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an arcade action adrenaline rush

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 81 / 82
Date: November 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

After being burned by Universal's Xbox Lord of the Rings game, I was a bit hesitant to pick this one up. Fortunately though, my fears were completely unfounded. Though some may fault The Two Towers for it's lack of exploration and story elements, I still found it to be tons of fun. You just have to accept it for what it is-a fast, easy to pick up, 80's-style-arcade-action-game. It's not an RPG. It's not an adventure game. It's a pure arcade-action-adrenaline-rush. Once you accept this you'll realize that TTT is a truly outstanding game, and would still be so, even without it's outstanding license.

The game spans both the Fellowship of the ring and The Two Towers. You'll start with a tutorial, where you play as Isilder, fighting in the Last Alliance. Next, you'll take control of Aragorn, as he fights off the Ring Wraiths on Weathertop. After that you'll be able to choose between Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli as they fight their way through all the best action scenes from the films. Each character plays a bit different, and you'll definitely have to adjust your play-style accordingly. All told, you'll play through 12 levels: five from FOTR and the rest from TTT. The gameplay is very much like a 3d version of classic arcade games like Golden Axe or Double Dragon.

While you'll probably complete all the levels in five to ten hours the first time through, you'll definitely want to play through a couple more times as the other two characters. Completing the game with all three characters will allow you to play a bonus level with a secret character. Also, fans of the movies will definitely want to check out the interviews and behind-the-scenes videos, which can be unlocked by completing various parts of the game. I'm not usually one to play games over and over, unlocking every detail, but I find I just can't put this game down-but then I'm also a huge LOTR geek. You'll also get to see a lot of footage from the films-including some exclusive, never-before-seen scenes from TTT. It's great how they were able to merge this footage in with the gameplay. You'll be watching a scene from the film and suddenly it will shift seamlessly into the game engine, then suddenly you'll find yourself in control of the movie.

More than anything, I think what makes the game so much fun, is the great combo system. You'll receive a rating for each kill you perform: perfect, excellent, good, and fair. The higher the rating the more points you'll receive. At the end of a level, the points are totaled, and you can spend them on new moves and upgrades. You'll also receive a rating for completing the level based on the tally for all your kills. This system really gives you an incentive to do more than just stay alive. With every kill, no matter how routine, I found myself trying to perform wicked combos in order to increase my points and rating.

It's when you get into the really big battles with tons of stuff going on on-screen, that the game really starts to shine. It's just chaos and madness-orcs everywhere. It gives you a real sense of fighting in a chaotic melee battle. Slash, slash, slash...must hit buttons faster. Thumbs are too tired...I...can't...go on...I'll...never...make it. At times like these it may seem to be just a mindless, button-mashing extravaganza, however, there are many other times when all the button mashing in the world will not save you. You'll find that many enemies will require some real skill to defeat. Also, the various orcs have different strengths and weaknesses and will require that you alter your tactics a bit in order to defeat them.

For the most part, the controls are flawless, making pulling off combos a breeze. Probably my only complaint with the controls, would be the camera, which cannot be moved or rotated. Although the camera is almost always in the optimal fixed position, there are times when you're trying to shoot enemies off-screen, that you'll wish you could rotate the camera a bit.

Other highlights of the game, are the outstanding visuals and sounds. The graphics are some of the best yet seen on the PS2. The character models and textures are excellent. And you'll be amazed by the amount of detailed characters they were able to get on screen at once. But I think, what really brings the game to life more than anything else is the superbly fluid animation. If you squint your eyes, it almost looks like a scene from the films. The sound is equally impressive-with the actual actors from the films providing the voice-work-and the music of course, is strait out of the movie. TTT is truly a feast for the eyes and ears.

The Two Towers is really an amazing and highly polished game. Sure, maybe at times it is just a mindless hack-and-slash, but it's just so much fun that I really didn't care. My only real complaints with the game are the short length, and the lack of cooperative play (this game just begs for a two player cooperative mode). Whether you're a hardcore Tolkien fan, a casual fan of the movie, or someone who couldn't care less about LOTR, if you like action games, you should definitely give this game a try.

