The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

"A Very Satisfying Game"

When I first saw this game I thought, ''What? The Two Towers is out on the PS2? The movie isn't even out yet!'' Well, this game explores the Fellowship of the Ring as well as The Two Towers. The game works in missions. There are five missions that explore the Fellowship, and eight for The Two Towers. The movies for LOTR follows the book, and the game follows the movie. The game is packed with footage from the Fellowship, and some scenes from The Two Towers. If you haven't read the books, it may spoil some of the movie. If you have read The Two Towers, pick this game up.

This is not your ordinary kill bad guys and pass the mission game. It starts with the battle at Mt. Doom. (The opening scene from Fellowship of the Ring.) You see the opening movie and the men and elves start fighting the orcs. Then, everything turns videogame-style. You now control Insildur and you have to fight off some orcs for a while. After some movie footage, you are now Aragorn and you have to kill off the Ringwraiths with fire while they repeatedly stab Frodo. He just sits there and yells for help. This will make you get up and yell ''Get up you stupid hobbit!'' for sure. That was basically the epilogue of the game.

When you start the game for real, you choose to be Gimli, Aragorn, or Legolas. You can unlock different levels for each character you choose. Gimli is a dwarf, so he is based more on power than speed. Legolas is an elf, so he attacks swiftly but not as powerful as Gimli. Aragorn is a combination of the two. He is rather fast and powerful.

The story in this game is great of course. Thanks to JRR Tolkien for that. Yes, the graphics are as good as they look in the commercial. Some of the best graphics I have even seen. The game has all the music from Fellowship of the Ring. The sound is excellent and gives a good feel to the game. The replay value is good because you have to go through the game with all the characters to get the secret level and the secret character.

One really cool thing about this game is that on the level select screen, there are a whole bunch of extras. They have the making of The Two Towers video game, and making of the movie for the Fellowship also. There are also interviews with Elijah Wood, Ian McKellan, and Peter Jackson about the video game. There is an interview that you can unlock with Viggo Mortensen too. In case you don't know Viggo Mortensen plays Aragorn.

LOTR: The Two Towers is a great game. EA put a lot of effort into it and you should at least rent it. I would rent it first to get a feel for it, and if you like it then BUY BUY BUY!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/27/02, Updated 10/27/02