The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Gandalf returned in one of 2002's best movies, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.  Sadly, he does not play a very big role in Electronic Arts' new game, which is based on the first two Lord of the Rings films.  Rather than lag a year behind The Two Towers, EA decided it would be best to briefly recap The Fellowship of the Ring through movie scenes (taken directly from the film) and by recreating some of its best battle sequences in the form of the game's first few levels.  The rest cover the full story of The Two Towers, so I recommend that you see the movie first.

It's hard to tell exactly what kind of a game The Two Towers is just by looking at its screenshots.  They show the three main characters (Gimli, Aragorn and Legolas) battling a large number of Orcs and Uruk-Hai.  But the pictures give no indication as to how the game would play.

If you were expecting an adventure game, you'll be surprised to find out that The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is a lot like Koei's single-player fighting series, Dynasty Warriors.  There's more hacking and slashing in this game than anything else.  All of the levels are really fun though, and the combat is surprisingly addictive.  While most movies games only appeal to fans of the respective film, The Two Towers will appeal to a much broader audience.  Dynasty Warrior fans may desire more enemies, but they'll appreciate the polished gameplay.

Most of the levels begin with a scene taken directly from one of the films.  The picture quality isn't nearly as clear as DVD, but it's clearer than full-motion video displayed on CD.  That's not why I brought it up though.  Cut scenes are to be expected, especially in a movie-based game.  The thing that makes the movie scenes stand out is how they are blended with the real-time polygon game footage.  One minute you're watching the actors battle an army of Orcs, the next minute you're the one battling the Orcs!  The scene is set up exactly the same in polygon form, making the transition very smooth, very believable, and very exciting.  It adds to the movie-like feel of the game, enhancing the illusion that you are battling for the future of Middle-earth.

Enemies charge at you repeatedly until the level has been completed, giving you plenty of chances to perform all of the game's 60+ combo moves (more than 20 per character).  Combos are executed in a typical button-sequence fashion, but only a few combos are available at the start of the game.  The rest must be purchased with the experience points earned during battle.

Enemy kills are graded on a four-point scale -- fair, good, excellent and perfect.  These scores are not obtained by perfectly lining up your sword or by tapping the buttons any faster.  Higher scores are acquired only when you attack multiple enemies without allowing them to retaliate.  There are only two main ways to avoid being attacked: by running away from an oncoming strike (which is not usually the best choice), or by parrying the attack with your sword.  Parries must be lined up with the opponent's attack or else you'll miss and they'll succeed in hitting you.

Every successful standard attack will raise your skill meter by one point.  Combos raise the skill meter much faster.  It can also be raised by parrying attacks.  Once full, the skill meter glows and your character's (in this particular case, it was Aragorn) strength increases.  Most enemies will perish after being struck only once or twice, and ALL kills result in a "perfect" score, regardless of how many times you are hit!  The skill meter's enhancements don't last long though.  If you should fail to parry or dodge any attacks before the skill meter is full, it will drop back to zero.

The Two Towers' game soundtrack consists of the Academy Award-winning music from The Fellowship of the Ring.  It captured my heart in theaters and it has captured my heart once again on GameCube.  The powerful, emotional tunes are as memorable as those featured in top tier RPGs.  Subtle changes occur to the main theme throughout both movies and the game, keeping with Peter Jackson's dream that all three films would have one spectacular soundtrack.  He's not jumping to conclusions, but Id' say he's already well on his way to accomplishing his goal.

There is one downside to the sound, however: voice-overs.  Some of the lines that were needed were brand-new, so the developers couldn't just grab a scene from the movie and add it to the game.  Even though I doubt anyone wanted to see this happen, they had to get Lord of the Rings impersonators to take on the task of impersonating Gandalf and Aragorn, among others.  And they can't even begin to compare to the real actors.

At the end of the night, when the sun is coming up, your eyes are exhausted and your head begs for a pillow, The Two Towers leaves you with a feeling of satisfaction.  Due to the game's extremely short length, that feeling isn't as strong as it should be.  However, the replay value is pretty high, making me want to play through the game all over again immediately after it ended.  And with three different playable characters to choose from, the experience isn't exactly the same each time around.  You'll use different fighting techniques, different attacks and come up with different strategies to solve the many problems that you're faced with.  The movie-to-game sequences are blended together so well that you'll wonder why other developers didn't do it sooner.  Electronic Arts has a real winner on their hands with this one, and so will any gamer who chooses to buy it. 

Gameplay: 8
Hordes of Orcs and Uruk-Hai, Hobbit-eating bosses and three playable characters, oh my!  The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is an odd take an adventure film, but I’m not going to complain.  The Two Towers is so much better than you'd expect.  At the very least, most gamers, if not all gamers, will have some fun with it.  It’s a shame it’s so short – otherwise it would have earned a higher score.

Graphics: 7.7 
At times, Aragorn really looks like Aragorn.  But overall I wasn't too impressed with the graphics.  The enemies in particular could have used some more detail.  Gandalf looked pretty weak for such a powerful wizard.  I know that EA wanted to make this a quick port so that they could get it on store shelves and into gamers' homes, but any significant graphical enhancements would have been greatly appreciated.  To tell you the truth, there's barely a difference (graphically) between the PS2 and GC versions.

Sound: 8.9
The Towers is an orchestral masterpiece.  Go see the movie, play the game, and buy the soundtrack!

Difficulty: Medium
The second to last battle will drive you insane.  You'll come close to succeeding a million times and die at the last minute.  The rest of the game is fairly easy though, especially for anyone with experience in games like Dynasty Warriors.

Concept: 7 
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is all about frantic battle sequences with lots and lots of ugly creatures (Orcs, Uruk-Hai, etc.).  There is very little adventuring, which is disappointing, considering how cool it would have been to explore Middle-earth.  But for the kind of game it is, The Two Towers is really good.

Overall: 8
Repetitive enemy-slashing is usually boring, but not in this game.  Not only do Orcs beg to be slashed again and again, but the combat system is so entertaining that you won't even care about the repetition.  The Two Towers is not without frustration (just wait till you get to level 10...ugh!), but it's not without fun either, making it the perfect game the hairy-footed person in your family.