""This is our final act to give Frodo time. Time to buy this game.""

Introduction:
In 1954, five words shook the world: The Lord of the Rings. The most successful novel in history. J.R.R Tolkien's masterpiece has recently been turned into a movie trilogy. And now comes the One Game to Rule Them All.

Story - 10
Return of the King is the epic final chapter of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Sauron, thinking Aragorn has the One Ring, sends a Host from Minas Morgul to attack the kingdom of Gondor. Aragorn, Gandalf and the other heros battle the armies of Mordor and try to restore peace to Middle Earth. All this while, the Hobbits Frodo and Sam are on the final stage of their journey to Mt. Doom where they must destroy the One Ring before Lord Sauron can reclaim it.

Graphics - 10
The graphics look great. The locations look exactly their movie counter parts. The characters look excellent (Gimli no longer looks like a bearded wombat). The battles look really cool. You can just stare at orcs being sliced up all day. Explosions are cool looking. I could just talk about the graphics all day but I wont waste your time.

Gameplay - 10
Oh baby! This game is so much fun! You start out with five characters and eventually end up with 9. There are three different storylines in the game. Path of the Wizard (Gandalf), Path of the King (Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli), and Path of the Hobbits (Frodo and Sam). Every single level in the game is a blast to play. When you beat the game, you get three new characters plus two new levels.

Now, the actual gameplay. This is your standard hack n slash. Some people will like it and some won't. Personally, I love 'em. In the game, you'll be moving through environments from the movies and chopping up a few hundred Orcs on the way. You have various objectives like for example, killing a certain number of foes. This may sound boring and unoriginal, but It's as fun as hell. Every time your character grows by a level, you get to buy upgrades and combos to make your journey through Middle Earth more enjoyable and help you get a few more Orc heads on your dinner plate. You have a few standard attacks. Quick attack, fierce attack, ranged weapon. But if you want to succeed, you'll need to use those combos because this game can be extremely hard at times.

Sound - 10
Well, I don't really play much attention to sound in video games. The sound in this game is great. From an Orcs' battle cry, to the sound of impaling a troll, the sound is realistic. I personally love the sound of slicing an Uruk's body, but hey! I'm a sick guy you know.

Music - 10
I love the music from the LotR movies and this game uses the same soundtrack of course. The orchestral music really gets you into battle mode as you charge through hordes of foes. Not much else to say apart from the music kicks ass.

Replay - 10
The Return of the King has co-op mode so you'll probably be playing for hours even after you finished the game. Taking on the armies of Mordor with a friend is a blast, especially since there is a counter at the bottom of the screen which shows how many each person has killed. You can have a Helm's Deep-like Legolas/Gimli killing competition! It's all good fun!

Don't have anyone to play co-op with? Who cares! The single player in this game is excellent and you'll want to play the campaign several times. The game gives you hours of non stop Orc killing action!

Results:
Story - 10
Graphics - 10
Gameplay - 10
Sound - 10
Music - 10
Replay - 10

To Buy or not to Buy?
All there is to say now is BUY! BUY! BUY! Come on, buy it already! This is one game you will not stop playing. Tolkien fans and fans of the movie adaptations and hack n slash fans in general MUST get their hands on this game. You will not regret it. Trust me.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/17/04