The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

"A brilliant game that can suit any gamer out there. A must buy!"

I have been playing the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King since very early on since its release, and only a few times I have been disappointed and bored. I am a huge Lord of the Rings fan, but I wasn't very pleased when I played The Two Towers because of the Graphics and Gameplay. I really did expect EA to make a better game, and I feel that they did make a MUCH better game. I mean, who wouldn't want to play as a wizard and slash 500 Orcs to the ground? This game has it all!

A big massive step was to include as many levels as possible. The Two Towers didn't have many missions to play through, but this game has a lot more. The game includes three paths. A Path of the King, Path if the Wizard, and Path of the Hobbits. What is even better is, you can't play as Sam and fight through the path of the dead because Sam is not included in that part of the story. This was an excellent idea, and it worked. It added many characters to the game, and even more levels. On with the review:

Graphics: 10/10
Okay, the graphics in this game are just excellent. They look so realistic. Because of the many characters in the game, it is quite hard to focus too hard on the graphics, but they seemed to have concentrated a lot on the graphics. The characters in the game look just like the characters in the film, and their clothes and the Orcs and everything else just looks so realistic. The amount of detail put into the characters and the background is just unbelievable! I think you and many others will be impressed by the amount of detail put to the graphics. Not many glitches and hardly any mistakes, the graphics gets a 10/10.

Sound: 10/10
Most of the music in this game has been taken from the film, well… Actually all the music from the game has been taken from the film. The music is perfect for the setting, and it really makes you feel like a hero when you are marching up a hill and listening to the music. Also, the actors from the film are back and doing the voices for the characters. Gandalf is narrating the story through the whole game and he is voiced by Ian McGregor. Also, the other characters are being played by the actors in the film like Elijah Woods plays Frodo in the film. Another big thing in the sound is the sound-effects. There are a lot of sound-effects in the game and they all make the sound better. You can really hear the whoosh when an arrow flies past you. There are many sound-effects in the game, just too many to list all at once. The sound gets a 10/10.

Gameplay: 10/10
The Gameplay in this game is just something else. Most of it is just hack n' slash, but some of it involves some tactics. You can earn experience points by killing enemies, and experience points earn you moves you can purchase with your experience points. Some of these moves take a while to master, but some of them are cool and some of them are really easy. That's pretty much all about the Gameplay, fighting. But there is another thing, and that is that each playable character in the game has their own special ability. These special abilities are usually cool. The Gameplay gets a 10/10.

Story: 10/10
The story in the game is exactly the same as the film, but with different parts in some places. You can't argue with the story in the film, because it's just amazing. You play three different parts of the one war created by one small ring. It is an amazing experience playing this wonderful game, but I wonder if it's too good to take in all at once. The story gets a 10/10.

Replay Value: 10/10
After a long time of playing through this game, you will move away from this game. After you complete 100% of this game, you won't play it for quite a while. I still think you will play it in a few years time, and still enjoy yourself. With three secret characters, two secret levels, and brilliant co-op mode, it is hard to get bored. If you have brothers or sisters you should get this game for the co-op mode. If you love Lord of the Rings you should get this game. If you are into action and killing Trolls, get this game. You see, this game suits nearly everyone.

I will give this game a 10/10 because it has amazing graphics and sound, wonderful Gameplay, and really good replay value. I think I have convinced you enough that this is a really good game. You should buy not rent this game because you won't get very far playing it just for a couple of nights.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 05/30/04