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Played Demo... terrible PORT!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 17 / 27
Date: November 09, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I read some of the reviews on here, and thought I'd d/l the demo and check it out. WHAT A WASTE... this game is a terrible port from all the crappy consoles out there. If they could of made it with the PC in mind, it probably would of been much better. The biggest problem is that the camera is locked into pre-determined locations, making it impossible to control your character and see what's coming up behind you. Because of the upteen-billion buttons that consoles use, you have to contort yourself to use all the different attacks. (why do we need 4 different kinds of attacks? One would do just nicely if it actually killed guys effectively. None of the four attack modes really kill guys, you have to use 2 or 3 combos of attacks) The graphics are status quo at best, being completely toned down for the console machines.

PLEASE MAKE GAMES OR THE PC and THEN retard them for the horrible console technology out there!

Hope this helps... oh and beware of marketing interns writing these things...

Great graphics, Not too hard to control

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: January 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

It is interesting to hear that some people find this game extremely easy while some think it is extremely hard. I found the game become much easier once I upgrade my weapons and I learn how to parry enemy's attack.

Gameplay (8/10): It is fun to finish the missions in this game. You do not just kill enemy in this game. Instead, you have to accomplish certain missions. You have to block enemy's invasion, save civilians, etc. Even better, the game allows two players. However, the game has two slight flaws. First, the missions are sometimes confusing, and I had to play several times before I understood what I should do in a level. Second, similar to the plot of the movie itself, massive explosion zillions of the enmeies appears at the same time. Therefore, the graphics looks awesome, but it is confusing to play.

Graphics (10/10): The best graphics I have ever played. They include cutscenes from the movie. However, as I have mentioned the graphics can hinder the visibility of the battlefields, and it sometimes causes confusions.

Control (8/10): Easy to control if you have a gamepad. However, playing it with keyboard can be very hectic.

Difficulty (7/10): I think that the game is slightly difficult. Most of the time I have to use all eight buttons in my gamepad. Remember, mastering how to parry is extremely important in the game.

Storyline (9/10): I heard that the game follows the plot of the book better than the movie.

Overall, it is a great game. Compared to other 3D action games in PS2, I think it is a much better game.

BUY THIS GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: December 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I am a thirteen year old girl, and this is my favorite game of all time. I love The Lord of the Rings, and I have been waiting for this kind of game for a long time. You are actually fighting the orcs, trolls, and mumakil-not just sending people to fight them like you would in a stragety game. Here are some things I particularly like about it:

First of all, the levels you go through are in order of the events that happened. There is the path of the wizard where you get to be Gandalf, the path of the king where you can choose between Aragorn, Legolas, or Gimli, and the path of the hobbits, where you can be Frodo or Sam. There are 12 normal levels, and two bonus levels at the top called palantirs (whoever has read the books/seen the movies knows what a palantir is).

One of my favorite things is that after you finish all the levels, you get to go back and do them again and you get to be WHOEVER YOU WANT. There are also three secret characters who get unlocked if you beat the game and you can be them, too. There are 3 settings-easy, medium, and hard. The first level gives you instructions as you go, and the easier levels are near the bottom and the harder ones are near the top.

As for the fighting-it's relatively simple. The left mouse button is speed attack (used for unshielded enemies), right mouse button is heavy attack (used against shielded enemies-don't use this too much or you will be vulnerable), you use the a,s,d, and w keys to control where you go, parrying (blocking other attacks) is q, holding down shift and pressing the left mouse button is ranged attack (arrows, throwing knives etc.) and there are also some keys that you only use occasionally, like tab is jump back, Ctrl is physical attack (punch, kick, push etc.) and F5 is the special ability-with each character it's different. But this is only half of the fighting.

The other half is combos. You can buy upgrades and combos with experience points you earn in the game by killing enemies. Combos are when you press the keys in a certain order and something completely different happens that is very useful against enemies at certain times. One that is particularly useful is Orc Hewer-it is left mouse button, left mouse button, right mouse button. It is a powerful attack. There are different levels your characters can upgrade to and buy more upgrades. The upgrade-buying stops at ten, but the character can go up to level twenty (but it takes some time!).

This may all seem confusing at first, but when you play it for a while you get it all figured out and then you will appreciate how wonderful this game is. I know I have. If this game seems violent to you by the reviews, don't worry-it's not as violent as it sounds. If you love The Lord of the Rings and computer games and have a little patience and an open mind to this game, you will LOVE it. I guarantee that.

Happy Playing!

Great Game for the experienced PC Gamer

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: January 03, 2004
Author: Amazon User

First let me say to the skeptical buyer, this game isn't as difficult as everyone makes it seem. It IS annoying to not have a quick save function which would make the missions WAAAAAAY easier to complete, but you have to THINK to accomplish the your goals to progress to new missions. You can't just hack and slash like people seem to think, you'll get wrecked. You need to parry (block) almost as much as attack, and observe your surroundings, the enemies around you. They all take turns to strike you and you need to time your blocks and counterattacks, something that requires good skill and should be a welcomed challenged to PC gamers bored with dull first person shooters and slashers that have pitiful enemy AI.
You need all your concentration for this game. You also need to remember your tasks at hand, many of which require you to manage your TIME above all else...HINT: don't always stop and fight. It can steal crucial seconds from you that you need to complete other objectives at that moment. It really just takes multiple attempts at each mission to figure out the correct method to finish each one. Luckily, there are a few simple
"just stay alive" hack and slash missions which require much less from you.
As far as CPU power, I'm running it through Win98 with a P3 600Mhz ( 100Mhz BELOW the recommended ) but I am using a GeForce 4 128MB video card which takes a HUGE load off my soon to be replaced P3 fossil. But case in point the game runs great on my system with no chop or lag whatsoever. I was really suprised.
All in all it's a great game for the PC and you can just buy a $10 Gamepad Pro which I use after comparing that and the Keyboard/Mouse control. The game I think is easier playing with a Gamepad. Movement is smoother and the combos are easier to execute which can mean life or death. I gave the game a 4 out of 5 simply because I feel every game should have some sort of quicksave/in game save feature that would break up the missions into more manageable sections.
But anyone who likes quality games should buy this. No one even mentioned that once you persevere and beat the game through, you can play ANY mission as ANY of the characters and as unlockable extra characters. That in itself is worth the challenge of the game. A must for any good game collection.

