MadCap's Game Reviews - "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"

Yep. Another Electronic Arts game. Another one by Redwood Shores (aka Visceral Games). Unlike The Third Age, however, this is less of a role-playing game in the Final Fantasy style and more of a hack and slash in the style of Gauntlet. In fact, the developers even referred to it as such when hyping the game up. It features the voices of (almost) all of the actors involved, assets taken directly from the films themselves, and has received extreme positive reviews from both fans and critics alike.

But I know what you're all thinking, is it good?

My answer is: pretty much, yeah.

The Return of the King is actually one of the games I played when it was new way back in 2003. My preteen to teenage addled mind drawn in by the glamour of being able to play as my favorite characters from The Lord of the Rings: namely Aragorn and Sam. I mean, let's face it, the pair of them are the Fellowship of the Ring at 90% strength all on their own. Of course, they aren't the only playable characters. There's also Gandalf (who you start the tutorial mission as), Legolas, Gimli, and later Frodo, Merry, Pippin, and Faramir once you unlock all of them.

Yes, Faramir was for some reason included. Not really sure why him specifically, more so because he just ends up being a re-skinned Aragorn voiced by David Wenham. I'm not even kidding, he has the same main attack, ranged, and even idle stance. I'm not knocking it, and I really don't know who they could have picked to fill the ninth slot besides maybe Eowyn (they had a fully working model for her character and I'm sure Miranda Otto could have been convinced to come in and do the voice). Either way, very minor complaint.

If you're played a hack and slash, then you have a pretty firm grasp on this. You have a light attack, a heavy attack, and a bunch of combos that you will never use and no, you won't actually use them and you know you won't. Don't lie. Unless you do it by accident, which you admittedly probably will do a few times. Beyond your light attack and heavy attack, you also have your ranged attack that comes in the form of magic for Gandalf, a bow for Aragorn, Legolas, and Faramir, axes for Gimli, and knives for the hobbits. The game does actually count your ammo so, when you run out, it's back to stabby-stabby again until you can find some more. There's also the occasional environmental piece that you can put to use to attack your enemies, such as spears that can be picked up and thrown or cauldrons of boiling oil that can rain down on your enemies.

Avoid getting hit long enough and commit enough stabby-stabbies to reach "Perfect" mode. Perfect mode boosts your attacks and doubles your experience from each skill. Yes, there's an RPG upgrade system. No, it's not terribly complex, although that's a good thing in my mind and there is such a thing as over-complicating things. By the time you realize that you're in Perfect Mode, though, you're out of it seeing as it only lasts a brief amount of time. Even so, the moment you get hit, you're out of it, so enjoy it while it lasts.

Each level follows a linear path where you - or, if you're one of those strange people that actually has friends and thus utilizes multiplayer, you and a friend - will usually battle until you defeat a quota of enemies in a certain area before moving on to another area and usually a boss fight or two is sprinkled around in there somewhere. As you do. That's pretty much the formula that the entire game follows with the exception of the Battle of Helm's Deep and the final level - "The Cracks of Doom" which is just the final boss fight against Gollum.

On the whole, it's your standard hack and slash adventure game with some variation in how you can do the hacking and the slashing, but that's as far as it goes. The game is really hard to look at nowadays, what with 2003 graphics being what they were. They're better than a lot, even from the era, but it's still weird to look at even at the best of times. I've also never and never will be a fan of fixed camera angles in any game whatsoever where I have to move in a three dimensional environment, but at the very least the game has the decency to let me keep my momentum and not immediately switch directional orientation unlike certain other games that I've reviewed...

This game is just a fun hack and slash game and I wasted days on it when I was younger. If I had as much self-control now as I did back then, I likely would have relapsed into the same thing seventeen years later. It feels good to run around and hit things or throw spears at them or blast them with magic. Despite the comparison made by the developers, it's not as good as Gauntlet is for me, but it is still a lot of fun for me and even more so when you reach the end and unlock the use of any character in any level. It follows the plot of the film pretty well, and it's an enjoyable experience that you can actually crack out fairly quickly if you know what you're doing, so perhaps I should dock it points for length. I just can't bring myself to do it, though.

If you have a copy or can get a copy, maybe put it in your PC and or console of choice and give it a run through.

Also, yes, I'm going to review the actual movies at some point. 2020 isn't over yet.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was developed by EA Redwoood Shores (now Visceral Games) and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows, Playstation 2, GameCube, Xbox, Mobile, and Mac OS X.

For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.