sounds are nicely done although not very realistic. You don't expect the sound off someone getting hit with a baseball bat when you chop someone in the chest with an enormous axe. But the normal sound usually drowns in the music anyway, cause I always turn the music-volume as high as possible.

Story, 7/10: Basically the same as in the movie, although slightly altered to get more fighting for in this game. Not very interesting if you've already read the book or seen the movie, but a nice distraction anyway. There isn't much briefing on the missions so you'll have to find out what to do yourself, sometimes.

AI and computer-controlled characters, 6/10
This is one of the downsides of the game. You have to do all the killing all by yourself, cause the computer-controlled characters that accompany you in some missions never really kill anyone, but they never die either (except for one mission where you have to protect them), so you don't have to worry about them. The enemies aren't very smart, but they are many and their strength lies in numbers. But with some defensive moves you can avoid being hit easily. The bosses are a little bit stronger and can get a bit frustrating sometimes. So patience is required if you want to finish this game.

Graphics, 7/10: Reasonably good, the characters look a lot like the actors in the movies, and the enemies are nice to see. Character movements and other animations look good and add to the feeling of really playing the movies. The environment is good but not very interesting cause 80% of this game has rocks as background. But the city of Minas Tirith and Cirith Ungol are quite detailed, not as good as in games like Halo for example, but they don't really have to be because graphics aren't the most important thing in this game.

Replay Value, 8/10: The game can get a bit repetitive after a while, but the Co-op mode, the use of combos and the function of stress reducer add a lot of extra play-time, and if you're really a perfectionist you can try to get perfect scores on every level. Besides, every game that gives you the ability to play in the world of LOTR is not boring me very fast. So this game will not end up gaining dust in a closet very fast. I think I've been playing this game for around 6 months, and it took me 3 weeks to finish it the first time. One downside on the replay value: The unlock-able features aren't great. But that's not a major problem.

Final recommendation: Buy or Rent?
Buy if you like Lord of the Rings, hack and slash games and have some patience. Besides, it's only $20 by now, which is certainly worth it in my opinion. I would recommend that you buy a gamepad with at least 8 buttons, though, cause the Co-op mode is one of the better parts of the game. If you are in doubt, just try renting it.

Final side note: There are a large number of minor bugs and difficult missions in this game. But there are a lot of people who are willing to help on the gameFAQs message board of this game, so if you're not able to figure something out or if you encounter a bug, go there.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/23/04