The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Live the movie. Be the hero.

NA release: 6th November 2003
EU release: 14th November 2003
JP release: 8th January 2004
Developer: EA Redwood Shores, Hypnos Entertainment
Publisher: EA
NGC Magazine Score: 86%
Mods Used: None

Redwood Shores could have easily taken The Two Towers and just created some new levels based on Return of the King to make a really cheap film tie-in, but they instead decided to improve the game in every way while doing so. The basic gameplay and controls are still the game, it just feels more fluid, but everything around it is just done in a better way.

For starters, you’re not limited to playing as Aragon, Legolas and Gimli, as you now have three paths to complete. These are still the main trio, but you have missions where you play as Gandalf (who has some magic attacks) and ones where you play as the main hero of The Lord of the Rings – Samwise Gamgee. The gameplay isn’t different for them, but it’s still a very welcome addition, especially seeing Sam maul down hundreds of orcs. After you’ve beaten a mission, you can then play it as any character, with the ability to unlock a few extras.

Because this is only covering one film, the big moments can have a bit more attention, as opposed to the previous game which was a few small segments of Fellowship and Two Towers, with Helm’s Deep getting most of the game. Of course, the battle of Minis Tirith gets most of the screentime, with four missions in total, including a dreadful one where you protect Merry and Eowyn from multiple oliphaunts and the Witch King.

But most other missions are a lot of fun, and they can also be played in co-op (with the caveat that you need to play the Gandalf/Sam missions solo first), which is a very welcome addition to the game. This is a really fun hack-n-slash game.

Fun

We can’t help but love The Return of the King. Possibly it’s because we’re so surprised by it; its simplicity is its strength, laser-focused for constant action, buttressed by honestly inspiring, enormously cinematic spectacle. This is a success, then, and one that thoroughly deserves to be played.
Jes Bickham, NGC Magazine #87

Remake or remaster?

A remake of this with levels from the first two films redone (and some additional ones) would be great.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to buy The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.