The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

"Gameboy Advance at it's best!!!"

This is possibly one of the best games for GBA, and it is based off the coolest movie: can it get any better??!!

Gameplay: 10
The controls are basically simple, B to attack, A to use a skill, R to pick up items and L to change a skill. 6 different characters that include Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, Frodo and a playability of Sam, Gandalf(my personal favorite), and Eowyn. Eowyn has one the best games considering that her game in Two Towers was impossibly hard.
The characters attack in three-hit combo form. There are hundreds of different items to pick up with different rarity levels and prefixes and suffixes that bonuses to the item, giving this game an RPG style. As for difficulty, it is just right. There are a few levels that can be breezed right through and others that will leave you stuck on it for some time. There are also different difficulty levels in case it is too hard or too easy. A wide variety of enemies( including different orcs, spiders, uruk-hai, corsairs, dead, trolls, wildmen, and Haradrim) and bosses (including The Witch King, The King of the Dead and his skeleton army, Saruman, Shelob, Mumakil, Sauron's Lieutenant, Ringwraiths, and Denethor) make this awesome.

Story: 10

The story mainly follows The Return of the King movie, which is most likely the best movie ever, but added some details that the book including that the movie did not.

Graphics/Sound: 10

I wish I could give this more than 10, because the graphics and sound are just plain incredible. The graphics are so real that you can almost feel it. The environments are extremely detailed and is very realistic. While walking through one of the different dirtied water, (some dirty, some clear, some blood stained)you can see your characters perfect mirror image in the water while seeing and hearing water splashing around. On Aragorn's shirt is easily seen the white tree of Gondor. While walking across a high ledge you can look down and see what is below you, except the scene below you moves at a different rate when moving than the ledge that the character is walking on, seeming eerily realistic. Several movie snapshots and script are placed to inform players of the story between the levels. The SFX sounds are good as well. As Gandalf attacks you can hear his weapons clanking and the wind of his body moving. Scary, huh? The music is one of the main factors that really makes this a just plain awesome game to play because it so perfectly fits the levels that the player is on. This makes the game seem more like the movie, and definitely is the best music that I have heard in any portable game system. It is taken from the movie, including a few new tunes that should have been included in the movie.

Replayability: 10
I find this game just about as fun the second time as it was the first time. There are artifacts and accomplishments to find and achieve that unlock new maps. The game took me about a month to fully complete.

This game is a must-have for anyone who enjoys fun games. Borrow it, rent it, buy it, DO WHATEVER POSSIBLE TO GET YOUR HANDS ON THIS GAME!!! Also try multiplayer if possible, which is hours of great fun.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/29/04