The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
GameCube
If there is one movie series out there that you'd think would translate well to video games, it would be the Lord of the Rings. While I have only played a handful of LotR games, this statement has for the most part held true.
In the early 2000's I had Lord of the Rings fever. But I was actually late to the party. I didn't see any of the movies until The Two Towers was already out on DVD. I initially thought that it was a children's series and I didn't particularly care to watch any of the films. But I somehow happened upon a copy of the Fellowship of the Ring on VHS (yeah, really) and I decided to give it a shot.
I absolutely loved the movie and became obsessed with everything Lord of the Rings after watching it. Part of me assumed that the video game adaptations of the film would be rubbish (as most movie to game translations are, especially in the 3D graphics era), so I avoided the games for a good while. And then I played The Two Towers at a friend's house and I realized - hey this is actually pretty damn good.
The Return of the King soon hit the theaters. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that there was going to be a video game adaptation of the film. I did my research and read the game's reviews, almost all of which were positive. According to these reviews, the game took everything that was right with the Two Towers adaptation of the film and bettered it. Better graphics, deeper combat, the ability to level up your characters. The game even offered multiplayer support so you could play with a friend at the same time.
Although I never owned the Two Towers game, I liked it from the small sample portion I had played with a friend. And this game was supposedly even better. Now was my chance to be super cool and finally go out and buy a Lord of the Rings game for myself.
I had a lot of fun with the game. I don't remember my exact thoughts from when I played this back in 2003 or 2004, but I know it was a challenge and I know that I liked it. I liked it so much I took it on vacation with me and played through the whole game with my cousin. To this day we still reference our time playing this game. "Easterlings! Orcs! Get them all!!" Man, we got stuck on that level for a really long time.
But as enjoyable as the game was for me, it was for the most part a shallow experience. There are only a handful of levels, most of which consist of fighting through hordes of enemies. There isn't that much variety in the game play. The game is short too. It can easily be finished in a day or two if you are good at it.
It should be no surprise that I quickly lost interest in the game. Assuming I played this last in 2004, that means that it has been 13 years since I last played the game. Would I still like it this time around?
The short answer is: yeah. It's decent.
I feel as if I need to address the production value of the game before I go any further. When it comes to sound effects, music, graphics, the overall look and feel of the game, everything is fantastic. Sure you can say it doesn't look good compared to today's graphics. But does it look bad? No. I think everything holds up pretty well actually.
Throw in some cut scenes from the movies, some voice-over narration work from Ian McKellan, and tons of Easter Egg content (like interview clips with the actors and actresses from the films) and it all adds up to one very involved cinematic experience. In game, the graphics are solid. The characters, the scenery, everything looks like it should from the movies. Again, nothing like what could be produced today. But I think it looks pretty good, all things considering.
Game play itself is pretty easy to grasp. You have a couple of major attack buttons. The weak attack, which is fast but less powerful. The strong attack, which can break shields and deal out more damage - but is very slow. You can block, counter attack, launch projectiles, and use a variety of different button combinations for combo attacks.
Stages are laid out so that you can only control characters who are present in that particular environment in the movies. For example, it wouldn't make sense to have Aragorn battling spiders in Shelob's Lair or to have Frodo taking on the Witch King of Angmar at Pelennor Fields. Most stages give you the choice of which character you would like to play as, as long as it makes sense from a story line perspective. If you are in a battle from the movie where Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas are present - the game will let you choose which one of these characters you wish to play as. Each character has his or her own specific strengths and weaknesses. I found it a good idea to just pick the same characters the whole game through. They earn experience and become stronger as the game goes on, so it makes sense to focus on one character at a time rather than use everyone and have a bunch of underdeveloped characters later on when the game gets tougher.
And the game does get a lot tougher. It's difficulty level is probably what I will remember the game for. The game is not particularly long, but what levels there are tend to be pretty challenging. The majority of the stages require 4 or 5 attempts before you finally are able to make it through. This makes the game pretty intense in parts, and also gives you a very rewarding feeling every time you make it through a particularly challenging stage.
I touched upon this a few paragraphs ago, but the game does allow you to level up your characters. Not only do your characters get stronger the more you use them, but you also earn ability points after each stage. You can use these points to assign certain attributes to either the entire party or the specific character you were using. It is obviously cheaper to simply upgrade your own character, but it is worth it in the long run to use your points to upgrade everybody. Because at some point in the game you are likely going to end up using every character in the book.
All this being said, the game is just decent. It doesn't do anything poorly, but aside from the presentation it doesn't do anything particularly well either. If you like mindlessly hacking and slashing your way through hordes of enemies, this game will be for you. If you like slower games that require a lot of thought, maybe not.
The game does a lot of things right. I like that it allows you to play with friends. Although I did not utilize this option on my most recent play through, I had a great time playing with my cousin back in the early 2000's. Again, the presentation is great. I love the graphics, the sound effects, and the musical score. The collision detection in the game has some issues, but for the most part it plays fine.
The game is also a challenge. Don't expect to just breeze through the whole thing on one attempt. A lot of these stages are really tough and will require multiple attempts to complete. And that may be the game's saving grace. If the game had been easier, I probably would have burned through the whole thing in one sit through. And I would have hated it for being so short and easy. The game is still pretty darned short, but at least it challenges you.
Overall, this was a fun game. Short and shallow, but fun. Memorable, however? Not in the slightest.
Overall:
C+
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