User Reviews (1 - 11 of 90)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

Patience

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 4
Date: March 08, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is okay. If you are a fan of Lord of the Rings and/or Action-RPG games then you might like it. Otherwise skip this game. The features, such as 5 characters and 100 levels sounds cool, but the game gets monotonous and very boring if played more than 15 minutes.

I sold this game. Yeah! I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!I sold this game. Yeah!

Sorry...couldn't help myself... Get Shining Soul II instead. It's much better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pretty cool game!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: January 09, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is a very good game.I mean you can play with Aragorn,Gandalf,Eowyn,Legolas(my favorite),and Frodo.There tons of cool and strong weapons.And you can play the game again with the same charactor without losing items,expeirence,and stats.You can play levels right out of the 1st and 2nd movie like the mines of Moria,Fangorn Forest,and Helms Deep.You fight hords of orcs,goblins,Uruk-Hai,trolls,and plenty of them.

The down side is the graphics are a bit choppy.The levels are too long,and (this is very anoying to me!)when you are a high level it is very hard to gain levels.I am playing with Legolas and I am level 17,and it takes me at least 100 orcs to grow!

This game is very cool,but too long!Buy this game if you want,but don't expect Blues Clues or something!THIS GAME IS INTENSE!!!

Great Game for LOTR Fans

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 16 / 17
Date: September 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Are you a huge fan of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and especially the Peter Jackson movies based on the trilogy? Then you will not be disappointed by this game. The gameplay could be better, but the music, sound and movie-related visuals more than make up for it.

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is an adventure/role-playing game based on the films by Peter Jackson (which are based on the books by J.R.R. Tolkien). The object of the game is to [cut] and slash your way through 100 levels based on scenes from the first two movies, collecting items and experience points as you go. Since I'm not an experienced gamer I can't compare this game to other games of its genre, but I will try to give you my impressions of it.

Starting the Game: At the start of the game you are given a choice of five characters whom you can play as: Aragorn, Legolas, Frodo, Gandalf and Eowyn (Gimli is also available, but only after you have unlocked his character, and only in multiplayer mode). Each character has special abilities and talents, and each character takes a different path through the game. I chose to play as Aragorn.

Gameplay is pretty straightforward: [destroy] enemies, take their stuff, and wander around and collect stuff. Killing enemies is a simple affair; hit the B button repeatedly to [slash] at them with your sword, or hit the A button for special attacks. You have to be discriminating, however, as to when you use special attacks; they deplete your spirit points, so you have to wait for your spirit points to charge back up before using them again.

The fighting in this game is not especially challenging. I was able to dispatch all the enemies pretty easily even though I'm not a seasoned game player. The fun is in collecting weapons, armor and other gear, and amassing experience, skill and ability points. Each enemy you [destroy] adds to your experience points, eventually bumping you up to the next experience level. Enemies also drop items or gems for you to collect. Attaining a higher experience level gives you one skill point to spend on magical attacks and defenses, and five attribute points that you can distribute how you wish among attributes such as courage, strength, health, defense and accuracy. You can also use your gems to purchase skill points and attribute points at shrines, or to buy whetstones (which increase the damage inflicted by your weapons) at forges.

There are hundreds of items you can collect, with a range of properties. Some are common, like cloaks, shoes, and caps, some are rare and enchanted (e.g., Moonruned Scale Mail), and some are unique (e.g., Lamellar of Frost). Unfortunately, you can only carry eight items in your backpack, so once in a while you'll have to let some really cool item go (unless you have a friend who you can trade it to). The items have different properties, adding to your melee armor, critical armor, defense, speed, courage, accuracy, ability to regenerate Spirit points, and so on.

If the gameplay is less than stellar, the sound adds enough richness and realism to make the game deeply engrossing. Clashing swords, twanging arrows and roaring Wargs sound quite realistic. But for me one of this game's key features is the music. Adapted directly from Howard Shore's Oscar-winning score, the music adds a dimension of suspense and excitement to the game. It's beautifully done and sounds good even on the GBA hardware.

Visually, the game is a mixed bag. Cut scenes feature impressive likenesses of the movie's actors, which is pretty fun; likewise, the characters in the game more or less resemble their live-action counterparts. There are also a few scenes from the movie itself. But the landscapes do get a bit dull after a while. They're definitely inspired by the movie, but lack the movie's detail and grandeur.

Part of why I'm enjoying this game so much is because it's pretty thrilling to slay orcs and explore Middle Earth. Would this game be as enjoyable to someone not familiar with the Peter Jackson movies? It's hard to say, but my guess is no. Having that familiarity with the LOTR epic adds a sense of depth that may not actually be in the game itself, which is pretty sparse in its storyline. And there's not enough payoff for winning. Like the movie, this game feels like it ends in the middle. I was downright surprised when I beat it the first time and the credits started rolling.

Overall, I would recommend this movie to fans of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies, but would hesitate to recommend it to others. I picked it up used for $25, but would have felt cheated had I paid more than that.

