The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

"Return of a Great Hack & Slash!"

To start off, I am a Lord of the Rings fan. I've read all three books three times and I have seen all three movies (which I thought were excellent). Now, Return of the King, a sequel to last year's excellent Two Towers, is upon us, and I must say, It's a definite thrill ride for action gamers and Tolkein fans.

The game starts immediately when you first boot up the game, as you play as Gandalf delivering reinforcements to Helm's Deep. After that, you choose one of three paths, The Path of the Wizard (Gandalf), The Path of the King (Aragorn, Legolas, Gimili), and The Path of the Hobbits (Sam, Frodo). Each path goes through different settings and battles pertaining to their role in the final battle for Middle-Earth , namely, Gandalf protecting Minas Tirith, Aragorn's trek through the Paths of the Dead and to Pellenor Fields, and Sam and Frodo's journey to destroy the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom (You can stop on one path and explore the others, so don't feel as if you must stick to one path).

The gameplay is straight-forward hack & slash. You have your speed attack, fierce attack, kick, parry, ranged attack, and special moves. This works very well combined with a system that gives experience points. The more enemies you kill without taking damage, you'll get a higher ranking and more points. Plus, you'll gain levels once you attain enough exp. points. This accesses more combos and upgrades you can buy for your character with your exp. points you get after every level. Plus, you can buy upgrades for all of the Fellowship. This can level up characters faster, but it also makes replaying the game with different characters a bit too easy. A gameplay element added to this sequel is the ability to interact with some field objects. For example, you can launch catapults on enemy's towers and use spears to pierce through heavily armed uruk-hai. Some might say the hacking and slashing can get boring, but trust me, it's oh-so satisfying.

The graphics are truly spectacular. From the gorgeous digitally recreated set-pieces to the realistic looking character models (modeled after the actors), everything in the game is truly a sight to behold. The levels you play in are also huge. Some of the shortest levels are even longer than longest levels of the Two Towers. Plus all of this eye candy combines seamlessly to match the scope of the game. With all the action going on around you in some of the war levels, it all just seems exhilarating and truly feels like your in a struggle for Middle-Earth.

The sound matches the graphics quality. The game is THX certified, and it truly shows. The sound effects of gutting groups of orcs just sounds so real. Plus, the actors from the movies give voice-overs to their digital counterparts in the game. Props to Ian Mackellen for doing great narrating as Gandalf.

The game is pretty short. You could play through the whole game (assuming you beat every level the first time) in about the same time it takes to watch The RotK movie. Although, there are a treasure trove of unlockables, including actor interviews about the game, secret characters, and secret levels.

This game also can get frustrating with it's sometimes unfair enemies and unclear mission objectives. How are they unclear? Well, since tasks are explained through spoken voice, which is quite muted in the midst of epic battle, you may not here what they are actually saying. Objectives in text would have helped. But, in the end, you'll pull through.

So, rent or buy? It depends. If your a casual gamer who only plays games in short intervals, go for the buy. But if your a person who plays the heck out of a game once you get your grubby little paws on it, make it a rental. Either way, action fans will dig it and fans of The Lord of the Rings will absolutely love it. I sure did.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/04