Sound: 10/10 With voice-work provided by the actual actors from the film, and Howard Shores Academy Award winning soundtrack playing in the backround, it doesn't get much better than this.
Graphics: 10/10 Some of the best PS2 graphics I've ever seen-the highlight being the incredible animations.
Controls: 9/10 Camera occasionally is a problem, but other than that, no complaints.
Game-play: 9/10 Reminiscent of old beat-em'-up arcade games.
Originality: 1/10 Nothing new here.
Value: 5/10 It's over in about 5 hours, but with multiple characters and numerous unlockables, there's a good amount of replay value.
Difficulty: 5/10 Average. Some of the later levels offer a bit of a challenge, but nothing terribly difficult.
Final Score: 8.5/10 Hands-down the best LOTR game this year. A great game, even if you were to take away the great license. Over too quickly though.

E3 findings

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 98 / 107
Date: September 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Hi I attended this years E3 festival. For those of you who don't know what it is it is an expo type thing(just trying to sound simple) where gamers come from all over and get together where they show off new game systems and various sorts of games. It's a gamers dreamworld. You also get to play some of the new games at things called game stations. I also happen to be Lotr(Lord of the rings) freak. I stood in a long line to aquire this bit of information that I will share with you. I found this stuff out at E3.

One ring to rule them all... Based on New Line Cinema's epic adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic fantasy novels, The Lord of the Rings™, The Two Towers™ video games will integrate cinema and gameplay to deliver an epic interactive experience. In the game, players will be able to relive the most memorable movie moments from the first two films, "The Fellowship of the Ring" and "The Two Towers."

EA's first The Lord of the Rings action adventure game will allow players to take control of the motion picture trilogy's action heroes: Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, with other members of the Fellowship taking an active role during gameplay. In The Two Towers, players will battle a variety of Orcs and square off against vicious boss monsters including the Cave Troll and Saruman. A tactical gameplay system will encourage players to react quickly and be strategic with their selection of characters, weaponry and combat moves.

Middle Earth comes to life in spectacular detail. Set in over 16 mission locations, each environment will have a close visual correlation to that seen in the first two films. As a backdrop to the action, the game will feature Howard Shore's Academy Award-winning musical score.

Electronic Arts has secured the exclusive worldwide licensing rights to create games based on New Line's epic trilogy. The Two Towers will be the first in an ongoing series of The Lord of the Rings games.

Key Features
Three playable characters: Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli (Gandolf is also available in the GBA version).
Third person action/adventure gameplay with an emphasis on tactical sword fighting.
Hundreds of unique combat animations.
Battle five boss monsters from the first two movies, including the Cave Troll and Saruman.
Sixteen levels consisting of memorable movie moments from the first two films.

Face the evil forces of Sauron in over 10 environments from the movies, including the Mines of Moria and the walls of Helm's Deep.
Musical score taken from Academy Award-winning The Fellowship of the Ring.
Multiplayer modes allows for up to four-player gameplay via the GBA Link Cable (GBA only).
I can't wait for the game 5 Stars but I wish I could give six or more.

Stunning Game, Worth Every Penny!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 85 / 95
Date: November 07, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I just wanted to post my two cents about the two PS2 video games available. I first wanted to tell all of you- NO, you do not get to play Arwen in either game, a total bummer. Both games do not feature her or the chase scene. (I am a girl gamer who loves LOTR stuff, and the character Arwen).

Second, I have rented and played both out there. Here is my opinion on the two: I did not like the game "The Lord of the Rings-Fellowship of the Ring" by Vivendi. It basically sucked. Why? It wasn't based on the film, and the game play wasn't very fun. Right off the bat you are stuck in a very hard level trying to get away from the Ringwraiths as Frodo. Lots of other people have been complaining online about this. The characters and storyline were not great. Tasks were not well rewarded. I wouldn't recommend buying that game.

The other game, by EA Games "The Lord of the Rings- The Two Towers" IS AWESOME!!!! This is the coolest game ever, especially if you are into LOTR stuff. I was thinking it would ruin "Two Towers" for me, as it is not yet been released, but you begin by playing Isildur in scenes from "Fellowship". I did not think it had anything to do with "Fellowship" but it does.

