The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

"Bad games last a short time thankfully"

Hi, this is my first review, hope you like it

I myself is a great fan of the Lord of Rings, both the book and the movie never fails to amaze me. But this game completely utterly disappoints me just like Two Towers and I will say why.

9/10 Graphics: Not bad, quite good in fact. The faces look good, the clothing look good. Everything looks just fine and good. The bad thing about it is the camera angle, I hate it when a giant troll attacked me and I can only see it's club the knock me out, which in mine mind is unacceptable, they should give a movable camera, or at least it positions itself better. Not to mention, the background look too good, is unreal. This game is a digital movie by itself. Nothing much to complain about, the camera angles meant it dropped a point.

10/10 Sound: The strongest part in the game. The sound is exceptionally, from the smashing of swords to the arrows flying past me, all of them is perfect. It also have talking during the game which makes the game more alive. Rating of 10 is appropriate for it is just thrilling to listen.

6/10 Controls: Nothing special. Is easy to learn and remember and the response is quite good. Rating of 6 is pass.

2/10 Gameplay: The most important part of the game and it was nothing but a button masher. The only thing you need to do is smash the controller continuously and you could finish the first level. You don't need to think of a strategy, because there is only one in most times and it is kill all enemies and proceed the level. Talking about the levels, this game is straight forward and most of the time, there is no different paths, which in some ways good, but it feels very restricted. Hard to say if it is hard or not, most people say is hard but I say is quite easy partly because I mastered the previous game. But still, the levels of this game is pretty much the same to me, but if you ask me, the only level which a play now is the second secret level which is the only challenge I got in the whole game. You might heard that there is upgrades using exp to buy in this game, but it is nothing special, you can have all the upgrades for several characters in no time. The only time I play this game nowadays is when I want to vent my anger on something, otherwise I would hardly ever touch this game. The button smashing gameplay technique combined with same gameplay throughout the game means it received a rating of 2 in gameplay department.

1/10 Game Length: Another disappointing aspect of the game. This game won't last more than 5 hours if you play through the main levels, which some of them are short, most takes 10-15 minutes to finish. There is 3 ''paths'' this games have, but they only no more than 5 levels. These paths mean nothing really since you could jump to another path any old time. This game is the shortest I played in my life (serious) not counting Two Towers, so a rating of 1 is kind.

1/10 Replay Value: Hardly if any is the kindest I can say. If you say playing a different character in the level is called replay, then I have nothing to say. The secret characters is clones that look different than the main players. The only thing is good is to see Gandalf(the only character I can stand to play) cruise the hobbits level in a flash. I myself feel there is no replay value, so 1 is appropriate.

Pros:
-Good for venting your anger
-Nice graphics
-Great sound

Cons:
-Very short, last no more than a day
-The replay value is none existence
-A game only with hackin' and slashin', no strategies or tactics at all
-Is more like a movie in graphics.

Conclusion: Another disappointment. This game is only wild hackin' and slashin' with no innovation whatsoever. I certainly don't like it, but is quite suitable for you if you just want a game to kill people.

Rent or Buy: A definitely no no for buy. Is just too short and you won't miss anything good(if any) stuff by renting. But it is up to you.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 02/01/04