The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

"GREAT for fans, very good for everyone else"

INTRODUCTION
Unless you’ve been living in a cave, under a rock which is under a bigger rock which is under an even bigger rock which is under a dirty old mattress for some reason, and the cave with you and all the rocks in it is in a sealed concrete bunker six hundred feet below sea level, then sometime in the last three years you’ve most likely heard of The Lord of The Rings. Director Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of J.R.R Tolkien’s classic trilogy has made a story previously popular only among fans of the fantasy genre, accessible to mainstream America in a way never thought possible. The power and force of Tolkien’s epic novels has been not only preserved in its translation to the screen, but in many cases enhanced beyond what the books ever provided. Because the films are extremely popular, it is inevitable that they will be turned into a video game. Because the films are extremely good, that game has a lot to live up to.

Enter EA Games’ Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Based on the third chapter in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, this hack-‘n-slash/beat-‘em-up adventure picks up where its predecessor, EA Games’ solid Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, left off, in terms of both story and gameplay. As a game adaptation of a film, TTT succeeded far beyond expectations, and as a beat-‘em-up title, TTT was at least able to hold its own. RotK is a true sequel to TTT in every respect, including the most important one: it surpasses its predecessor. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is an excellent use of the license to an excellent film which will be extremely enjoyable for Lord of the Rings fans, and, license aside, Return of the King is a very good beat-‘em-up game in its own right.

GAMEPLAY
7/10
In RotK, you control one of six characters from the film (in addition to three unlockable secret ones) at a time, for the most part hacking through as many of Sauron’s legions as it takes to reach the end of the stage. Combat begins at a relatively simple level--at first you have only basic moves to work with--but the combat in RotK is actually quite deep, becoming more complex the further you play into the game.

In the beginning, each character a few attacks and a few other moves (special abilities, projectiles, parry, ect.)

The combat system quickly becomes more complex, however, for when you kill enemies, your character earns experience points. Earn enough experience points and your character gains a level--much like in an RPG. When you level up, new abilities become available for you to purchase with your hard earned experience. These abilities range from improved projectile weapons, to increased health, to new combo moves to help you take out enemies more efficiently. You earn experience points based on the efficiency of your kill. If you manage to take out an enemy in three successive strikes without sustaining a hit in between, you will most likely receive an “excellent” rating on the kill, knock him down and let him get back up and you will most likely receive a “fair” kill--with the latter earning you less experience. I personally love this feature, because it keeps the player from getting sloppy. If you want more special abilities, you can’t just button mash--you have to actually think about what you’re doing. If you use your quick strikes on a shielded enemy, for instance, the strikes will bounce off, lowering your chances of getting a high rating for the kill. In this way, RotK’s combat is able to avoid the mediocrity that plagues so many games of this genre. Because they make the rewards you earn worth the trouble, in RotK you really feel like you have an incentive to fight well, instead of just button mash.

Rack up enough “excellent” kills in a row without being hit, and you will enter perfect mode, in which your character becomes temporarily more powerful, all of your kills will score the maximum amount of experience. Getting to perfect mode can sometimes make the difference between completing a stage and having to retry, so it is extremely important to be as efficient as possible with your kills--a feature which helps emulate the sense of consequence attached to each blow in the film’s battles. It’s not just about being efficient in each kill, but about killing efficiently overall. If you want to enter perfect mode (and believe me, you do) you have to, well, be perfect. I find that this makes me not just want to kill my enemies, but kill them with style. It adds some thought to the combat, and keeps it from getting boring.

The game handles well, and you almost always feel like you have complete control of your character. Combat and movement quickly become totally intuitive, which is pretty much all you can ask of a game’s controls.

The level design is well done, full of plenty of the standard “kill a hoard of enemies then kill another hoard of enemies in order to continue” fare, but includes enough other types of action to keep you entertained. At one point, you must run towards the camera to escape a cave in. Others have you firing catapults and projectiles at siege towers or mumaks. This extra action is nothing groundbreaking, but it does serve to keep the game’s fighting from becoming monotonous.

A noteworthy improvement over TTT is the inclusion of a co-op multiplayer mode in RotK. The only thing better than blasting through wave after wave of attacking uruk-hai is doing it with your best friend. This feature really gives you the feel that you are part of the fellowship (or a fellowship at least), fighting alongside your friend in a last attempt to rid middle earth of evil. It’s quality. While I haven’t tried it myself, I’m told the PS2 exclusive online version of this co-op mode is almost as much fun as playing with a friend.

