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I give this 4.5 stars

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 134 / 149
Date: November 09, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is really really fun to play! I bought it the day after it was released, and I still haven't been able to put it down. It is such a great improvement over Two Towers that you'll be hooked as well. The story itself centers around 3 different paths: Gandalf as he defends Minas Tirith from another Helm's Deep-sized army, Frodo+Sam on their journey to Mordor, and Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli as they travel through the Paths of the Dead, to Minas Tirith, and so forth. The levels themselves are beautifully rendered, and the addition of weapons in specific environments really makes for a completely new feeling game. The controls are much more detailed, so now if you get surrounded you can easily engage multiple enemies at a time. And finally after all the complaints about it not being in Two Towers, you can also play Co-op with a friend! No more having split screens, you both play on a normal sized screen! This game also features the option to play online, but since I don't have the capabilities to do so, I can't really review that part. The only thing stopping me from giving this 5 stars is that some of the levels are incredibly hard, even when set on easy. I guarantee that you'll go through each level a few times before you beat it. All in all this game is definitely worth the money and your time, so I recommend that you purchase it.

EA saved the best for last

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 31 / 36
Date: December 04, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The first two Lord of the Rings titles belonged to that rare group of worthy film-based games. How many movie tie-in games have been less-than-stellar garbage capitalizing on a film's popularity? With "The Return of the King," EA concludes their trilogy with one of the best games of the year. A warning to those who have not read the books and do not know how the trilogy ends: As expected, the game contains many spoilers.

The biggest difference between ROTK and its predecessors may be the amount of action: Fellowship was mostly plot-oriented, and Two Towers featured one great action piece--Helm's Deep. ROTK, however, thrives on action. From start to finish, this game is non-stop action and adventure: gargantuan Siege Towers, monstrous trolls, bloodthirsty Uruk-Hai--this game gives you all you can handle, and then some. You'll be thankful for the occasional pauses to rest your thumbs--before the next attack begins. The game features voice-work from the film's actors and some of the most amazing backgrounds and environments I've ever seen in a video game, with perfect contrast between light and dark elements Like the films, there's meticulous attention to detail. Character design and appearance is first-rate, and character animation (thanks to motion-capture technology) is smooth and even. In addition, the sound quality (THX, no less) is outstanding--every roar, every clash of steel resounds through your speakers.

ROTK features three distinct playable storylines: The Path of the King, The Path of the Hobbits, and The Path of the Wizard. One can play as Aragorn, Legolas, Gandalf, Gimli, Frodo, or Sam, and beating the game unlocks three new characters. Follow Aragorn on the Paths of the Dead and recruit the undead to fight alongside you, from Minas Tirith to the Black Gate (and you'll get to battle the Mouth Of Sauron in an epic conflict). Follow Frodo and Sam from Osgiliath to Shelob's Lair to Mount Doom. Take the wizard's path, and have Gandalf fight from Orthanc to Minas Tirith. There are thirteen levels, and the three storylines converge in a final level only accessible when all thirteen are finished. Some levels are relatively easy (Shelob's Lair wasn't too tough) and some are barbaric in their difficulty (Paths of the Dead took me six tries before I beat it). Each character has their own unique style and weapons, with plenty of enemies to battle: Shelob, Orcs, Mumakils (Oliphaunts), Uruk-Hai, The King of the Dead, and more. Attacks are pretty straightforward: Quick attack, Fierce attack, parry, or fire (arrows and the like). As you gain experience points from defeating enemies, you can acquire better weapons and skills (such as invisibility and the truly awesome Balrog's Revenge) to combat the increasingly difficult foes one faces as the game progresses. And, one can choose to retain those points for oneself, or share them with other characters.

The game has three difficulty settings: Easy, normal, and hard. Easy is just that: easy. Normal is moderately challenging, but beatable for most average gamers. Select hard, and you're asking for it. The enemies seem to never end, and even the lowliest orcs take incredible amounts of punishment before falling. Hard difficulty may be best tackled with the game's Co-Op mode, which allows a friend to participate. A major problem with the game, however, is that you can't replay a level until you've beaten it. But once you complete it, every level opens up and can be played by any character--which gives the game better long-term replayability than most movie titles (and many non-movie ones, as well). PS2 gamers will have to contend with occasionally slow framerates due to the PS2's low-end processor. This usually only occurs when a horde of enemies are present, but it's still a little annoying. Another thing I didn't like was the occasional difficulty caused by the game's third-person perspective. Like most TP games, certain positions or angles create blind spots. In close combat, this can prove to be a major aggravation. But those are relatively minor things that detract little from the overall quality of this game. For anyone looking for an excellent action/adventure game, this can't be beat. Highly recommended.

