Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Review

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(More customer reviews)First off, this is a portable game. Portable games are not meant to live up to console games, and they don't. However, the can still be immensly enjoyable, and this game is a prime example. Why? Well, I'll tell you.
This is a sequel to last year's Two Towers game. So the gameplay is very similiar, but with some welcome tweaks and gameplay differences that add to the game. Here are some examples:
The characters attacks have more animation. (What I mean by this is that their attacks have more moves) All you do to attack is press the B button of course, but unlike in the Two Towers, your character does more than one monotonus motion. This is a very welcome tweak to gameplay.
While this is only a little thing, you can see reflections in the water of your character. This adds to the realism of the game greatly.
Do you remember in The Two Towers when you could heal at any time with your active skill of Herbal Healing? This was convenient, because in the midst of a fray, if you were getting low on health and had enough Spirit Points, you could heal with the press of a button. To do that in this game, you must have Kingsfoil herbs in your backpack. If you have no herbs, you can't heal. (In turn, healing does not deplete spirit points any more). I suppose this makes the game more realistic, but it also makes it much harder.
Okay. I've listed the three major gameplay changes. Now to tell about the game.
It follows the plot of the movie very closely. You go to Orthanc, the Paths of the Dead, Gondor, Mordor, and many more places. If you play as a different character, you get different levels. Here are the players you can play as.
Aragorn. The best hand-to-hand fighter in the game. Those who have played the Two Towers remember his two-sword capability. He still has that in this game, but it is no longer a passive skill.
Legolas. The best fighter, period.
Gandalf. While Gandalf is not the best fighter, he is the funnest character to play as because of the places he goes, namely Gondor.
Gimli. Sadly, Gimli is one of the worst fighters in the game. Howver, you will probably want to play as him, because he was not a playable character in TTT
Frodo. Frodo I think, is the second funnest character to play as. (He goes to Mordor!!)
Eowyn. Why in the world would anyone want to play as her?
While this is mainly an action game, it has some interesting role-playing elements to it that are not on the console version of the game. You can pick up and equip items that you find along the way. These items include various types of weapons, armor, shoes, gloves, helmets, and many other things. You really do have to pay attention to this. It is critical to beating the game. When you kill an orc, he might drop something. Stand on the item and press the R button to pick it up. It will be put inside your backpack, which is accsessible with a press of the Start button. If you find an item which is better than what you are using, put it on!! (Press the A button and choose Equip) You can also sell items at forges for gems.
In this game, the more orcs you kill, the more experience points you earn. When you earn enough experience points, you will be able to upgrade your strength, accuracy, defense, health, and so on. You absolutely must know how to do this, and do it throughout the game. If you don't, you will never beat it. This is how it works: To the left of the screen, there is a little bar that gets filled with green as you kill more orcs. When you kill enough, you will hear a sound and the green stuff will be gone. Here is what to do. Press the start button to go to your backpack. When you are there, press the L button. You will be taken to a screen that has all your attribute listed. (strength, accuracy, health, defense, and courage). Use your directional pad to raise there numbers. (Tip: The only attributes that you really need to raise are your Strength and Accuracy. Every once in while, put some points in you're defense and health. Never even bother with courage. In fact, sometimes just put all 5 points in strength. The more strength you have, the less hits it takes to kill enemies. This is crucial. Accuracy is also crucial. The more accurate you are, the less likely it is for your opponent to block your attack.) When your done, hit the R button again to go to the Passive and Active skill screen. Passive skills are like attributes, always in affect. Active skills are active, and you press the A button to use them. These are usually long range attacks, magic attacks, and power-ups. (Jeeze, I'd love to just give an entire walkthrough of this game, but it would take a lot more than 1,000 words!!)
However, here are the downfalls of the game.
1: I wish they had made it a bit more like the console version, where you can use both a sword and a bow. As Legolas, you can only use a bow. And it is very unrealistic the way he just goes Toing..Toing..Toing.. Time after time, and never runs out. And as for everybody else, there long range attacks are active skills, and drain spirit points.
2: It is much, much harder than the Two Towers ever was. Some parts can be downright maddening, to the point where you want to just take a sledgehammer to the whole thing. But calm down, take a break, come back later and try again. You will get past it eventually.
But now I must cut short this review. If I ever get ahold of any cheat codes, I will revise the review with them. This is an awesome game, and a must have for a portable gamer. If you are a console gamer, get the PS2, Xbox, or Gamecube versions, which are even better.

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Product Description:
Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King lets you join in the adventure of the classic fantasy trilogy. In this final chapter, you'll fight to help destroy the One Ring, before its corrupting influence becomes too powerful.

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