The cut from the movie playing (original film sequences) to the actual game play is seamless. I didn't even realize I was supposed to be playing until Elrond started yelling at me to defend myself-LOL. The game is stunning. All the original actors from the films are featured as the voices of the characters. It was developed using the actors from the films, and input from the people who made the films. To top it all off- you get bonus stuff inside the game- peeks at "Two Towers" footage, behind the scenes making of the game, etc. If you follow or watch Tech TV's show "Extended Playý. You know how harsh they are at reviewing games. They gave this one a 5 out of 5 ! So I wholeheartedly recommend this one.

Do as I do, at any rate- RENT, THEN BUY. Then, if you discover that you do not like the game, you're only out $5-$6 USD. Since you cannot return an opened game for a refund.

Game on. ;0P....

Skillfully, interestingly, and captivatingly fantastic!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 59 / 65
Date: December 12, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game is incredible! The graphics, the musical score, the voices, the skills, the weapons, the liveliness, and the sound editing are all outstanding. They used the movie's characters' voices and the same scenes to make you feel like you're actually in the movie. The game makers went to extreme measures to make the game exactly like the movie. In this game you have to really speedy and tactical. One of the coolest things are the fact that you can choose who you want to play with. It's just like the Star Wars episode 1 game, where you can play as Obi-Wan, as Qui-Gon Jinn, as Queen Amidala, and as Panaka. In this game you can play as Aragorn, Gimli, or as Legolas. Legolas is definitely the best player (hands down). You'll love fighting you way through thousands of Orcs, goblins, and Uruk-kai. You'll also be battling enormous or dangerous monsters like the cave troll and Saruman. The game is even more fun if you use the maximum ammo cheat (While playing the lord of the rings the two towers pause the game and hold R1 R2 L1 L2. While doing this enter x, down, triangle, and up). The other cheats (the skip level codes) will just spoil the game.

The levels: As you know you play with Aragorn (the human), Gimli (the dwarf), or with Legolas (the elf). With each completed mission, you obtain skill points depending on how you dispatch your enemies and are also given the alternative to purchase new and lethal moves. Overall, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is a first-class game. The only nuisances, however, are its replay worth. The missions are usually recurring, and you only have 16 missions. Sooner or later you no longer consider playing it. It's not like the Star Wars games, Tomb Raider games, James Bond games, Tony Hawk's games, N4S games, Theft games, or other games where almost every level is different. Despite this slight downfall, `The Two Towers' will offer you with sufficient entertainment until you finish the game. If you enjoy this, also check out "James Bond 007: Nightfire", "Tony Hawks 4", "Angel of the darkness", and "Hp and the chamber of secrets".

Two Towers

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 40 / 43
Date: October 23, 2002
Author: Amazon User

...most people do not own this game. I purchased The Two Towers yesterday ...from Gamestop. I must say, I wasn't sure about this game. I am a huge LOTR fan myself, and the Fellowship of the Ring for PS2 (made by a different company) really let me down. The game is based on the book and not the movie. This game on the other hand is based on the movie and is an all out action game rather than an adventure game. If I was to compare this game to recent ps2 games, it would be Devil May Cry and Baulders Gate. I played Two Towers for 3 Hours, and I am almost half way through the game with one character, but I can't wait to go back through the game with the other two characters, plus the hidden character. The game may be fairly short, but it's one I will want to play over and over again, and that's a rare thing for me to say. Most games I never touch again after completing once. I hope this review helps someone out. I would rate the game 9.0-10.0 ( right now it's my favorite game! )

The Two Towers

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 43 / 54
Date: September 10, 2002
Author: Amazon User

