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The Return of the King

Platform: PS2, Xbox, Gamecube

By Dan Loeffelbein

Last year one of my co-workers loaned me his copy of EA Games' The Two Towers for the Playstation 2. I hadn't played a whole lot of video games in recent years, my heyday being in the era of the Atari 2600 and the Commodore 64. But I was immediately drawn in by The Two Towers' vividness and attention to detail. Characters and environments were pulled directly from director Peter Jackson's vision of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic tales.

This year the same co-worker loaned me The Return of the King, and the saga of fascination has begun again.

Gameplaying fans of The Two Towers will appreciate The Return of the King, which picks up where the previous game left off and runs further with it. The rich detail and texture are still present, as are brief sections of footage from the film, which guide you between segments in the game. The game itself is eyecandy enough -- I enjoy seeing how well the game designers have matched and accentuated the feel of the films -- but the live footage is enough of a teaser that I'm inclined to call non-gameplayers into the room to get a little taste of what's in store when The Return of the King hits the theatres. Aragorn and company walking the Paths of the Dead wide-eyed... I love it!

Where The Two Towers offered three playable characters to choose between, The Return of the King treats gamers to even more options. Now Gandalf, Sam and Frodo have been added to the fold, and there are a few more unlockable characters potentially available. Additionally, instead of having to play through segments of the game in a certain order, there are multiple paths to pick amongst. You'll have to remain fairly true to the story -- you can't take Frodo through the Paths of the Dead, nor run Gimli through Shelob's Lair -- and obviously, you can't play higher levels without making it through the appropriate lower levels. But it's really nice to be able to try something a little different when you keep getting stuck in one spot, but aren't quite ready to leave Middle Earth just yet.

Once again, you are awarded points for your performance at the end of each segment. With these points you can buy expert attack moves for your character, or for your entire group.

I preferred playing as Aragorn in the first game -- Legolas just didn't have the feel I wanted, and Gimli's short stature made wading through water tedious. What is waist-deep for Aragorn is nearly chin deep for a dwarf, so you can imagine the problem. I guess you have to hand it to the game designers for being so realistic. Playing The Return of the King, I again used Aragorn a lot, but actually preferred taking Gandalf down the Path of the Wizard, hewing orcs, smashing goblin towers and defending an Ent trying to pull down a dam. Gandalf's staff is a lot of fun to watch as it spins around, cleaving opponents and spitting bolts of white light at distant targets.

I also enjoyed running around Osgiliath as Samwise Gamgee, with Frodo in tow and Gollum not quite leading the way, little bugger. Sam has a mean slashing attack that doesn't seem to allow opponents to get a lick in. Just mind the voiceovers, and if you hear Sam saying anything about getting off the rooftops, find a ladder and get down it pronto, for you don't want to know what happens if you tarry. Let's just say I'm sick of hearing Frodo scream in a Homer Simpson voice.

I'd read that this game is a bit more difficult than its predecessor, and am inclined to agree. So frequently was I bested by the King of the Dead that I had to quit and wreak carnage in Grand Theft Auto III for a few days before coming back and knocking him off. Then I was stumped in the next segment, unable to sufficiently avoid falling rubble. What, I'm the future king of Gondor, and I gotta worry about rocks dropping on me?

And then there's the requisite siege segment, where you're running around on a Minas Tirith battlement fending off invaders. It was the equivalent Helm's Deep scene in The Two Towers that ultimately halted my progress. My friend says I've got to keep kicking down the ladders and not focus so much on the angry goblin horde trying to slice me in half... but I haven't gotten the hang of it yet.

On the other hand, we all want a game to be challenging enough to keep us coming back for more. The idea is that we're going to get bit of use out of it before we conquer all, right?

Alas, I had to return The Return of the King to its owner before exhausting its possibilities. I recommend the game; fans of the Tolkien stories and those who enjoyed either the films or The Two Towers game should get a kick out of it. It's fun to look at, and even more fun to play. In fact, it's the only new game on my Christmas wish list -- I'm kind of picky.

Rating: (4 out of 4 stars)