Lord of the Rings: Return of the King [GBA] Review

Developer	Griptonite Games
Publisher	EA Games
Genre	Action Role-Playing

Griptonite did a good job with The Two Towers GBA game released last year, offering a solid hack n’ slash adventure that stayed true to the films, and was able to keep players interested all the way through. With Return of the King, the experience is still worthwhile, continuing on the same gameplay path as The Two Towers, but also introducing some minor, but certainly welcome additions to the mix.

But if there is one problem with not fixing what isn’t broken, it’s that gamers may start wondering what you were doing all this time.

Gameplay – Like it’s predecessor, Return of the King is another isometric hack n’ slasher in the vein of Diablo. Choose a character from a roster of six (plus a couple of hidden ones), and battle across Middle-earth, collecting tons of new weapons, armor, and items along the way. Your route through the game and the levels you see depend on the character you choose, so to see everything the game has to offer, you have to go through the game with several characters. In The Two Towers, there were differences in the maps, but not as many, resulting in more overlapping in the levels.

Each character has his or her strengths and weaknesses. For example, Gandalf has a much better selection of spells than the others, but can’t use many different kinds of weapons. Gimli (who wasn’t even playable in The Two Towers) can use any assortment of axes, and only Legolas can master the bow. Aragorn can use all the heavy swords, but can’t use bows or axes. And then you have Frodo, who can’t use anything larger than a shortsword, but has more defense capabilities than anyone else, where he can turn invisible and charm enemies. Lastly, there is Eowyn, who is a better-rounded fighter.

There are a few notable additions. The first is the ability to craft your own weapons by finding different runes. Runes that you buy all have different effects, and you can attach them to your weapons and armor to make them more powerful. You can’t pile one on another, so as soon as you buy the one rune that kicks the entire ass, that’s the same rune you’ll use for all of your weapons until you find that next big one. There are also Ranger Hollows for you to store select number of items, where you can then pick them up at any other Ranger Hollow throughout the game. While the idea is nice, it’s sort of pointless, as you’ll equip yourself as best you can, so any other item in your inventory becomes extra baggage that you’ll sell for better stuff anyway.

All the hacking feels repetitive, without the addictiveness of Diablo or Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, and with so few additions, it feels way too much like the last game. Those who played the first in the series won’t be as excited to play this.

Graphics - King looks a good bit better than the previous game did. The art style is identical, but in terms of detail, there are lots more of it in the environments. Strangely enough though, it’s only noticeable on select levels. Still, there are more enemy variations this time around too (partially due to the included beast compendium in the storyline), and each model sports a fair number of animations. The game could’ve used some richer colors, as there are more browns and grays than anything else, but that’s simply a matter of taste.

Sound – Naturally, the sound package delivers the appropriate atmosphere when playing through the game, sporting the film’s excellent scores. Even the voices of the cast grunt and moan, though that’s tricky to recognize. In terms of the audio, the only issue that seems to bring it down is that at full volume, the speakers in the GBA will begin to distort, and no one wants damaged GBA speakers.

Bottom Line - Return of the King is a good, solid game, but it doesn’t offer much more than the previous title did. If you’ve played that to death, there isn’t much here that you haven’t already experienced. What new features are there are most certainly welcome, but it’s not enough to ward off the strong sensation of déjà vu. Still, if you’re a die-hard fan, you can’t go wrong. The six initial characters offer more than enough variety, and the fact that you get to romp through different environments depending on the character you choose makes for some solid replayability. And though very basic, crafting your own magical equipment with runes is a nice touch.

Review by Brendon Hivner