LotR: Return of the King Review (Xbox)

The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Electronic Arts
Xbox

Last year, Electronic Arts broke major ground in gaming with its movie-based Two Towers title. The game developers partnered with the movie team, integrating motion-capture data and actual movie footage into a gaming experience the likes of which had never been seen before. That first moment where the cinematic army of elves morphed into a game version of the army and threw YOU right into the middle of it all was truly amazing. And now the sequel has arrived.

Make no mistake, this game is an interactive version of the film, released a month before the movie itself. You'll be knee-deep in plot spoilers within minutes, so consider yourself warned. In an artful move, however, many quotes and footage shots from the previous movies have been pasted into new sections of the story. I thought it was a very nice touch when the "wizard is never late" quote was used for Gandalf's arrival at Helm's Deep. Whether this was actually done in the RotK movie remains to be seen, but I suspect not, at least not to the degree seen in the game.

In Return of the King, you can play as Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Frodo, Sam, or Gimli. Not all characters are available on any given board, and to truly complete the game you must play as all of them (very different from the normal concept of replayability, this is more like "full-spectrum playability"). There are also 3 mystery characters you'll unlock later. Once you've completed the intro level and save, you have the option to play in co-op mode.

I've been looking forward to EA's Return of the King almost as much as the actual movie, one of the main reasons being co-operative play. One of the biggest improvements over Two Towers is the ability to play along with another person. When my fiance and I played together, he started with Aragorn and I went with Legolas. Ah, what a team we made, every inch the brave heroes as we slew orcs and Easterlings with a vengeance. The game keeps a rather frenetic pace, and it really did start to feel like we were in the movie, with genuine moments of panic, hope, and triumph.

For single player, I started with Gandalf, since he is the character everyone must play for the intro scene and hey, why not? Like I said, if you enjoy the game, you'll go through all the characters eventually. As with the GBA version, the first thing I noticed is that Return of the King is more difficult than Two Towers, especially in solo mode. But boy, is it fun.

The graphics are even better this time around, especially in the Xbox version, which supports component video. I've never seen flames in a game that look so real. In one level, a battlement fight like in the Helm's Deep level of Two Towers, I happened to look out over the battlement to see the huge army of Uruk-hai, all bearing torches, closing in on the city. This army was created using the same MASSIVE technology that WETA used for the movie armies, and it just looked...real. The character models, too, are smoother and more closely resemble their movie counterparts.

Return of the King is best described as action RPG-lite. A lot of fast-paced fighting is involved, but there's a lot more to the game than just piling up orc bodies. I guess I'd have to call it fast-paced puzzle-solving. Often you'll find yourself in a trial and error loop, playing a board a few times through before you really get the required actions down. For example, you may need to launch a fiery catapult at an enemy assault. Enemies will continue to swarm you, and you can continue to fight them, but you'll make no real progress until you make the correct move. This is actually a lot of fun, and makes gameplay so much more interesting than if you'd just had to kill 60 orcs to move on (though sometimes the objective is just that). The farther you progress in the game, the easier it becomes to figure out what it is you need to do, but you won't usually figure it out the first time through.

There is a great deal of interaction with background objects such as ropes, spears, and catapults, usually indicated by pale blue rune circles that appear when you are near an object you can use. Often, the use of these objects is the solution to the current predicament, such as when you must knock down siege ladders or fire catapults at rampaging Oliphaunts. Other times, you'll be able to pick up a spear and heave it into a charging orc just to mix things up a bit.

The hacking and slashing aspect of this game has a sophisticated twist to it to tie into the character development portion. You are awarded a rating on each kill from Fair up to Perfect, depending on how artfully and efficiently you take down your prey and dodge blows. If you can maintain a level of excellence in your killing, your skill meter will rise. When it maxes out, you go into "Perfect" mode, where you can be a bad mutha...shutchyo' mouth! What it all boils down to is more XP available to buy bigger and badder skills. My fiance tends to concentrate more on achieving Perfect mode and executing combos, the benefits of which were obvious by the time I'd hit level 4 and he was already level 8. I resolved to pay more attention to my fight style after that.

The RPG-lite portion of the game is concerned with gaining experience points to level and buy skills and enhancements (you do not build up base character stats as you would in a full RPG). You can play it cheap and buy a skill just for yourself, or be a team player and buy it for the entire fellowship. The nice thing about being able to buy a skill for everyone is that if one character happens to be leveling faster than his companion (grumble) at least the level gap means less than it would in other games. There are still level thresholds for using each skill, but at least the skill is there waiting when you do manage to level. This helps encourage cooperative strategies such as, "Draw their fire, I'll pick them off from here!" There are lots of special attack combos to be purchased, as well as things like additional health and weapon enhancements.

The adventure path is displayed as a beautiful cathedral-style wall, and sections light up as you complete your adventures. In order to unlock all the secret characters, you must complete all the adventure paths, which are essentially the separate storylines of the broken fellowship in Return of the King. As one progresses up the path, little side "extras" are unlocked such as interviews and art galleries. This is a unique reward incentive, and another area where the game distinguishes itself as something special. The material here, like in the Two Towers game, is top-notch, and "Hobbits on Gaming" is really funny. What I wouldn't give, too, for just one piece of that Gondor concept art...

While the game is a cinematic experience, there were certain times when the fixed camera angle was somewhat less than cinematic, making it difficult to see what was going on or sometimes even what we were supposed to be shooting at. And when the camera angle switches, sometimes it calls for a total reverse of direction, which can be disorienting. I also wish the 1P and 2P markers over our heads during co-op play could have been a toggle off option. The game is just so beautiful, so like actually being in the movie, these sort of break that spell. On the other hand, with all the onscreen action I would still lose track of my character at times, even with the markers. Still, a variation on the small orbs over the heads of targeted creatures might have been a nice alternative.

Granted, the quality of this series is in no small part due to the overwhelming quality of the New Line films. All in all, though, Return of the King more than met my expectations, improved on its predecessor, and delivered a final product that complements the movie and is a blast to play at the same time. And, despite the fact that this one's based on the final film, it was recently announced that another game based on the entire trilogy is in the works at EA. The fun's not over yet...