OK, here's the scoop. I am a huge Lord Of The Rings fan. I love every aspect about it. Now when I heard EA was making the Towers I was thrilled, because I know that there games are quite simply the top of the line, and, of course, I am a huge Tolkien fan. So, for those of you who are new to Lord Of The Rings, the game first takes place before the beginning of The Two Towers in the Fellowship. You start off in the Mines of Moria at Balin tomb (The part in the movie with the cave troll). You face an onslaught of orcs (the bad guys) and can chose between Aragorn, Legolas, or Gimli. All of which are top of the line characters. Aragorn-his strength, mobility, and his supreme talent of cutting orc's heads off. Legolas(my personal favorite)-speed, stamina, gracefullness, and a skill with a bow and arrow that cannot be matched. Gimli-Ferocity, stamina, and his supreme love of hewing orc's necks. The rest are computer controlled. Next, Gandalf fights the Balrog falls to his death (*cough* not)and then to the battle of Amon Hen, which is awesome, where Boromir is slain (a moment of silence for my homie) Next (beginning of Two Towers) you go off to the fields of Rohan, find Gandalf (surprise!) and then to the battle of Helm's deep! This is probably the biggest battle in all of the three books. 10,000 orcs versus about only 2,000 men in the rain. Orcs start stomping their spears and then it begins. 10,000 Uruk-Hai storm the small but strong refuge the Hornburg. The air grows thick with arrow. This is good one to be Gimli with he kills 42 orcs in part of the battle, which the last one broke his axe because the orc wore a metal neckbrace. Any way I'm rambling but definitely by this game even if you aren't a Lord Of The Rings fan. It will be good!!!

Hey, how could I rate against anything Lord Of The Rings?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 25 / 26
Date: November 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

In 2001 we were spoiled. We got to see the greatest book to movie film, Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring. Later this year the sequel to the first movie based on the second book will be released, Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers. And now the game based on both movies has been released, and like its counterparts it is a great experience!

1. Graphics
The graphics are pretty good, but they can suffer sometimes. Some character models look really good like Aragorn and Legolas. But Gimli the Dwarf just does not look all that great. He looks nothing like John Rhys-Davies protrayal of Gimli in the films. The game really does not push the PS2's abilities but does well. The framerate is great and the character animations are nice.
Rating: 4 Stars

2. Sound
What's there to say? Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers uses the great scores from Fellowship Of The Ring by Howard Shore. So if you've seen the first film, you know what to expect. The music fits the right situations and adds great depth to the game. The voiceacting is superb. The actors from the films do the voices of the main characters. That includes Frodo (Elijah Wood), Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), and Gandalf (Ian McKellen). Enough said.
Rating: 5 Stars

3. Gameplay
Hack 'n' Slash, that's really all you need to know. You get to play as 4 characters, 3 regular and 1 secret. Aragorn the human, Legolas the elf, and Gimli the dwarf. The secret character is Isildur, the son of the king. Each character has its strengths and weaknesses. Gimli is strong and has a lot of health, but is slow and bad with ranged weapons. Legolas is fast and is good with bow and arrows, but is weak and has low health. Aragorn is inbetween the two, and allaround player. The secret character, Isildur, is like a souped-up version of his heir, Aragorn. The game is never too easy or too frustrating, and is always fun. Everytime you fight your character gains experience and gains levels. The levels don's do anything but opens up new upgrades to buy with experience points. The gameplay is addicting and always fun. There are also coices between using the buttons or right analog stick to fight.
Rating: 5 Stars

4. Length
The inintial game is fairly short, there are 12 missions. Probably 3-4 hours with 1 character. You get to beat the game with 3 characters. Once you do that, you can beat it with Isildur. So that's about 16 hours. The game is very addicting and has planty of replay value. Plus there are levels for each character where you get to fight in the Tower Of Orthanc, Saruman's home. Here you fight hordes of enemies in an Onimishu style "kill all of the enemies and proceed to the next floor which will be harder to beat". Overall the game has a nice length, but the developers could have added a few extra missions. Or even an extra character, Frodo anyone?
Rating: 4 Stars

This is reccomended to anyone who liked the first film and loves hack 'n' slash games. The game covers the first 2 films Fellowship Of The Ring and The Two Towers pretty well and includes footage from both films. The game does well in all areas and is a great addition to any collection. If you are considering buying this great game, then do so right now. For once there is a great movie to game videogame. I hope EA Games has broken this curse forever.