Camera and motion: A-: Character animations are smooth and realistic.

Aesthetics and Artistry: B-: While the look of the characters is faithful to that of their movie counterparts, the landscapes get a little dull. There are however, some enjoyable graphic touches. The on-screen indicators look great, and so do the depictions of items in the backpack screen.

Inventiveness and Originality: B: Nothing new in terms of gameplay, but it's a terrific adaptation of the movie in game form.

Music: A: One of the best movie scores in recent memory is transformed to a game soundtrack.

Sound Effects: A+: clashing swords, twanging arrows, and lots of other fun sounds add a lot to this game.

Gameplay: C:[Destroy] stuff, walk around, collect stuff. Not too much skill or strategy involved.

Replay Value: C+: On the plus side, you get to play the game through as five different characters (six if you count Gimli). On the downside, you're likely not to want to play this game again after you've defeated it and collected as many novelty items as you can.

"Crystal Factor": B+: I love Peter Jackson's LOTR movies, and for that reason, playing this game was a real treat.

Overall rating: B

It's good to see a good Lord of the Rings game on the GBA

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 13 / 15
Date: December 10, 2002
Author: Amazon User

If you have played the absolutely godawful Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring for the GBA, then fear not for this Lord of the Rigns GBA game is much, much better. EA's Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers may be a simple hack & slasher (with numerous comparisons to Diablo), but it is a fun one and fans of the books or films will no doubt have a blast with this game. You get to play as Frodo, Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, and Eowyn and go through similar looking generic areas while hacking away at monsters, collecting experience points to upgrade armor and weapons, and learning new attacks and techniques. The characters look great and are nicely animated and if you squint they look like their film counterparts, but the backgrounds look so run of the mill generic that you'll get bored with them. Soundwise this is some of the best music to grace the GBA ever, and sounds very similar to the Howard Shore film score. Controls are mindnumbingly simple, but since this is a hack & slasher, some different touches would have been nice to make this game seem a bit more original in the playability department. There are a few problems however, the big one being there is no area map meaning you will get lost and not know where your going quite a bit. All that aside, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is a much better than expected GBA title that fans of the Lord of the Rings license or GBA owners craving some Diablo-esque action will enjoy.

A very decent effort on the GBA.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 13
Date: December 10, 2002
Author: Amazon User

As a long-time Tolkien fan (predating the Peter Jackson movies), it was with great delight that I purchased a copy of this GBA title. All things considered, I am reasonably pleased with it although I knew that it was not going to capture 100% the look and feel of the movie (the Balrog in this title looks like a charred Barny - no kidding!). The graphics are functional and surprisingly fluid. The music in some places were lifted from the movie score but does get old and repetitive after two stages. The controls are very intuitive and easy to grasp. The gameplay, as advertised, lends itself to the action-adventure genre so do not expect extensive interactions with the characters in the movie. You do get to see them although more often than not, they run as fast as they can to the edge of the gaming screen. Sometimes they will stay and fight with you, but at one point you will have to leave them as there is no AI implementation to have them follow you around. The inventory and magic systems were lifted from Blizzard's Diablo although a bit limited - - probably due to the system constraints of the GBA. The enemies are suitably varied enough. Ofcourse you will find the usual palette-swapped orcs but there are enough bad guy types to break the monotony. All in all this was a good effort from Griptonite and Electronic Arts, but make no mistake, this is a die-hard fan's game and you should keep that in mind when you purchase it. If you are looking for something deeper, either look elsewhere or buy Tolkien's book and read it (if you haven't already).

A great game to add to your GBA collection

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: January 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Although the Game Boy Advance game The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers is based on the upcoming motion picture by New Line Cinema, it's mainly a Diablo or Gauntlet clone with story elements from the movie sprinkled throughout. With that in mind, it's surprisingly fun to roam throughout the lands of Middle-earth, slaying orcs and goblins, leveling up a character, and snagging all of the loot you can before the game ends. You'll still experience most of the major events from the movie, just not necessarily from the same perspective or in the order that you're familiar with.

Electronic Arts may be open to criticism for finagling with the finer points of the film, but the game is more interesting because of it. First, some of the story elements and levels change depending on the character you choose. There are five unique characters: Aragorn, Gandalf, Frodo, Legolas, and Eowyn. If you select Frodo, you'll generally see everything you'd see in the theater, whereas the plotlines for Gandalf and Aragorn will detach from the main story at appropriate points and take you through events that Frodo or the other characters didn't experience. As such, when you play through with a new character, you're not just seeing the same things over and over again.

Another nice twist is that all of the characters are unique--not just in terms of looks, but in their abilities as well. Frodo can use the One Ring to turn invisible, and he's really good at backstabbing opponents. Aragorn has a skill that lets him wield two swords at once, and he can develop a charisma technique that stuns opponents for significant amounts of time. Each character has anywhere from 10 to 20 various magic and attack skills, which you can improve throughout the game with the points you earn by gaining experience. Some skills are passive and take effect without your input, so it's not like you have to spend an interminable amount of time mashing the L button just to do something like recharge your spirit level.

