The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

"Diablo, GBA Style"

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the final one of the trilogy, should be great right? It certainly is! True it is a lot like the PC games Diablo and Diablo Two but they were great games weren't they? And now it's like they're portable! Yay for portability of the Gameboy Advance!

Graphics 10/10 - Simply the best graphics I've seen on the GBA ever. From Isengard to Mount Doom it's all almost exactly as I pictured it in the books. The character graphics are flawless but it could've been better if Gimli wasn't smiling weirdly every time he talks.

Sound 10/10 - The sound is perfect the music is always in the correct spots for the mood of the story at that time and it sound exactly the same as in the movie. The sounds of the clashing swords, dying orcs, massive attacks are great.

Story - 9.5/10 - The only bad part of the game. It makes sense to any Lord of the Rings fan but there are some confusing moments like Saruman and Wormtongue weren't hiding in Isengard the whole time! I thought Saruman corrupted the Shire! Didn't Frodo start out captured by Shelob? Yes I know it's all confusing plus it would help if there were more scenes like when Pippin grabbed Saruman's Palantir cause people will just think that Gandalf just felt like taking Pippin to Minas Tirith.

Control 10/10 - Like I said a lot Diablo but the control is about 5 times easier and clicking stuff isn't all that hard.

Gameplay 10/10 - Eight of everyone's all-time favorite Lord of the Rings characters in a Diablo like game. It's just basically run around short and easy levels killing orcs gaining experience and collecting weapons and gems (currency) along the way then selling useless stuff and buying better stuff like Runestones, Whetstones, herbs, Ent Water, and stats.

Overall 10/10 - Couldn't have asked for much of a better game. Leveling up and boosting stats can be hard but once one gets the idea of taking a warrior path or a skill-users path instead of a balanced path it's easy. EA Games did a nice job here.

Buy/Rent - It's definitely worth the $30. Get it if your a true Lord of the Rings fan but you might want to rent it or the other Lord of the Rings games first just to make sure you like it, especially if you don't know what Diablo is or have never played Diablo.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/23/03