The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

"A Quality Game... Almost Complete"

I think everyone at one point or another has picked up a game to a movie simply because the movie was entertaining. Unfortunately, most games for movies are designed to only cover that audience. They make a crappy game and it sells because the movie was quality. I'm happy to report that this game is good enough to stand alone, without a movie to back it up. Of course Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (EA Games) is an accompanyment to the movie of the same title. In it, you go through missions as either Aragorn, Legolas or Gimili. The environments are crisp and statisfying to the eye and the characters look... decent. You basically run around chopping various monsters with swords and arrows and have a great time doing it. By the way, see the movies before getting the game or you'll be scratching your head until your scalp is bloody. Let's go further down into the depth of this game, shall we?

Graphics: (7/10)
(Positives)
Let's take a bite out of the incredible environments of this game. You start out in the battle for Middle Earth and it really does look like you're in the midst of a war. In the background, I guess what you would call 'extras' are running about slaughtering eachother while you do your small part to help out. The lighting contrast is great and the times of day look identical to that of the movie scenes. Later in the game when you start getting into scenes that aren't in the movie, it still feels like the movie! Fangorn Forest's extended areas don't make you feel like you're in some new areas that were made up. Enough rambling though, let's move on to the movie scenes. They wisely put in parts from the movie in an attempt to make the storyline clearer. Very nice job with putting in selected clips. And on top of that, they do an excellent job on suddely turning the movie scenes into the game. You can clearly see the difference, but it helps put you into the action, ya know?
(Negatives)
There's only one negative here and it's the renditions of the characters. Aragorn is decent, but is reminiscent of a Playstation 1 character in his texture and lighting quality. Legolas doesn't look much like the actor that portrays him and Gimili looks like he tripped and fell into Mount Mordor and scarred himself in a horrible burning accident. Bottom line, everything except the characters that YOU play is great. They could have spent more time getting the faces smoother and clearer, but you can't just kick them for one mistake, everything else is good. Great job game people!

Sound: (8/10)
(Positives)
This is an area that I really enjoy about the game. Much like the Spiderman Movie Game, they got the actors to come in and do voice-overs. Unlike Spiderman, they actually put some effort into making it sound convincing. Aragorn, Legolas, Gimili, Frodo, Gandalf... all of them have their voices both in the game and in the Movie clips. Very good job here. They also blended in the music from the movie soundtracks. All of it is pleasing to the ears and if you listen, the music changes when there's battling and when you're all by your lonesome with no one to fight.
(Negatives)
Well here's the downside. You only hear sword sounds when you're Parrying(Blocking) which is unfortunate because it adds to the effect of the game. Ork screaming only happen when you kill them, not to complain because the Ork screaming certainly gives you a tingly warm feeling knowing you slaughtered something for fun. Occasionally the music gets boring, but still... great job by EA and I suppose New Line Cinema.

Gameplay: (5/10)
(Positives)
This gets the lowest rating because of certain things, but let's hear the good news first. The good news is that killing things is alot more fun with Lord of the Rings: TTT around. The controls are fairly easy to work out with the acception of the more complex combos. You get Fierce Attack and Speedy Attack to start out and you gain experience points to buy Attacks with later on. Good system they have there. Moving around is easy with the Analog Stick, no problems there. The story could be a little smoother, but thats a different category. You shouldn't hare too many problems slaughtering Ork and Ura-Kaih with the Fierce Attacks, but it gets annoying when they all gang up on you. But aside from all this, I need to emphasise that even with the negatives IT IS VERY FUN TO PLAY!!! I repeat, VERY FUN TO PLAY!!! You shouldn't get bored mercylessly obliterating hoardes of evil mindless minions! :)
(Negatives)
Yes yes... they all have a dark side. I'll jump right in and make it painless though. The controls aren't responsive enough. When I hit the L1 Button and my bow comes up, I want to know that firing it will happen instantly. It doesn't... It's slow and clumsy. The combos are a bit difficult to pull of when 5 or 6 enemies are all slashing you and knocking you to the ground. Don't get me wrong, it's still fun... but it would be more fun if it wasn't so gosh darn difficult. You'll find yourself repeating many levels several times before you figure out what you're supposed to be doing. (Unless you look at the Walkthoughs on GameFAQs of course :D) Yes, sadly I repeated one level about 5 times before getting it right. I think it's mainly because the levels are long. Again though, I emphasise that YOU WILL HAVE FUN PLAYING!!! Gameplay gets a 5 because of the slow controls though...

Story:
(Positives)
Obviously with a movie game it's going to follow the movie/book right? No, that wasn't sarcasm... It really does follow the movie. Fortunately it also starts out in the first movie and brings you through the most memorable scenes. You start in the Battle for Middle Earth at the very beggining of Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring and go through the Caves of Moria with the Orks and Cave Troll, through the part where Boromir bites the dust... all the way down to Helms Deep and the battle for the survival of Men. Sweet huh? Yes... Very 'sweet'.
(Negatives)
I really only had a few complaints on this one. If you haven't seen the movie, not only will you have trouble with playing the game and knowing what to do, but the story won't make sense. They definetly don't explain too much and they jump from plot to plot. So if you want this game, go and see the two LotR movies first. Really... I mean that. It will be a thousand times better for you, I swear. The transition through the missions could have been a little slower... They kind of drop you into the middle of nowhere and one of the characters will say a sentance or two to give you a vague idea of what to do. STILL FUN THOUGH! STILL A GOOD STORY!!! I enjoyed the game very much if you can't tell.

The Little Things: (6/10)
No positive negative contrast for this one. This simply means the little things that make you feel like your game is a quality game. Like having the actors do the voices or using moves that the characters used in the movie. I liked the production art and the interviews with the movie staff and Vid Game staff about the game too. The interactive environments... I did feel like there were some things missing, riding horses a few times might have been fun. Could have... should have... would have... Incredible Game.

Overall: (7/10)
Great game from where I sit, but I felt there was enough missing to give it a 7. But as I said before, no matter what ratings you see, the game is alot of fun. I would suggest a few things. If you haven't seen the movies, see them both... they are spectacular and I havent read the books yet. If you liked the movie, you'll almost definetly enjoy the game. In any case, this truly is a perfect rental, but if you like the movies you might want to buy it because of the Replay Value with cheats and all. There's a secret character and Four Secret Missions. Shortened: Rent it first and see if you want to buy or not. I'm happy with my 50 Bucks spent and chances are you'll be too. That's all for now though... Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (EA Games) Get's a 7 out of 10 in my book. AND IT'S FUN!!! VERY VERY FUN!!! :)

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/29/02, Updated 12/29/02