The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

"Some solid fun here for action adventure afficionados"

I don't think I need to tell you the premise behind this game. Whether you're a fan of the movies, or a fan of the books they draw upon, most people who would be reading this know full well what Lord of the Rings is all about, and just want to know if this is worth their time and money. I'll give you my spin on it, so let's get to it!

Story: 9/10 - The story in the books which this game is based on is probably one of the best fantasies ever written. The game does a nice job of pulling you into the action, not giving you a nice linear story, but rather the story from three different perspectives, and since it's wrapped around epic battles (which the gameplay is based on), it can seem a bit disjointed, but overall, you will probably feel like the story holds its own, and ties you into the action nicely.

Gameplay: 10/10 - Really, for an action adventure, this game does just about everything right in the gameplay department. The camera is not under your control, and at times will allow creatures to blindside you, but overall, the camera does its job, and creates angles which allow you a good perspective of what's going on around you, as well as a good view of the incredible graphics. The combat is based on special moves you execute with a variety of button presses and can be both frustrating and gratifying as you chain together attacks in an attempt to get the wondrous perfect mode where all your attacks are devastating and you rack up a ton of experience to spend on special moves and attack upgrades. If you like deep combat with a variety of characters who fight with very different rhythms, this game is for you, and is probably the prime reason for buying/renting this game.

Graphics: 9/10 - While I think the graphics are marvelous, and do their job splendidly, I wasn't blown away by them. They're very solid, and they'll fit nicely into the hacking and slashing you'll be doing pretty much nonstop.

Sound: 9/10 - Again, great production value. Ambient sounds fit, mostly screams, shouts, grunts of orcs and uruks, howls of trolls, piercing shrieks of the undead, it's all there, as well as an epic musical soundtrack. Again, nice wrapping paper for the gameplay, keeping you immersed.

Replayability: 7/10 - Co-op mode should give you lots of replay value, but the game itself is rather short, so once you've played everyone up to 10th level, you might find that this one goes on the shelf and gathers dust. If you explore each path with all the characters, you might get around 30-40 hours of play out of it. Personally, that doesn't appeal to me, and I'd say if nothing else, give it a rent and enjoy the heck out of it for a week or so.

Final note: It's good fun, people. If you're a fan, you really should give it a try.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/28/03