Developed by Redwood Shores, having taken over from The Whole Experience team who worked on the previous game, this Return of the King greatly lifts the veil on the final chapter of Peter Jackson's film trilogy, about to be released. end on December 17 on the big screen. Because not only many extracts from the film appear between the levels but above all the player is brought to embody the main characters and thus finally discover their true destiny. Thus, always on the same principle (kill enemies, gain experience points and buy new combos or more effective weapons), the adventure is this time divided into three quests: those of Gandalf, Sam and the trio formed by Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli. With a general constant: we take full the peepers! A visual shock
Better to put on glasses in view of this Return of King (well, not all the time if you want to play a little). Because the overall aesthetic literally sparkles. By this, it must be understood that the graphics surpass by far, by their finesse and their variety, those of The Fellowship of the Ring. The characters appear very charismatic while the settings are relatively varied (caves infested with spiders where the eight-legged monster Shelob rages, ruins crossed by cohorts of enemies, city of Minas Tirith besieged by thousands of Orcs and Uruk -hey…). Without forgetting very beautiful special effects as we would like to see more often on PS2 (mists, dusty wind, explosions of flames…). But that's not all because the difficulty of the adventure has been revised upwards and the action is less monotonous than before (even if you have to constantly zigzag the villain). Thus, in the skin of Sam (whose cape making invisible is usable!), it is necessary to protect Frodo from the dragon which follows him permanently or by embodying Gandalf, in the final battle, it is necessary to cover your friends and avoid them from fall under the blows of the horde of belligerents. Of course, the lifespan is thereby extended, especially since a brand new two-player mode has appeared. Too bad, however, that the story and the action remain strictly identical and that this cooperation mode has not been exploited more because, for example, it is impossible to touch each other and even less to practice special moves for two. And then, by the way, we also regret the lack of readability of the action when there are too many enemies present on the screen (but hey, that's also the ultimate battle and it perfectly respects the insane legions visible in the movie)…
A game worthy of a DVD
If the cinematic sequences and other images of the feature film benefit from a top quality toupee, we can also say that the many secrets to be discovered during the adventure almost propel the game to the rank of DVD collector. Because how not to prance with happiness in the face of these mini reports, showing the actors Elijah Wood, Sean Astin or Billy Boyd getting out of the way and swinging from the cowries when they are playing themselves on PlayStation 2. Ditto against Ian Mac Kellen (Gandalf) or Christopher Lee (Sarumane) during exclusive interviews or even vis-à-vis superb sketches and drawings to admire in a special sequence. But the two most interesting supplements vis-à-vis the pure game are still three secret characters to unlock (Pippin, Merry and Faramir) as well as, at the very end of the game (when you have unlocked everything), the lairs of Saruman and Sauron. The latter, made up of twenty levels and remaining the equivalent of the underground journey to the heart of hell in Onimusha, allow you to face a shitload of opponents whose number and difficulty increase as you go. The goal is of course to upgrade your fighter's skills.
In the end, this playful video suite of the Two Towers is downright breathtaking and deserves many qualifiers, even superlatives, as the show is omnipresent (as such, the final battle is like a Hollywood show). In short, the King is back and he is in great shape!
Test conducted by Bradford