Excellent game, but difficult

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 12
Date: November 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I just thought I'd post this for all the parents out there thinking of this for christmas....

First off this is one of the best games out right now. It's incredible, and the best movie based game I've ever played.
Thank you Peter Jackson and EA! Great job!

However, be warned that while this game is incredible in gameplay, graphics, story, and sound, it's also very difficult...even on "easy". Think of it this way: There are games where you can just hit the "x" button rapid-fire to get out of any situation. This isn't a game like that. "Return of the King" goes more like this: Block, jump back, use a combo move of several buttons to knock the enemy down, then use a finishing move to end it, then turn around and deal with the next 20 orcs you have to slay...continue for 15 minutes and you get the idea.
Granted, I'm exagerrating a little and you can get by quite a bit with just random button hits, but the point is that this game has a complexity/difficulty that many games don't have, and it might be frustrating for some players. If your buying this for your child and he's/she's a player who just nails the X button all day and throws tantrums easily, you may want to save yourself the headaches and pass this one up for something easier.

The game was designed to keep you on the edge of your seat and on the verge of failing the entire time. It definately works. I haven't been as frantic and frustrated with any game in a long time...but conversely I haven't ever played a game where when I finally beat a level I actually jumped up and down screaming with joy. It keeps you on those emotional extremes, and the game gets 4 out of 5 because of that.

Finally more games with CO-OP

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 14
Date: October 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

What was really missing from the Two Towers was the co-op mutliplayer option. They had the computer controling the other player but as computer AI is no where near human AI co-op is the way to go. I wish more games would bring back this option for those of us who invite friends over to play because not all gamers are loners.

Rent, Don't Buy!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 36 / 70
Date: November 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is fun to play, but if you are an average skilled player or more I would only suggest renting this game for 3-5 days instead of spending $50 on it because it only takes a few days to defeat. Also most of the footage of the movie on the game come from The Two Towers movie or the previews of the Return of the King movie that you can see on the Two Towers DVD special features. I was disappointed because I expected to see footage from the upcoming movie but I had already seen the footage that I did see on the game.

So save yourself some money and go rent this game from your local video store and go and decide the fate of Middle Earth.

Very good game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: May 01, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game, though frustrating at times, is one of the best adventure/action games ever. I did not want to stop playing it. Here is what happens:

You can play as up to 9 characters:
Aragorn
Legolas
Gimli
Gandalf
Sam
Frodo
Pippen
Merry
Faramir

(Pippen, Merry and Faramir can only be unlocked once you have beaten the game)

There are 3 paths you can choose from: The Path of the Wizard, King or Hobbit. The Path of the Wizard takes you to Minas Tirith and eventually the Black Gate. The Path of the King takes you to the Paths of the Dead, Pelennor Fields and the Black Gate. The Hobbit takes you to Shelobs Lair, Cirith Ungol and of course the Cracks of Doom. Most levels are pretty fun and addicting.

Now I'll give you a few helpful pointers. Number one, don't get frustrated with Top of the Wall, the 2nd level on the Path of the Wizard. You have to keep the orcs off of Minas Tirith's wall otherwise the overrun meter will go up causing you to lose the level, whether you died or not. Just hold off the orcs until the seige towers come. There should be four. Destroy the first 3 using your staff. The 4th one is supposed to make it to the wall. Destroy it and kill all the orcs around it the run down stairs to finish the level. The level can sometimes be hard but overall its not to bad and can be a fun level to go back and play several times.

Another hint: Most people think that the final level, the crack of Doom, is hard. Actually its not. This is the first level you can use Frodo. What happens is you have to defeat Gollum. Its really easy. Just get him over to the edge near the lava and do Orc Hewer or something similar like Fierce Attack. Gollum will start to lose his balance and lean backwards. Continue hitting him until he's just hanging on by his hands then do a finishing blow and send him falling. He will continue to crawl back up until his health bar is depleated. Dont worry, its not that hard.

