Review: Lord of the Rings – Return of the King
I’ve been playing Lord of the Rings: Return of the King on my Xbox for the last couple of days. I’m not finished with the game like some hardcore players could do in as much time. I usually don’t like fighting games, but this one was enjoyable somehow.
I tried to play some Star Wars games and I really hated them because one joystick controlled me and another controlled what I could see. Somehow my two hands weren’t able to get in sync and I was never able to see what I needed to see. Plus, I kept chopping C3PO’s leg off and he was hobbling around, nearly useless to me. I don’t want to have to worry about friendly fire when I’m trying to have fun.
With LOTR: Return of the King, I don’t have to worry about accidentally chopping Legolas or Gimli in half. I can just fight my hardest. The fact that I can’t control my view is bothersome at times because the game will have my character running straight toward the screen and I can’t see where I’m going, but that’s the exception more than the rule.
I have failed the missions MANY times. I’m new at computer fighting games, so it is taking me a while to get through this game. The worst part of failing is that I need to hear the whole story over again. I haven’t figured out a way to skip it, so I’ve seen the tree people pick up the hobbits so many times that I don’t ever want to hear about the Ents again. With all the repetition, you would think that I would hate the game, but I just get a drink of water while it replays. It’s bothersome, but not enough to make me hate the game.
I don’t like first-person shooters and I would classify this game as that except the only projectiles I shoot are arrows and super magic power stuff when I’m Gandolf. Somehow, I enjoy this game. Part of it is because of the story. I’m not much of a Tolkien fan. I’m not much of a fan of fantasy, either. Somehow, this game has roped me in and I’m liking it more than anything I’ve played in a while.
The cool thing is that it’s a pretty old game now, so you can get it used for a lot less than the poor saps who bought it when it was new.