Overall Rating: 5 Stars

A realistic review

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 20 / 21
Date: December 15, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Let's get started. First off, the games graphics are excellent, character models are outstanding. The voice acting is superb, a reason for that may be it is the actual characters voices. The games controls are easily mastered. You can play as 1 of 3 characters initially, a 4th becomes unlocked after you beat the secret mission with any character. The A.I is very easily defeated, its only strength being in numbers, and the game is completely linear, meaning every time you play it is the same, and their is no kind of MULTIPLAYER(game companies, hint hint)therefore replay value suffers tremendously. It is more like an arcade action game, drop in a quarter and start killing enemies. The game can become difficult at times, and their will be plenty of instances when you want to throw the controller through the tv screen. Especially the rohan, and helm's deep levels. The games cut scenes of the upcoming movie are very enjoyable, and the interviews with the cast and artwork you can view are also great. The game is also very short, A dedicated gamer can play through the game in about a day and a half. Overall, it is more of a rent on the weekend type game rather than one you would want to pay 50 bucks for because of the lack of replay value, and the linear gameplay.

Sound-5 out of 5
Graphics- 5 out of 5
Replay Value- 2 out of 5
Controls- 4 out of 5
Fun Factor- 3 out of 5
Overall- 4 out of 5

Great graphics and sound, but a button-masher

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 17 / 18
Date: October 26, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I'm a HUGE fan of Lord of the Rings so I bought both games the moment they game out. The other Lord of the Rings game is based on the book, and just on the FIRST book. It's VERY short and a puzzle-adventure. In comparison, The Two Towers is based on the first TWO MOVIES, NOT the books. And it is a straight button-bashing fighting game. The up side of both of these games is that they're great Aragorn-fun. The down side of both of these games is that both are WAY TOO SHORT.

At least in this one you really CAN play all three characters. After the first two levels (a prologue and Weathertop) you can now choose, on each level, to be Aragorn, Gimli or Legolas. Each character has his own fighting style, from Gimli's little battle-tankness to Legolas' great double-sword action, to Aragorn's lean ranger fighting. Yes, I love Aragorn's fighting style :)

This game, being based on the movie, has TONS of detail from the movie. They worked with the actual actors for the voices, and got their hands on the actual movie models for the game sets. You can see the attention to detail. There are all sorts of 'special features' where you can watch interviews with the actors and see photos from the second movie. So it's sort of like an interactive preview of Movie 2!

It is SHORT thought. You can run the game through on a character in about 5 hours. Then you just run through again as the other 2. There's a secret character and level, but that's about it. There are no puzzles, no quests, it's all just bash-through-the-enemies-and-then-bash-at-the-boss. Either the boss is easy - if you find his weakness - or he is REALLY NASTY and VERY VERY FRUSTRATING. A bit of tuning needed to be done in here. And again, where the other game had at least a bit of thinking involved, this one is solely mash-mash-mash those buttons.

Still, it's really great to be "in the movie" and hear the familiar soundtrack and voices around you. A must have for any Lord of the Rings fan - and if it's short, just spend the rest of the time trying to get a PERFECT score on every level, and watching all the videos that come with the game!

Quite a fun game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 16 / 18
Date: December 10, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I'm in a Lord of the Rings mood right now. Watching the movie, reading the book and anticipating the theatrical release of the Two Towers so I decided to check it out. Now first, this is actually quite fun, albeit in some places a little frustrating.

Story: Basically this follows the beginning of Fellowship(the battle with Isildur at the base of Mount Doom) to the end of the first half of Two Towers(Helm's Deep). Even though they may have skipped some parts story wise it follows the books greatly.

Graphics: Wow. These are some great graphics. Dynasty Warriors 2 had some pretty blah backgrounds but LOADS of enemies and allies. This has maybe 10 at once to 20 but the locations look great. Plus the transition from actual movie footage to CG is near flawless.

Music: They included many of the voices of the movie so that's always a plus. Battle cries, swords and other good stuff is featured. The music is great and keeps the scene moving(you don't wanna fight 10 monsters at once with boring romantic music do you?)

Gameplay: Now, button mashers beware. You might like this. You really got to pay attention to your combos. Simple pressing random buttons won't get you far. Another problem I had is I was using Legolas and I got up to the second part of Helm's Deep fighting an endless array of enemies and fighting out I'm a little weak. In most RPG's you can go back to level up and get better enhancements to help. This is just "if you're at Level 5 and you barely have enough skills to continue then sorry, keep going."

But other than that, it's quite a fun game and urge you to try it out regardless if you're into Lord of the Rings or not.

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