Return Of King Game Debuts Ahead Of Movie

Thanks to GameSpot for its review of Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King, the EA-developed hack-n-slash action game based on Peter Jackson's acclaimed movie trilogy. The reviewer rates the now-released multiplatform title as a "relatively simple and short action game at heart, but [with] a solid combat system, some extremely intense and cinematic levels, [and] cool extras that fans of the movies will enjoy." 1UP also seems to dig the game, although notes that "the pre-level sequences are potentially spoilerish", since FMV from the not-yet-released movie is sometimes used. Finally, GameSpy has a whole section on the game, including a developer-friendly postmortem and a 'Pile On!' article that has opinions ranging from EA doing "such a good job of appealing to mainstream and hardcore gamers", to a sole dissenter: "This is definitely a great game for fans of the films, but others beware."

Comments

BLABLABLA

[Anonymous Coward]

relatively simple and short action game at heart, but [with] a solid combat system, some extremely intense and cinematic levels, [and] cool extras that fans of the movies will enjoy.

Not a single word about *FUN*!

Re:and ahead of the game...

[Anonymous Coward]

Nah, if you remember the last film, you'll remember that the book doesn't spoil it at all. For example, in the book there's a character called "Faramir" who is noble and wise and resists the lure of the Ring. In the film, there's a character called "Faramir" but he seems to have nothing to do with the book's "Faramir" at all. You might also notice a rather hilarious sequence in the film where "Gandalf" and three companions break into a village hall and have some rough-and-tumble with some hairy men before waving a staff at a pile of mold. In the book, this scene is completely missing and instead there's a much better sequence where Gandalf and three companions go to the high hall of the Rohirrim, talk their way in, fight no-one and free Theoden from the influence of Saruman. No pile of mold at all! In fact, it's hard to think of a scene which has even remotely the same meaning between book and film - Entmoot resulting in a decision to attack Isengard? No. The battle for Osgiliath happening off-camera and not involving a Nazgul seeing the Ringbearer hold up the Ring on the borders of Mordor? No. Eomer not looking like an aardvark? No. It's like somehow creepily they took the good name of Lord of the Rings and used it to push a pile of overhyped crappy-special-effects-laden drivel! Who woulda thunk it?

Re:Bad decision?

[fireduck]

i wouldn't be so certain that there aren't spoilers in the game.

If someone had told you that in the Two Towers, Aragorn would fall of a cliff and practically die, or that the elves would show up and contribute at the battle of Helm's Deep of that Frodo would end up at Osgilith facing a Nazgul, that certainly would spoil certain elements of the film that weren't in the book.

So, while no major elements should be spoiled by the game, it is likely that Jackson has made minor (and maybe not so minor) changes to the overall structure/plot that could be reflected in the game, and ultimately *spoil* the movie (in both senses.. frodo going to osgilith was just wrong)

Exactly how short and simple?

[SaXisT4LiF]

While I can understand that they would want to keep the game simple enough to appeal to all fans of the series, I thought the Two Towers game was far too short. Furthermore, the uninterruptable insta-kills just reduced the game to Parry, Slay, repeat. Granted you had to "buy" the skill first, but then it took all the sense of danger out the game afterwards. Incoming arrows? Insta-kill someone and watch them fly right through you!

But there's hope.
Steve Gray: The levels in The Return of the King are at least twice as big as the levels in The Two Towers. There are nine playable characters and around 70 combinations of two-player co-op.

Bigger levels, probably means more game time. I'm not sure if it means it will be anymore challenging. The co-op sounds like a great addition though, and it'll be interesting to see how they did it.

Summary: Epic book, awesome movie adaptation, run of the mill video game.