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Lord of the Rings Media Movies PlayStation (Games) XBox (Games) Entertainment Games

Return Of King Game Debuts Ahead Of Movie 46

Posted by simoniker from the re-return-of-king-due-next dept.
Thanks to GameSpot for its review of Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King, the EA-developed hack-n-slash action game based on Peter Jackson's acclaimed movie trilogy. The reviewer rates the now-released multiplatform title as a "relatively simple and short action game at heart, but [with] a solid combat system, some extremely intense and cinematic levels, [and] cool extras that fans of the movies will enjoy." 1UP also seems to dig the game, although notes that "the pre-level sequences are potentially spoilerish", since FMV from the not-yet-released movie is sometimes used. Finally, GameSpy has a whole section on the game, including a developer-friendly postmortem and a 'Pile On!' article that has opinions ranging from EA doing "such a good job of appealing to mainstream and hardcore gamers", to a sole dissenter: "This is definitely a great game for fans of the films, but others beware."
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Return Of King Game Debuts Ahead Of Movie More

Return Of King Game Debuts Ahead Of Movie

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  • and ahead of the game... (Score:4, Funny)

    by andrewleung ( 48567 ) on Tuesday November 04, 2003 @08:03AM (#7385496)
    was the frikkin' book! WITH ALL THE DETAILS AND SPOILERS!!!

    ARGH!! who would have thought of the book coming before the MOVIE AND GAME!?
    • Amen, brother. Amen.

    • Re:and ahead of the game... (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Nah, if you remember the last film, you'll remember that the book doesn't spoil it at all. For example, in the book there's a character called "Faramir" who is noble and wise and resists the lure of the Ring. In the film, there's a character called "Faramir" but he seems to have nothing to do with the book's "Faramir" at all. You might also notice a rather hilarious sequence in the film where "Gandalf" and three companions break into a village hall and have some rough-and-tumble with some hairy men before w
      • *cough* Damn straight :) The Faramir stuff really pissed me off. Denethor's family drama will certainly lose some of its thunder. At least Faramir semi-renewed himself at the end. This was the single worst plot change in the first two movies combined. So much for the whole "blood of Numenor" storyline. I doubt now that we will even see the white tree. Jackson should have spent more time explaining the history of men rather than wasting time with that whole 'Aragorn fell off the cliff' claptrap.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • basing a game on a movie like this is never easy, but imho it's a good game, the look and feel is nice, very nice and the gameplay is decent. I wonder tho, if i would find it just as great a game if it wasn't based on the movie. Purely hypothetical ofcourse, and it's probably THE reason for making this game, but my feeling towards it is undoubtedly affected by the feeling i have for the movie.

    I found myself thinking ` ow cool, gotta try that ' just because of having seen the movie...

    Funny isn't it? how my

  • BLABLABLA (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    relatively simple and short action game at heart, but [with] a solid combat system, some extremely intense and cinematic levels, [and] cool extras that fans of the movies will enjoy.

    Not a single word about *FUN*!
  • And if you haven't read the book, then you are a luser.
  • I think this was probably a bad decision by EA to release the game ahead of the movie. As noted, there may be spoilers so that rules out playing it until the movie comes out.

    Also, the hype and energy you get from the movie will translate very well into the game if they're released within days of each other. Yes, Enter The Matrix was bad but I managed to have a lot of fun with it since I was pumped up from seeing Reloaded.

    I'll probably still buy/play it after I see the movie, but EA missed an excellent mar
    • Spoilers? What spoilers? The books were written 50 years ago, there are 25-year-old cartoons based on the story - THERE ARE NO SPOILERS! If the game spoils the movie for you, then you're living under a rock and should probably try to stay there...

      How's this for a spoiler? In Titantic, the boat sinks...

      • I can take a pretty good guess at what happens. I've never read the books. I wish they hadn't shown Gandalf the White in the TTT trailer. I tried reading the books once, they were awfully boring.

        Congratulations on reading a mainstream piece of literature. You are obviously superior and I should do everything you say. Thanks for putting me in my place.
        • I've actually read the books nine times at this point in my life, but I digress.

          The point is not that you are coming across as an illiterate slob. The point is that there are no such things as spoilers when it comes to this story. It's akin to saying the same thing if there was a movie series and games based on the Bible - too many people know it. You are in a minority of the people who will see the movie, and an even more extreme minority of the people who will see the movie and play the game.

          You ca

          • Re:Bad decision? (Score:5, Insightful)

            by fireduck ( 197000 ) on Tuesday November 04, 2003 @01:18PM (#7388244)
            i wouldn't be so certain that there aren't spoilers in the game.

            If someone had told you that in the Two Towers, Aragorn would fall of a cliff and practically die, or that the elves would show up and contribute at the battle of Helm's Deep of that Frodo would end up at Osgilith facing a Nazgul, that certainly would spoil certain elements of the film that weren't in the book.

