Lord of The Rings The Return of The King

by Electronic Arts

Product Features

• Traverse the haunted Paths of the Dead, defending Minas Tirith from thousands of Sauron's minions as one of 8 characters
• Play as Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Sam, and Frodo with exclusive voice-over provided by the films' actors
• Twelve interactive levels players will challenge you to swing from ropes, fire catapults, kick boulders, as you face Sauron's hordes
• Fight vicious foes including Shelob, the Witch King, the Dark Lord Sauron, and many more
• Team up with a companion in all-new co-op Multiplayer mode-fight side-by-side to defeat Sauron and ensure the destruction of The One Ring

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00009VE6E
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches ; 3.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: June 15, 2006
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (88 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,774 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Based on New Line Cinema's upcoming film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King video game puts the fate of Middle-earth in the hands of the gamer. In the final installment of the blockbuster movie trilogy, players must destroy the One Ring by casting it into the Crack of Doom, freeing Middle-earth from the clutches of the Dark Lord Sauron.

EA's second Lord of the Rings action adventure game, The Return of the King, allows players to journey through multiple gameplay paths, taking control of the motion picture trilogy's heroes. Defend the walls of Minas Tirith as Gandalf, raise the Army of the Dead as Aragorn, Legolas or Gimli, and with Frodo and Sam, deliver the ring to the fiery depths of Mount Doom.

Based on the environments from the upcoming movie, The Return of the King's third person gameplay will include immersive action and adventure elements set in rich, interactive levels. An all-new multiplayer co-op mode will let players form their own Fellowship before embarking on their journey through Middle-earth.

Product Description

Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King brings the incredible adaptation of the classic Tolkien novel to life. Become the heroes who determine the fate of Middle-earth as you defend Middle-Earth and destroy the One Ring. Return to Middle-Earth in the only Video game based on the epic final chapter of the highly-acclaimed movie trilogy!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best game from a film, July 20, 2003

By 

Robert Jordan (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lord of The Rings The Return of The King (Video Game)

Having just come from Comic-Con where it was available for visitors to play, this is a great game. I've greatly enjoyed the Two Towers game, but this one beats it hands down. The graphics are superior in every way: The environments are rich and natural (wait until you see Minas Tirith in flames) and the characters are much more detailed, even down to fabric and hair texture. The fights are just as engaging as in Two Towers (cave trolls everywhere!) and as in TT the original actors' voices are used extensively.

But here's the best: There is team play! You and your significant other (who obviously wouldn't be your significat other if they didn't love LOTR) can now play right along side of your character. Legolas and Gimli back to back fighting trolls as the city burns around them! (And in one full screen -not some disorienting split-screen.)

Sorry, you will have no choice but to buy this game - and you will never see the light of day again.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Movie, only you are in control!, September 24, 2004

By 

S. B. Springer "Ace118" (Arizona, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Lord of The Rings The Return of The King (Video Game)

The release of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King for xbox was much anticipated by many avid gamers, myself inculded. When I first purchased the game, I was amazed that there were three different paths that you could take in the game (unlike the Two Towers). The three paths are: The Way of the King, the Way of the Wizard, and the Way of the Hobbit. The first battle you are automatically thrown into, however. This is the end of the battle of Helmsdeep! You are playing as Gandalf the Gray and must thwart the orcs and save Helms deep! After you have beaten this level, however, you are free to chose which path you want to take first. The Path of the King is the hardest and starts off with Aragorn, Gimili, and Legolas going to the undead to enlist their help to fight the Orcs. The Path of the Wizard is slightly shorter, but not easy. Here you play only as Gandalf the White and are involved in everything from the destruction of Sauron's tower, to Minas Tirith where you have to run around and knock off the orcs and the bombard towers, to the Courtyard of Minas Tirith where you are charged with protecting the women and children from the orc onslaught. Lastly, the Path of the Hobbit is hard, but fun. You play as Sam, most of the time and have to go through everything the hobbits went through in the movie.

Once you complete all three paths, you will be able to play the Black Gate level. Here you can pick from any of these characters (Gimili, Aragorn, Gandalf, Sam, Legolas) and you will have to fight , along side your allies to defeat the armies of Sauron outside his own Gates.