As a brawler, RotK stands up quite well. Not the best in the genre, but certainly up there.

STORY
9/10
RotK is excellent in terms of making the most of its license. The story is told through actual clips from the film backed by narration recorded specifically for the game by Ian McKellen, the actor who plays Gandalf in the films. Most of the film’s stars lend their voices to their in-game counterparts, and as bonuses have recorded DVD-style extra “making of” videos which are unlocked as you play through the game (there are other bonuses which are unlockable like this such as production stills from the film, concept art, etc). The game follows the story of the film quite closely (as far as I can tell, of course. I haven’t seen it yet), and it is really impressive to get to take part in the battles which up till now I’ve only read about. The film clips do a good job of telling the story, albeit telling it briefly. At times, I get the feeling that someone unacquainted with the story already might have a hard time following what’s going on, but that won’t be a problem in a month when the movie comes out. The combination of actual character voices, real film clips, and levels that closely follow the story of the film, coupled with the fact that the story being told is the final chapter of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which is a great story to begin with, give this game extremely high marks in the story category.

GRAPHICS/SOUND
8/10
In many places, the graphics in RotK are some of the best I have seen on the PS2 so far. First of all, in the video segments, the dissolve from film clips to in-game graphics utilized so well in TTT makes a comeback, and with similarly enjoyable results, although it doesn’t quite have the same shock value it had that first time I turned on TTT and found myself suddenly in the middle of the film. Still, if you haven’t played TTT, you’ll really get a kick out of the film to game transitions, and if you have played TTT, it’s still great eye candy.

The game itself can sometimes overwhelm you with the sheer size of the battles you’re taking part in. Oftentimes while you concentrate on finishing the eight or so enemies surrounding you, twenty or thirty more will be engaged in other battles all over the screen. You really get the feeling of being on one of the film’s hectic, chaotic, MASSIVE battlefields.

While the fixed camera can get a bit awkward in places, it usually doesn’t pose too much of a problem, and I’ve never died or been frustrated by it.

The sound is beautiful. With a soundtrack sampled from Howard Shore’s breathtaking score for the films, there’s nothing quite like the feeling of reaching a climactic point in a battle and suddenly hearing the main Lord of the Rings theme burst out as if it were being played just for you. You really feel like a hero. Plus, the excellent sound effects enhance the realism of the enormous battles. You can hear the metal on metal clashing all around you. It’s really something.

PLAYTIME/REPLAYABILITY
6/10
Here may be the game’s one flaw, and to be fair it is a flaw that affects many games in this genre: it is too short. In normal mode the game should only take about 15-20 hours to beat completely in single player mode. True, in hard mode that time could perhaps be doubled, but hard mode is simply too hard. The game just wouldn’t be worth that level of frustration. Once you’ve played through once, and unlocked all the bonus movies, all you have left in single player mode are the two secret levels (definitely a challenge), and leveling up your characters (to be honest, the three secret characters aren’t really that interesting since they play just like several of the regular characters). Once that’s through with, all you have left is multiplayer--which is RotK’s saving grace. Especially considering the fact that you can use your powered up characters from single player in the multiplayer mode, you and a friend should still have fun, even on the third play through of a level. If you’re a Lord of the Rings fan, this co-op mode won’t get old for quite a while. If you’re not that big on Lord of the Rings, however, you might tire of this game a bit more quickly. The main replay value in RotK stems from the fact that fans of the series will want to continue playing with their friends, even after they have completed the game.

FINAL RECOMMENDATION/OVERALL GRADE
8/10
I have three categories of people who I will make recommendations for:

1) If you are a Lord of the Rings fan who enjoys a good hack-‘n-slash game, then you will enjoy this game. In fact, I guarantee you will enjoy this game. Rent it if you don’t believe me, but I’m fairly confident you will want to own it. It’s as close as you can get right now to actually living the story.

2) If you are a Lord of the Rings fan who isn’t really that into this genre, then I recommend renting RotK. You will probably get your fill of fighting in the realm of Middle Earth in a weekend, and will move on to something else. You should at least pick this one up as a rental, however. It’s something that should be experienced.

3) If you are not a Lord of the Rings fan, but a fan of the hack-‘n-slash genre, then I would also recommend you rent this game. The combat system is complex, without being overwhelming, and the levels are well designed, fun to play, and even more fun to look at. RotK is a well designed game which will definitely give you a weekend of enjoyment, if not more.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/06/03