- Publisher: EA Games
- Release Date: Oct 31, 2003
- Also On: PlayStation 2
- Critic Score
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90Takes everything The Two Towers did well and improves upon it in every way.
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90Minor camera issues aside, Return of the King is a refreshing example of competent licensing melded with the hack'n'slashery we all know and love. It's even got me psyched for a movie I couldn't have cared less about a week ago, and I think that's saying something.
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89They have concentrated on distilling the best action they can out of Tolkein's, (or should that now be Jackson's) masterpiece and presenting it in a well executed package. Lord of the Ring fans could surely want for nothing more this Christmas.
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87More than just a good hack and slash. It's one of the best. The feature set is excellent and well worth your money.
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You often feel like you are taking part in some vast battle, man and beast fighting all around you. It’s the kind of fighting game that sometimes almost drives me to get a console, and I wished showed up on the PC more often.
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85A highly polished and very enjoyable action title that, while not the equal of its console counterparts, is still a terrific action game on the PC.
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83Probably the most intense PC game I've played this year after "Call of Duty."
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Fans will find much to enjoy, but don't blame us if you're as haggard as Gollum by the time you actually finish the game. [19 Dec 2003, p.L2T 20]
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80It's still a relatively simple and short action game at heart, but a solid combat system, some extremely intense and cinematic levels, cool extras that fans of the movies will enjoy, and the option to play cooperatively with a friend all add up to make The Return of the King deserving of its name.
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80A fairly decent third-person action game, only mildly bungled by some not-so-great camera perspectives, long-winded cutscenes, and a tendency to go overboard with the shear number of enemy forces directed at you at once.
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80Rife with action and bursting at the seams with bonus content, the title will also go down in history as one of the most intense products ever created for hobbyists' consumption.
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With all the action and unlockable DVD-like special features, this is not only a good game that drags you right into the movie, it's also a fantastic supplement for die-hard Rings fans. [Feb 2004, p.70]
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80The gameplay, cool moves, music and smokin’ graphics are all top notch. Even though the game was fairly short and the camera angles annoying, any fan of the franchise would / should probably buy it and those interested wouldn’t be disappointed.
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77Has terrific graphics but suffers from clumsy gameplay.
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76The game doesn’t live up to the qualities resplendent in either the book or the movies, but it’s still a technically competent game and fun to play.
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There are few games with such radical swings from "amazing" to "sadistic." [Jan 2004, p.64]
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58The game's enormous potential is squandered by bad playbalancing. [Jan 2004, p.82]
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43There’s too much replaying of banal levels over and over again until you learn enough button combinations to survive long enough to reach a checkpoint. Sure, there are a few good moments – the sheer scale of the halls of the dead, and the backdrop of hundreds of charging orcs during some of the battle scenes – but the braindead playing of them renders the whole experience futile.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 5 out of 7
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Mixed: 0 out of 7
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Negative: 2 out of 7
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7
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tiredplayer3
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TruePlayer3