My final hint is for the Black Gate. This level is also pretty easy on co-op mode but if you haven't beat it on single player mode, it can be tricky. First off choose Gandalf. After you defeat the Mouth of Sauron, a pretty easy boss, prepare to fight back 6 waves of orc attacks. All waves come in through the front until the third one when they come in from all sides. Just be sure you guard your 3 fellowship members (if you were Gandalf they would be Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli) if they die, game over. One thing that make a major difference is orc archers. Kill them before they get to your fellowship heroes because the heroes usually just stand there while they get pelted with arrows. After the 6th wave, 3 Nazgul will come. This is why you pcik Gandalf. Shoot them a couple times with your staff and they will die. His staff works way better then arrows. After that, you've beat it.

I hope my hints have helped you. Enjoy the game and happy playing

The End is coming

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 18
Date: October 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The Return of The King is based on one of the most magical worlds ever created , the first two installemnt of the movie series were a hit with the final installment approaching with a promise of never before seen experience , and as we all feel that the third installment will be better,bigger and more dark than the first and second installemnt , also the Rotk game promises the same....and more .

The two towers game was a very good game which only suffered from longevity issue , i have felt that the game should have been more long and also the AI and the controllers should have been more easy and accurate , and fortunately the Development team at EA Redwood Shores knows what they will do this time .

The first improvement here is the execellent capturing of the cinematic charcters , and i don't mean only in the graphics terms , but also in their behaviour,actions and even the way they are walking , so you should feel the aggressive and conidence way in the behaviour of somecharcters while you find the contrary in the Hobbits behaviour , also the enemies are more powerful and intelligent than before , the AI is more aggressive and smart , so you may find the attack coming from all the directions instead of a bunch of orcs waiting in a line for thei turn to hit you .

Another important elemnt has been added , which is the stealth element , you know that Frodo and Sam are taking their dark journey alone , and they are 2 frightened hobbits so how they will evade all the orcs in the way? so you have to be careful and implement all of your stealth capabilities , and that is helped by the improved attack system where you can use the analog stick for aiming your fists or weapons which gives more accurate targeting , and that is necessary due to the enhanced AI so you can beat the hords of the enemies more effecient .

The game will be more long than The Two Towers with two separate paths to take , the playable charcters features the same of the previous game's charcters along with six unlockable chacters , and that also adds one more great addition in this game which is the CO-OP mode which enables you to team with another player to invade the dark lands of the LOTR world , the playing process will be on the same screen not on two split screens which may means that there is a very reat difficulties out there to overcome .

The overall gameplay is more powerful and enjoyable , along with the stunning look of the graphics and the characters animations , so be ready to take the dark paths to face the ultimate explosive finale .

going to be better than the first game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 13
Date: August 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I have been looking forward to buying this game the day I discovered it was in the making. The game has a lot more features than the first, and is looking very good at the moment. My review is based on information from PSM (Play Station Magazine) who has written several articles on the game and its new features. The first feature that caught my attention is more playable characters, like Gandalf;), and hidden characters, like Gollum. The other awesome addition to the game is the cooperative play! You can play with another person at the same time with different characters! Only two players will be aloud at the same time, but this is the number one thing the Two Towers was missing. The fighting system in the game will be similar, but this game is definatly worth getting.
P.S. I'm not 12 years old.

Frustrated

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 18
Date: December 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I love this game but frankly I'm a little frustrated with a couple of things. I've tried the game on normal mode playing Gandalf and made it to Minas Tirith, where I got my butt kicked. After a few times, I played it on easy mode...same results...but getting better. Then I played the Paths of the Dead on easy and got as far as the BIG CHEESE (no spoiler from me!) and got whacked. Okay, I'm a noob and it'll come with experience; HOWEVER, my biggest FRUSTRATION is NOT being able to immediately SAVE my progress. If I go down, I have to go ALL THE WAY BACK TO A CHECKPOINT! The TIME it takes to return to the previous death scene can be incredible!

The best EA game yet!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: November 18, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is great! Graphics are ridiculously tight and the game play has become even more fun and realistic than LOTR: The Two Towers. I have always told my friends that the main thing that The Two Towers was missing was 2player game play. And now Return of the King has that, and it is a great feature! And if your friends arent available then you can play with a partner online! I dont care if you're a fan LOTR games, LOTR movies, of PS2, or a fan of collecting stuffed animals YOU MUST get this game!!! EA games has truely out done themselves!

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