EA Games latest
installment of their exciting Lord of the Rings series, Return of the
King, is a superb example of what hack-and-slash action games should
be. Combining stunningly breathtaking boards and fluid combat, players
navigate one of nine playable characters (three must be unlocked)
through the final installment of Tolkiens War of the Ring. Allowing the
players (yes, its multi-player!) to control Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas,
Gandalf, Samwise, and Frodo, the game dwarfs (no pun intended) The Two
Towers, last years hit from the same series.
Retaining much of the same game structure, The Return of the King
seeks to expand and broaden the scope of The Two Towers rather than
reinvent it. Thus, Return of the King blends cinematic sequences from
Peter Jacksons award winning films, in-game cinematics, and actual
gameplay nearly seamlessly as EA did so wonderfully in The Two Towers.
The game opens
up to the evil overwhelming forces besieging Helms Deep (the last
bastion of hope from The Two Towers). A few minutes later (the
exposition runs a bit long) the player, as Gandalf, leads the charge to
flank the stunned orc forces. Within moments Gimli is chatting it up
with you as you and he make quick work of Isengards horde. The in-game
chatter (Aragorn barking orders, Gollum sneering, and Gimli grumbling)
that occurs while you are battling is perhaps the freshest addition to
the game. Listening to the characters interact on the fly creates a
truly cinematic feel--even more so than the movie clips do. Although
many of the movie clips are edited impressively and effectively, they
are usually montages splicing footage from all three films, the clip
that ends the game falls noticeably flat, which cannot do justice to a
panoramic epic in a few moments time.
What is truly
splendid, however, are many of the boards architectural majesty. Sam,
Frodo, and Gollums Escape from Osgiliath (the first level on the
Path of the Hobbits) could be a game in itself. As Samwise, the
stout-hearted hobbit, the single player must guide the ring-bearer and
Gollum through the besieged city by battling goblins, slipping in and
out of half-demolished buildings, all the while dodging the Nazgul who
are hunting Frodo on dragonback. Twenty minutes later the player will
find herself slipping past a group of orcs guarding a sewer grate which
completes the level. Unfortunately, only six of the dozen-or-so levels
are so expansive. Generally the environments are much smaller, very
crowded areas which require the completion of multiple tasks. For
example, at Pelennor Fields the player must kill a specific number of
mercenaries before protecting Pippen and Eowen from oliphants and The
Witch King. The board is definitely fun to play wherein it requires the
player to bum-rush the battlefield several times to climb the two hills
which border the pitch; however, when compared to levels like Escape
from Osgiliath or Cirith Ungol the board is noticeably lacking depth.
This is frustratingly
true of five out of the six final levels (Im including the two hidden
boards). What EA failed to realize again (they committed the same
offence in The Two Towers) is that killing five hundred orcs in a row
is good fun, but if thats all you have to do to complete a level, mass
murder quickly becomes tedious. On the other hand, if I, as Gandalf,
happen to kill five hundred orcs while having to traverse a forest,
deftly maneuver my way underneath raving Ents feet (roots?) and finally
assisting in Isengards destruction, than that killing spree is no
longer tedious; its a means to an end.
The fighting itself has
improved from EAs last installment making the non-stop battling much
more fun. Button mashing to create combos is pretty standard fare in the
hack-and-slash world but, The Return of the Kings interactive
environments often offer you a refreshing number of alternative ways to
kill your foes. For instance, one can grab a polearm from a stack and
impale an oncoming orc with it or dump hot coals onto enemies from atop
the battlements of The Southern Gate. These extracurricular activities
are performed via the action button which allows you to lift
drawbridges, swing up/down grappling hooks, as well as chuck torches at
charging giant spiders. Small details such as these are what make The
Return of the King shine.
The character
advancement/development is perhaps the blandest part of the game and is
in need of the most revamping. Players earn experience points by how
flawlessly they hack their opponents to bits. The longer you go
unscathed and on a continual bloodbath the more experience points you
earn per kill. At the end of each level the player is allowed to spend
these points on combos and bonuses (such as more health or an additional
super move). Thats all the development youre allowed.
This is from where my
strongest feelings of ambivalence stems. The Lord of the Rings is a
saga. Its characters are dynamic. They fail, succeed, sacrifice,
rejoice, and lament. Each of the heroes and villains have fleshed-out
personalities that never come through when playing this game. If one
would pick up this game never having read the novels or seen the movies,
he would think that Tolkiens/Jacksons stories were pure non-stop
action films when, in fact, there are parts in the books/movies which
make people laugh and cry and rejoice and lament. The game fails to
capture any of that type of development. The only emotion I felt while
playing the game was fear--fear that my character would be killed (and
maybe piety: Please God, dont let my character be killed.). Its
ironic that a movie which featured a digitally rendered character as
human and as touching as Gollum couldnt produce even a smidgen of that
emotion in a videogame.
In all fairness though
Return of the King doesnt set out to make players cry or feel; it
sets out to let players kill, and kill we do. The sheer number of
enemies a single player must battle simultaneously is daunting. Which is
why it is immensely satisfying to enlist a friend to fight alongside
you. The two-player game is an immeasurable addition and will
undoubtably add to the replay value which was a common complaint lodged
against last years The Two Towers. Allowing unconventional pairs (Pippen
and Legolas or Gimli and Samwise) two players can venture forth and play
the game in an almost identical fashion as the single player, though two
players are limited more so than a single player in the order in which
levels need be defeated. Although the camera is usually positioned a tad
bit distant from the battles, the players have no major problems keeping
track of their character, unless you are a hobbit or dwarf who sometimes
gets lost in crowds. Another commendable aspect of the game is how heath
potions are doled out to keep near-death characters alive--but just
barely. This keeps the battles strenuous and worrisome for the player
while not becoming too difficult.
Sadly, Return of the
King, as was The Two Towers, is short. I beat it in a week playing it
for two or so hours a day. However, the six lush levels mentioned
earlier and the multi-player mode, not to mention the wave of excitement
that will hit me as the opening date of the final movie installment
nears, will give me more than enough reason to return to this
wonderfully fun, albeit short-sighted, rendering of The Lord of the
Rings series.
Steffan Delpiano (00/00/2003) |