I Can't Stop Playing This Game!!!!!!!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: December 31, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I was so looking forward to a fun game to play this winter and here it is!! This game is extremely difficult at first until you get used to all the functions on the keyboard and mouse. I'm sure this game is much easier to play on a console. But, regardless, I can't stop playing this game!! Even though I finished it, I keep coming back to replay all the levels because they are so fun!! I'm normally not a 'hack and slash' kind of gamer, but I'm having a blast! Some of the higher levels have taken me some time to realize what exactly I'm supposed to do. There is a strategy guide available by Prima if you get stuck. Most of the time you can hit the ESC button once or twice to pass on the movie cuts if you don't want to watch them. What else can I say, it's just so fun!! I've enjoyed every level so far (my favorites being Shelob's Lair, Cirith Ungol, Top of the Wall, The Courtyard, Pelennor Fields, and the Black Gate). I can play the Pelennor Fields, Courtyard, and Black Gate over and over and it's still so much fun!! I have spent hours on this game and didn't even know that much time has passed. I did discover one helpful hint on "Road to Isengard". When you get to the part with the Ents, stand off to the side and let the Ents destroy all the orcs for you; that way you don't have to lose any of your strength. If you want to gain the most points and experience, you need to learn to use your 'killing move' or 'finishing move' to gain valuable points.

The idea is good, but...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 8 / 13
Date: November 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Just to set it straight, I've only played the demo of this game. The character animations seemed good, but even on a relatively high end system (2.66 ghz, 512 MB, 64 MB mobile Athalon Radeon) I had a bit of choppiness. The fighting was good and relatively seamless. My biggest problem is the controls. Like the other reviewers said, it looks as if this game was originally made for a console and then converted to pc. While this could work, the controls are impossible. The point of view they chose, which is much like the view in Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast when the lightsaber is used, would work if, like Jedi, there was a crosshair to point and attack with. However, they chose to model the controls after a console game controller. By this, I mean that in order to attack something on top of the screen from you, you have to push "w," to attack something below, you push "d," and so forth. The mouse does no good in aiming, rather it interferes because to move it side to side changes the direction you face. All in all, I don't think I could play the game because the controls are so difficult.

Great game hard to control on pc

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: November 11, 2003
Author: Amazon User

We have the pc version and the PS2 version. Graphics on the pc are flawless but character is so much harder to control using default mouse and keyboard setup. I also tried using my Microsoft steering wheel and my joystick and its still hard to control.

On the PS2 the graphics are less but the console game controller is so much eaier to to work with.

Other then that the game is great, if you liked the Two Towers, you wont be disappointed.

best game ever played

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: January 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This pc game is the best. The action is the best, the graphics are the best, EVERY THING IS THE BEST!!!!!. Now people say it is too hard to control on keyborad, it is true somewhat, but you can get a gamepad. I got mine for 10 bucks in bestbuy( it is the ps2 controller except it is on a pc controller format.) The view is good, because you can see every thing around you. It is like a 360 view. Also you can play two player which is cool. You can get points by killing orcs, and later buy cool moves or wepones. Overall the game is a really good PC game.
Note: THE GRAPHICS WILL ONLY BE GOOD IF YOU HAVE A GOOD GRAPHIC CARD.

Not as hard as people say

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: February 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I started playing the game yesterday and am 3/4 way through it already today. It's definitely not as hard as some people say it is but you cannot just mash the left-click button and hope to go through all the levels unscathed. There is a little strategy involved.

First of all when surrounded, press on the parry button continuously - this will automatically block almost all attacks against you. Try to back away so as to have enemies facing you on one side only. Use a combination of left click, right-click. Right-click (or fierce attack) is a must against shielded ennemies. Against the bosses there's almost always a technique that's better than direct frontal assault that make them actually easier meat.

And as for the King of the Dead level where you have to run to avoid being crushed by the falling boulders there is absolutely no timing involved. The rocks falling in front of you don't hurt you and are there just for show. You only die if you're not fast enough so just run forward like hell and don't stop anywhere and you should be ok. You might die a few times because you won't know where to go to next since the path curves around a lot but everytime you'll go a bit further and once you know the whole way it's piece of cake everytime. Trust me it's really not that hard. And actually this applies to pretty much all the levels - there's always a "right" way to do them so you will probably restart a few times until you find it but most of the time it's fairly easy to figure out.

So there you go. My conclusion is that ROTK is a game without much depth but with great graphics directly taken from the movie, demanding a bit of patience but altogether not that hard to beat and decently fun - specially in coop mode. Get it if you liked the movies and are not easily frustrated by a bit of repetition otherwise avoid it.

WhoaaaaH!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 9
Date: March 19, 2004
Author: Amazon User

OK, I lose interest in pretty much every game in about 2 -5 days. But ROTK - well, I keep inviting my friend on weekend nights to come over so that we can kill Orcses and such together, and be aragorn and legolas for a couple of hours. If I was to buy but one game, it would be this one. So - go, buy, enjoy, and get obsessed by it! It is SO worth it (excuse my Americanisms!)!

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