The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King (video Game) - Reception

Reception

The Return of the King was critically well received. It won in two categories at the DICE 2004 awards: Outstanding achievement in character performance (for Elijah Wood's voice role as Frodo) and Outstanding achievement in sound design. As an adaptation, the game was praised by Michael Knutson of GameZone as "the best movie to game conversion that has come out in a long time" and by Raymond Padilla of GameSpy as " a new standard for video game adaptations of movies."

The graphics and THX-certified audio were lauded by critics. The game's animations, scenery, player models, cut scenes, music and voice-overs were particularly well received. "Sound effects used in the game will also blow you away," Knutson said, "Everything from the explosions, swords clashing, hundreds of incoming enemies storming your way, all sounds like it came directly from the movie!" Greg Kasavin of GameSpot noted that "Frame rate issues do affect each version of the game, to varying degrees, and none of the character models for the main characters look all that remarkable, either," but conceded that "All other aspects of The Return of the King's graphics are outstanding... The game's audio is even more effective than the graphics at conveying the intensity of the action." Ian McKellen's narration of the game as Gandalf was also praised.

The game's combat was praised by most critics. Crispin Boyer of 1UP.com described the game as "a thrill ride... And not just 'cause Return of the King unleashes larger hordes of foes than last year's equally slick Two Towers prequel. Many of Return of the King's levels actually force you to multitask while you hack and slash." Tony Ellis of PC Gamer UK commended the combat: "Combat in RotK is superbly satisfying. Your blows connect with a solid, visceral thud you can almost feel." Ellis also noted the variation between levels. In contrast, Matthew Kato of Game Informer found the gameplay to be "repetitious": "Sometimes I got the feeling that I was working harder only to have less fun than in Two Towers."

The Return of the King was criticized for its poor camera control. "What's the use of a new graphics engine and character models when the view is from so far away?" asked Kato. The game's save function was also criticized. Ellis commented that "You can only save after completing a level... which is not so good when you're forced to slog through the same sequences over and over again." Critics complained about the unskippable cut scenes, occasionally unclear objectives and relatively short length.

Despite the game's critical acclaim and strong sales, Peter Jackson, director of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, stated that the video game tie-in for his next film, King Kong, would not be developed by EA but by Ubisoft. Jackson claimed that EA were not interested in his input to the game and, having played Beyond Good & Evil, he wanted to work with producer Michel Ancel.