The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

"Much better than TTT"

Gameplay (10) - Gameplay is unbelievably good, there is a ton of depth on what you can do such as shooting your ranged attack, doing over 20 different combos per character, regularly hitting an enemy, running over and picking up a spear and throwing it through an enemy, going over to a catapault and shooting it to destroy a tower in order to cross a river, rolling a big ass vase down some stairs killing 6 orcs in the process...Need I say more. *Takes a breath* Ok, this game is probably the greatest Hack N' Slash ever created. You guys think DW 4 is good, check this little puppy out, it's 5X better.

Graphics (10) Stunning, just incredibly stunning, I must say this is a MAJOR improvement over last years attempt in The Two Towers. Gimli is back with vengeance, yes his character model has been completely re done instead of made better, so know he looks awesome with braids in his hair and a ponytail. Everything is here, the environments are prefectly detailed. The backgrounds are what shock you, the light particles, the thousands of orcs scurring over to you, everything.

Sound (10) Some of the best sound ever in a game. There is tons of voice acting now in the game, the explosions and the clanging of a sword are extremely realistic. And now the game is THX Certified, so you know the sound is going to kick ass.

Camera Angles (8.5) While I didn't notice at times it can suck untill later in the game, the camera angles aren't THAT BAD. Jeez, everyone said that the angles were incredibly horrible. While I would have liked to be able to control the camera, this camera isn't so bad either.

They are starting to cause me some deaths that shouldn't occur and it's really bugging me, plus the camera angles aren't that great in Co-Op.

Co-Op (9) Co-Op is a solid 9, it's a blast playing some of the really big levels that require killing a fixed amount of enemies and defending some palce for 6 waves of enemies, however, though this feature is awesome and adds tons of replay value as well as excitement, it does have a bad part. The Camera Angles can screw this up bad, can cost you getting stuck in an area and having to go back to free your friend. Also in levels on the Path of the Hobbit or Paths of the Dead, since the camera angles are bad it can cost you when for isntance you must escape before a place collapses or as you are running over a bridge it starts to collapse. Because one of you wil lalways lag behind, it will cost you a lot of time. Also, my biggest gripe is, NO CHECKPOINTS. They had them in single palyer, why not co-op? Sure they give you an extra live or two, but not checkpoints? At least it would be nice to have one checkpoint on The King of the Dead, Cirith Ungol. Those levels are the hardest ones on Co-Op.

Online (Won't play till Christmas)

Extras (10) There is a ton of extras in this game, let me make a little list for you

Three Secret Characters

Two Secret Levels

Around 8 Interviews

Art Concept for the movie and for the game

So I mean that's a pretty good amount of extras for a hack n slash game

The Experience (9.5) This refers to the type of way they chose for you to build up your character. Marvelous way, you gain experience and you can either buy an upgrade for yourself, or for the entire fellowship. Even if you hit level ten, it will continue to show that you hit 11 or 12 or 13. The way they chose to upgrade your character is great.

Upgrades past level 10 would be great to make those Secret Levels easier to beat. But they didn't ahve it, so thus, it's not perfect.

Fun Factor (10) - You will be left coming back and begging for more. Trust me, I did. Played for 5 hours straight, then the next day, around 2 and a half hours. This is a great game and any fan of a hack n slash game will love it, a LOTR fan will go nuts over this, and a regular gamer will enjoy this game as well.

Replayability (9) While having all of those extras, the ability to play as ANY character on ANY level, and 9 characters, it still could ahve done some work. While the length of the levels were PERFECT, I would like to see more stages. That's my only gripe, it's the game! You can add stuff from the books that won't be in the movies.

It's length is what really hurts this game the most, if only it was longer, we'll have to wait till next year when the TriLogy game coems out, hopefull that game will be LONG.

Controls (10) Easy to learn, everything is very good here.

Presentation (10) PERFECT, the menus are great, the presentation coming into each level shown by game cinematics is wonderful, the narrating of Gandalf is awesome. This game presents itself quite well.

Combos (10) All of the combos are really cool, the bane moves especially. The combos aren't too hard to emerize and they really can change the tide of battle, they are great.

Levels (10) Every level is brilliantly made and is fully interactive. They really improved this are from last year by a long shot. Being able to fire catapaults and push over boulders or even cutting a rope making a big chandaler (Sp?) Fall on Orcs is great.

OVERALL - 9.69

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/20/07