Regardless of the variety that it offers in the way of story and character development, The Two Towers is shamelessly straightforward when it comes to actual hands-on playing. Just like in games such as Diablo and Gauntlet, all you're doing much of the time is swatting the same carbon-copy creatures with your weapons and gathering the items their carcasses leave behind. It's not as boring as it sounds, however. The orcs and goblins you defeat will give you experience points that you can use to improve traits such as health, strength, and courage, and they'll drop weapons and clothing that you can equip your character with. The overall selection of clothing, items, and weapons is rather large, so you could potentially invest a bit of time searching for rare items with which to outfit your character. If you want to linger, you can linger. If not, all you need to do is slay creatures until you've gained a satisfactory number of levels to move on to the next area.

Another nice feature is the game's multiplayer aspect--you and a friend can play together through three different stand-alone adventures with the characters you build in the solo quest. The rules are fairly open in this mode, so you and your partner can fight together or split up and explore different areas of a stage. Similar to the cooperative areas in Sega's Phantasy Star Online, the cooperative areas in The Two Towers are more challenging than the solo game, and the rewards are generally higher as well. Besides that, you can trade items with one another, which will come in handy when your friend has an obsidian longbow that he can't use because he's playing as Gandalf.

As you play through the game, the plot of the film will unravel, and you'll visit many familiar locations, such as the Mines of Moria, the Plains of Rohan, and the walls of Helm's Deep, and at least a dozen other large, multisegmented areas. Some areas drag you into the events of the film, so there are at least a few occasions when you're not just slaying anonymous goblins but are performing tasks. These tasks can range from something simple, such as destroying the siege weapons at Helm's Deep, to more complex endeavors, such as sneaking past Sauron's Crebain (crows) at Amon Hen. You also need to take care not to overdose on certain magic skills, as these will elevate your corruption status to a point where Sauron's ringwraiths can attack you.

The fact that the game doesn't hold your hand and force you through the story is certainly one of the finer points of The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, but that isn't to say that the sights and sounds of the films are absent. After all, if you're buying a video game based on one of your favorite movies, you at least want it to remind you of the film. All of the background music is taken directly from the motion-picture soundtracks, and there are tiny video clips that play at various intervals. The scenery within the game is colorful, although there isn't all that much detail to the environments besides a few flickering torches and a couple of nifty rain and snow effects. The main characters look similar to their onscreen counterparts and move with a good amount of animation. Their opponents aren't as lifelike or detailed, however, so you might be a little bored after slaying your 500th orc. Even so, the few giant ogres and uruk-hai that serve as the game's bosses break up the pace with reasonable frequency, especially since they're interspersed with the in-game dialogue and video clips.

The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers doesn't outdo games like Golden Sun or The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past when it comes to overall depth or polish, but it is a fine example of how a motion picture can be transformed into a video game and still turn out enjoyable.

Excellent game of the movie.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Turning an epic movie into a hack and slash adventure game sounds like a tough task. But EA did it wonderfullt with this game.

This game has a total of 5 selectable players from the movie and they all play and have abilities similiar to their onscreen characters. Legolas rocks with the bow, Aragorn can swing two swords like nobody else, and Gandalf can cook up some orc stew with his magic.

The settings and levels are also very close to the movie and the ingame cut scenes look superb. The game looks very nice as a whole even though a lot of areas look so similiar.

If you enjoy a Zelda type game, or Diablo for the computer, then youll absolutely love this game. It offers tons of gameplay, difficulties, characters, settings, weapons, and spells and will keep you hacking and slashing baddies for a long time.

I don't understand why they didn't make it for the PC

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 7
Date: January 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Great game, could have been better if they had produced a PC CD-ROM version with better graphics/sound and VO. They made Fellowship and King, why not this? Tis a shame!

a good game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: June 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I thought that this game was prety good for an rpg. The graphics are good the controls are great but, it's a little easy. With legoles I beat it in 2 days. There are alot of errors in this game, but I would still recomend it to someone. The multi player game is awsome. I don't get why the manufactuer reavew said that there are over 150 levels. 2 words, 50 LEVELS. I rate this game four out of five only for the multi player option. So you might not concider this game if you have no friends.

a good game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: June 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I thought that this game was prety good for an rpg. The graphics are good the controls are great but, it's a little easy. With legolas I beat it in 2 days. There are alot of errors in this game, but I would still recomend it to someone. The multi player game is awsome. I don't get why the manufactuer reavew said that there are over 150 levels. 2 words, 50 LEVELS. I rate this game four out of five only for the multi player option. So you might not concider this game if you have no friends.It's more of a hack and slash game than the GCN, PS2, and X-BOX version were you rely more on arrows and little axes.All in all it still fun as long as it last.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next 

Actions