The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

"Good movies match a good game."

The Lord of the Rings books were top sellers when they first landed on the shelves. The movies have already made multi-millions. Now it's your chance to experience Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King for yourself and experience it the way Tolkien meant it to be.

Gameplay 10/10

The controls are very easy to work with and the game is very challenging. If you don't feel quite secure enough at first put it on easy mode and work yourself up. You can pick from Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, and Sam on their specified levels. Pick from who you like best and you will see some differences. (Aragorn all-around. Legolas' Arrows. Gimli; Slow but strong, etc.) It is very similar to The Two Towers with a few new functions. You can start killing orcs or find a war pike, use the action button and spear the thing. I enjoyed the new action button and also enjoyed climbing up and down ladders and ropes. Overall, good controls and minor but good new functions.

Graphics 9/10

This is where I give the designers a pat on the back. You can just immerse yourself in Tolkien's fantasy. There are huge landscapes with hundreds of detailed orcs and Uruk-Hai running at you. My only problem is on the first few levels the light is a little dark, but this made it a little more challenging and still met my expectations. May not be much, but the graphics are still very good.

Sound 10/10

Wow. Great sound quality. From the ching of a blade to the shot of an arrow. The voices are done by the actors in the movies which is another plus while the music is also taken directly from the movie/soundtrack.

Replay 10/10

After I had beaten the game, I wondered what was left to do. I then found out that you can play any level with any character as many times as you want. So I set out to do so. It was very good to play on the hobbit's path as Aragorn or to play on the wizard's path as Sam! Also, co-op is very good for having one friend over at your house and playing all night just trying to finish.

Overall 10/10

As you can see, I only had one minor setback. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is one of the best games I have. I recommend that you buy this today and experience it for yourself.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/14/03