Game

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

2003 · Xbox · Nintendo GameCube · PC (Microsoft Windows) · Mac · Legacy Mobile Device · PlayStation 2 · Hack and slash/Beat 'em up · Adventure

76IGDB player score
282 ratings

Previously Take

A 76 average that undersells it — ask the 282 people who rated it. Adventure in the classic sense: fantasy, forward momentum, and places worth seeing. Come for the campaign, stay because your friends won't let you leave the lobby.

About this game

The video game adaption of the acclaimed film of the same name. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a follow up the well received adaption of the first two films in the trilogy. The game expands on what The Two Towers accomplished, with the action and adventure sequel introducing three separate story lines from the movie: one following Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, as The Two Towers did, another following Gandalf, and a third following Frodo and Sam, with Merry, Pippin, and Faramir serving as unlockable characters. Gameplay features were also expanded upon, including multiplayer.

Adapting the closing chapters of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy, The Return of the King is a hack and slash action game that carries the War of the Ring toward its climax. Picking up from the events of The Two Towers, it follows the desperate struggle of Middle-earth's free peoples against the growing darkness of Sauron. The game unfolds across multiple intertwining storylines, letting players take control of the trilogy's beloved heroes, among them the wizard Gandalf, the ranger Aragorn, the elf Legolas, the dwarf Gimli, and the hobbits Frodo and Sam. Their paths diverge across the great battlefields and shadowed roads of the era: the defense of besieged strongholds, sweeping clashes against the armies of Mordor, and the perilous secret journey to carry the One Ring toward its destruction. Faithful to the films, the game plunges players into the epic final campaigns of the war, wielding blade, bow, and magic against overwhelming hordes.