On Completion of this level, you will be able to partake in the final level of the Game (The Crack of Doom). Here you will play as Frodo and have to fight Smeogol inorder to kill him and destroy the ring. Smeogol is particuarly difficult mainly becuase he is so fast and his hits take down your health fast. Once you have beaten this level..CONGRATULATIONS!! Now you can use cheats. There are two bonus levels (the Palantir of Sauroman) that you can fight to get all of your characters up to max. level 20. Now you can use all the characters (Gimili, Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pipin, Legolas, Aragorn, Feramir, and Gandalf).

As a last note...after the completion of any level, you will be able to buy upgrades for your character with exp. points! And even better..you can go through the game with a friend! Co-op missions allow you all the same level, except with a friend by your side!

PROS:
- Excellent Graphics
- Co-op missions
- Tons of Levels to play
- After you complete the Crack of Doom, you can go back and replay any mission you want
- Great and useful upgrades

CONS:
- On Co-op its not split-screen, you and your friend are on the same screen (which I like but some might not)

Hope this helps!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Return of the King for Xbox The BIG review!!!, March 21, 2004

By 

Jon "jonr1234" (Kent UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lord of The Rings The Return of The King (Video Game)

First Impressions
As soon as you put the CD in the Xbox it starts the game. You have to sit through almost 2 minutes of inescapable logos and stuff until you get to a kind of prologue bit. Then your stuffed right into the middle of a battle as Gandalf! This adds to the sudden excitement of the game.

Graphics
The graphics are state of the art and they surpass even Xbox's usual brilliance, EA Games has another award winner here. Everything is just so realistic! The settings match the film perfectly, Helms Deep, Osgiliath, Minas Tirith to name but a few! The characters are amazingly exact and you really feel like you are the person! There are small commentaries before each level read by Gandalf over the top of real footage from various parts of the three films, then you are lead into the game by means of the film kind of merging into the game graphics, the join is unnoticeable, honestly!

Game play
The game play is even better than the graphics, if at all possible. There are three different "paths". Path of the wizard using Gandalf; Path of the King using Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli; path of the Hobbits using Frodo and Sam. You basically fight your way through Orcs, Uruk-Hai, The Dead, Spiders, Easterlings, Cave Trolls and various other evil creatures to complete your goal. You can interact with items around you as well; spears, ladders, rocks, catapults, levers, ropes...etc. You get to fight Bosses such as Shelob, the king of the dead, Sauron's messenger and even the Ringwraiths themselves. Of course you get to battle the evil Gollum on the very edge of Mount Doom. There are also levels that your characters can aim for, you start at level one and then can go as far as level twenty. As you're battling you are earning yourself experience points. The more points you have the more combo moves you get and the better you can be. There are four different ways of killing a foe, fair, good, excellent and perfect. You get more experience points the better you kill someone. Then you can play a co-op game with your friends and try to get more kill points than them, which is very fun!

Storyline/Plot
The story line is filled in in-between levels by the use of scenes from the actual film, a voice over provided by Gandalf tells you the story so far. This is the only storyline/plot element, but it works well because it does not interfere with the game play and it adds to the realism of game and film.

Sound/Music
The voices for all the characters were done by their counterpart actors from the film, making it very, very realistic! Also the original musical score from the film is in the game too, so it really does feel like you are part of the film! All done excellently, all sound fits together perfectly and the music is in all the correct places for top dramatic affect!

Things that have been done really well
ü Graphics - Settings are beautiful
ü Sound - All music and voices are exquisite
ü Game play - Endless fun, lots of variety

Things that have been done really badly
û Combo moves - can be tricky to pull off
û Beginning Titles - cannot be skipped

Conclusion
An overall excellent game! There is absolutely nothing that I can fault with it! It really feels like you are there fighting alongside your companions at the Black gate or trying to find a way into the tower of Crith Ungol to rescue Frodo from the Orcs! The graphics, game play and perfect sounds all fit together to make up this award winning game, which you will never tire playing.