"The best action game of all time!"

After I played The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, I thought that games could not get any better than that! However, when I bought The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, my mind changed after the first half hour! While The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers explains the events leading up to the Battle of Helm's Deep, and the actual battle itself to decide the survival of Rohan. In The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the stakes are much higher. The Battle of Helm's Deep is won, and Saruman the White is overthrown, but now the Dark Lord Sauron's armies are preparing the largest assault of the age on Minas Tirith, the capital city of Gondor. The Fellowship breaks once again in an attempt to their part to stop the Dark Lord from winning this war, and to give Frodo and Sam enough time to destroy the One Ring, the very source of Sauron's power.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is an extremely difficult game, even for those who have mastered The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Its huge, massive levels throw countless terrible enemies at you, from Orcs, the main servants of Sauron, to Easterlings, men from far-off lands who have allied themselves with Mordor for the sole purpose of killing you! If you can overcome the extreme difficulty level, this game is a blast of fun! You can follow three different paths: the Path of the King, which follows Aragorn's quest to gather allies against Mordor. The Path of the Wizard follows Gandalf as he travels to Minas Tirith to prepare the city for the oncoming storm. Finally, the Path of the Hobbits follows Frodo and Sam as they struggle towards Mount Doom to destroy the Ring and defeat Sauron for good. The controls in the game are easy to learn, as the first few levels of each path give you different tips on how and when to use special controls to unlock abilities that each character has that was not in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

The Return of the King is a fast-paced action game. In each level, you will most likely find yourself surrounded by swarms of enemies and have to fight your way out, possible failing in the process. After that, at certain levels, a merciless boss is awaiting you, whose only thought is to wipe you and all who are helping you off the face of the earth! A blessing in this game is the co-op mode, which allows two players to play side-by-side against the armies of Mordor. However, in co-op mode, players must learn to trust one another, keep each other alive, and share experiance points earning in the level. This does help to reduce the difficulty level in the game, but co-op mode has its minuses, such as no checkpoints to pass.

The picture quality of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is immensly superior to those of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and are the best graphics I have seen since Metroid Prime in any video game! Also, the special actions you can perform in the game are awesome. Most levels allow your character to actually interact with the environment to eliminate large numbers of foes, such as triggering rock slides or pouring out burning oil from above their heads.

If you have not played The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the Return of the King will take players at least a week to complete, unless they are used to constant extreme action or adjust to new games very quickly. However, when you complete the game, you will want to play it again and again, over and over! I have beaten the game about twenty times, and I have not gotten tired of it the slightest bit!

My final recommendation: if you like the Lord of the Rings series, this game is a must have. However, if you do not like it, or do not do well in games that put you through constant battle, I'd skip it on the store shelves. However, if you laugh in the faces of hundreds of enemies as they come charging towards you, only bent on destroying you, or just like games with excellent graphics and voice talents, this game is for you!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/18/03