            So, while no major elements should be spoiled by the game, it is likely that Jackson has made minor (and maybe not so minor) changes to the overall structure/plot that could be reflected in the game, and ultimately *spoil* the movie (in both senses.. frodo going to osgilith was just wrong)
            • I can agree on those items, but the major story stays the same.

              Frodo facing the Nazgul is not quite as earthshattering a spoiler as Darth Vader telling Luke that he's the whiny little brat's father (that was a majorly spoiled Empire for me when I was 7, let me tell you...). But, it spoils about the same as Obi-wan's ghost. the ghost shouldn't have been too much of a spoiler, considering that Alec Guinesses's name showed up on the poster and the credits...

              In a filmic sense, I saw no problem with Frodo

      • How's this for a spoiler? In Titantic, the boat sinks...

        Yes...but who dunnit?

    • GameSpy: Do you think that gamers might be concerned about in-game spoilers before seeing the final movie this holiday?

      Steve Gray: They shouldn't be. While we have some real cool sneak peak looks at pieces of the upcoming movie, we worked closely with New Line Cinema and Peter Jackson to make sure we aren't doing anything to spoil the film experience. I think we've got the best of both worlds. We've got enough stuff from the upcoming film to make it a great preview, but not so much that anyone should worry
    • > As noted, there may be spoilers so that
      > rules out playing it until the movie
      > comes out.

      Good point. It's not like anyone has actually read the book, huh?

      I saw this movie called Titanic last week -- I'll ruin the ending for you: The big boat sinks in the end.

    • You're overlooking a potential benefit for poor gamers...this will be on resale later much cheaper than buying it now. With enter the matrix, you couldn't find too many of them under the $50 mark until a few months later. Now, with almost two months to go, we'll easily have used ROTK discs for half price at about the same time as the release date.

  • Spoilers? Ohhh, do we have spoilers.... (Score:3, Funny)

    by bluethundr ( 562578 ) * on Tuesday November 04, 2003 @10:46AM (#7386688) Homepage Journal


    Yumpin' Yiminy! You mean the game shows Frodo and Sam battling and killing Shelob, Frodo getting trapped in Cirith Ungol and being rescued by Sam, and Gollum biting the ring off of Frodo's finger and falling into the pit of Mount Doom? It would be cool if the game showed the 'scouring of the Shire" (which will NOT be in the movie). This book has been out for Yeesh, RTFB [barnesandnoble.com] already!
    • Congratulations- you have earned your geek validation points for the week by proving you have read the book. Now, you are having half of those points deducted for showing no sensitivity to those who haven't read the books and want to not have THE ENTIRE ENDING SPOILED. Your deducted points will now be added to your asshole-fanboy score. Be careful not to let those points outweigh your geek-validation points or those braces will have to stay on for another 6 months. And your DM will be kicking you out of
      • Spoiled the ending? If i recall, that happens close to 1/2 way into the book and theres still quite a bit more afterwards, though the movie will probably end it there. Theres all the stuff about afterwards with Aragon, Faramir, Eowyn, and the returning of the hobbits to the shire, etc that just would make the movie so long. Afterall, they still have to show the end of the Two Towers to start the movie

  • yeah (Score:2, Funny)

    by Luveno ( 575425 )
    the pre-level sequences are potentially spoilerish

    Yeah, I hear they're releasing the book of the movie before the premiere as well.
  • Ah, this "intellectual property" stupidity. I suppose they wanted to get the most out of their "license". It's an old enough story, it should be public domain.
  • Not only has the came come out before the movie, but the BOOK was released DECADES before the film, giving away the ending!!

    (that's a joke, y'all)
  • "...hack-n-slash action game based on Peter Jackson's acclaimed movie trilogy.

    The Ringwraiths shall come for thee anon.
  • I feel bad for all the people that will be standing in line at the line parties and have the ending
    spoiled by the guys that brought the portable XBox system.

    Although I doubt there would be too many people that would stand in a line party that haven't
    read the books already.

  • Exactly how short and simple? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by SaXisT4LiF ( 120908 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2003 @03:59AM (#7394422)
    While I can understand that they would want to keep the game simple enough to appeal to all fans of the series, I thought the Two Towers game was far too short. Furthermore, the uninterruptable insta-kills just reduced the game to Parry, Slay, repeat. Granted you had to "buy" the skill first, but then it took all the sense of danger out the game afterwards. Incoming arrows? Insta-kill someone and watch them fly right through you!

    But there's hope.
    Steve Gray: The levels in The Return of the King are at least twice as big as the levels in The Two Towers. There are nine playable characters and around 70 combinations of two-player co-op.

    Bigger levels, probably means more game time. I'm not sure if it means it will be anymore challenging. The co-op sounds like a great addition though, and it'll be interesting to see how they did it.

    Summary: Epic book, awesome movie adaptation, run of the mill video game.

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