The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

"Effectively captures the films glory and makes a great game to play"

Being a fan of the LOTR franchise, I thought that I would check this game. I was expecting the normal movie based kind of game, and that was disappointing. Finally after some consideration I picked up this title. When I popped the disk into my Xbox and started to play it, I realised how great of game this is. I also realised that I took this game for a typical Movie Game, which its not.

Gameplay: 9/10

This is what make this game really fun. You play as one of several characters in the LOTR franchise. You can take the Hobbits, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, and other characters and fight your way through the huge battles for the safety of Middle Earth. Each character levels up from experience and can purchase upgrades for himself or the entire fellowship. You can purchase additional moves and weapon upgrades as well, making your quest a little easier.

Graphics: 8/10

This game looks very good. The Detail is enormous, giving you a very comfortable feeling to all of the levels and making you feel like your in middle earth. All character models are great, and on the Xbox they are at a very high resolution. The characters faces look very authentic, and they talk and move smoothly.

Sound: 9/10

This game features the music from all three films, particularly the Two Towers. Almost all of the actors provided their voices to the game, giving it a cinematic feel. The sound is appropriately placed and has has te right feel to it. No complaints in this section, this games awesome.

Story: 10/10

The game follows three paths, the path of the king, the path of the hobbits, and the path of the wizard. All must be completed to beat the game. There are 12 levels through-out the game that require other ones to be finished before proceeding,. Each level represents a specific place in the story, and is accurately made out.

Final Verdict? MUST BUY. Seriously this is a great game and you do not wan to miss it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/13/04, Updated 02/14/05