The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

"Fantastic Hack 'n Slash game set in Middle Earth"

This is the first gameboy advance game that I actually eagerly awaited for. Normally I look at movie based games with weariness (especially handheld ones) because generally they are very poorly made games. When I heard that this game was a so called ''Diablo clone'', I knew that I had to at least try it. The day that I knew stores would have the game, I plunked down almost 40.00 for a game that I had heard was tremendously fun. It turned out true...

Gameplay: If you have played any of the Diablos for PC and some consoles, you will already know how this game basically plays. This game could be called PocketDiablo 1.5: The Lord of the Rings Edition and that would basically sum up the gameplay. This game meshs features of both Diablo's into one fun-filled game featuring lovable and loathable characters and creatures from the highly popular Lord of the Rings trilogy. This game follows the movies through the second movie recently released. EA Games only had a license for the movies, so they couldn't take any material from the books not found in the movies, which didn't stop EA from creating an engaging and fun game. Please note that Blizzard, the creators of Diablo, had nothing to do with this game.

As previously mentioned, the game is very similar to Diablo 1 and 2. This game fits in the category of ''hack and slash'' rpg/action games. Basically, you take your character through levels, defeating enemies, gaining experience and new levels, finding items, and doing many other things. The base of this game is action, as you have to defeat numerous enemies in a wide variety of levels, but this game also meshs rpg elements into the game. Your character has 5 primary statistics (like strength, courage... etc...) which you can raise when you gain a level, and each character has a skill tree, which will be further explained later. During the game, you find or even buy various items and you can equip a number of them.

The characters that you choose from at the beginning include Frodo, Aragorn, Eowyn, Legolas, and Gandalf. Each person is different from the others, in their starting statistics and it their available skills and skill trees (obviously their appearances are different also). Each character wields different weapons, Gandalf dual-wields a sword and staff, Aragon and Eowyn wield swords and shields, Legolas wields bows, and Frodo uses small bladed weapons. Each character has a skill tree, and you can increase your proficiency in a skill when you recieve skill points for gaining a level, buying one, or by killing increments of 500 enemies. Certain skills cannot be raised until prerequisties are raised, thus the name skill tree. Each hero has both active skills and passive skills. Passive skills are always in effect, active skills are more like spells and are always temporary. Some skills corrupt, showing one of the interesting features of this game. In the upper right corner of the screen there is an eye that shows how much corruption you have. If the eye begins to flash, the ringwraths come to attack you, a very neat feature.

The amount of levels in this game is staggering. Each character has different storylines and levels, greatly increasing the replay value of this game. Even though some characters go through the same levels at some points, the dialouge that one character will notice won't be mentioned with another character. Aragorn and Legolas's stories are the most similar, while Frodo, Gandalf, and Eowyn's story lines are very different. The levels are usually big while not being confusing. One great feature of this game is that you always know where to go, and no level is extremely difficult or hard. One unfortunate thing about the levels is that backtracking is impossible. This is a very minor annoyance, since backtracking is usually pointless, but it would make this game feel less linear. This game is very linear, much more linear then Diablo II, as you are always pushing the story forward.

While adventuring through the lands of Middle Earth, your character will find and buy a variety of items vital to your quests. Each character can equip these items: a helmet, shoes, a necklace, a cape, body armor, and a weapon and shield (or two weapons in some cases). These items are found in chests, barrels, boxes, or dropped by enemies. They can also be gambled at some shrines, places in which you can sell and buy items and stats. Items come in a variety of types, normal, rare, unique, and artifact. Artifacts can only be found once, and a layout showing all found and not found artifacts can be found by pressing the select button. Collecting all of the artifacts unlock a very special thing... Other items that your character will find include food and herbs, which recover some lost health or magic points. The currency of the game is gems, and these are frequently dropped by enemies. These gems can be spent at various shrines scattered throughout the levels for random items, skill points, attribute points, Ent water (a special item that will revive you after death w/o a loss of gems and experience points which occurs normally), and whetstones (increase your damage).

The enemies that combat you in the game are well designed and varied. Throughout the game you will fight a variety of creatures, goblins, Urak-hai, wild dogs, wild men, and many many different enemies. One neat feature in this game is the inclusion of special hero creatures, which are usually substantially tougher then their normal brethren. This game also has boss battles, including the cave troll from the first movie and other monsters. There are NPC's in this game, but there is no ''towns'' per se, only shrines and ruins. Occasionally NPC's will be featured in cutscenes or even during gameplay to help move plot or give you a quest. Other times, NPC's will actually fight by your sides and hack and slash right beside of you.

Graphics: Superb. The in game graphics are stunning for a handheld game. The characters and enemies are well rendered and easily recognizable. Occasional weather effects like fog, snow, and rain look excellent and stunning. Occasional short video clips showing tantalizing footage from the movies show how good full motion video can be on the GBA. High resolution screenshots directly from the newest and older movie are also frequently used throughout the game and are absolutely stupendous.

Sound: Amazing also. The sound effects such as grunts, smash, and swings sound crisp and nice. The really amazing part of the sound is the music featured in the game. The music in the game is directly ripped from the movies, and obviously sounds excellent.

Replay Value: High. Each character has a different story line, and you can beat the game in 3 different difficulty levels (Normal, Hard, Grueling). Each game with a character can take anywhere from 5 hours to over 10 hours, and each game feels rewarding and fun. You can take any character who beat the game back through it again at a higher difficulty. Suprisingly, this gameplay has not even been remotely boring to me, even after killing hundreds of orcs, goblins, and wild beasts it is still extremely fun. If the gameplay was boring for you though, the replay value of this game would be drastically lessened.

Multiplayer: Excellent. Multiplayer with this game is extremely fun because each person can explore freely throughout the level or they can work together constantly. The only problem with multiplayer is the lack of a three or four player mode; only two players can explore the lands of Middle Earth together. Gaining all of the artifacts in single player mode unlock a special feature in multiplayer mode, as does beating the game with two or more characters in single player.

Overview:

Pros:
- Very fun gameplay
- 5 different playable characters from the famed Lord of the Rings trilogy
- A tremendous amount of items to find
- Dozens of different levels and quests
- One unlockable character and other unlockable things
- Good graphics and sound (especially the music)
- Goals and objectives are always straightfoward
- Excellent multiplayer

Cons:
- Gimli isn't featured very much in the game
- You are unable to backtrack
- Limited to two people in multiplayer games

Conclusion: You should definitely buy this game. This is a must have game for any fan of Diablo or Lord of the Rings, and it is definitely one of the premier games on the GBA. The graphics, sound, and gameplay are all stunning examples. This is a movie based game that is actually fun to play, and I recommend it for everyone.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/30/02, Updated 12/30/02