The Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers

Developer: Electronic Arts     Publisher: Electronic Arts     Released: 2002     Genre: Action

When the Lord of the Rings films hit it was only a matter of time before licensed titles would follow.  But I’m pretty sure most expected an epic adventure game along the lines of Zelda or Legacy of Kain.  No one thought Electronic Arts would create a 3d brawler. The genre had fallen by the wayside once the 32-bit consoles hit as no one could translate that gameplay to 3d effectively. EA not only created a game faithful to its source material but also made one of the best beat em ups in years.  The Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers is a great game that has held up quite well over the years.

Despite its title The Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers condenses the first two films into one game.  The most important plot points of both movies are the source for levels in the game.  As far as telling a cohesive narrative, eh, they tried.  Interspersing clips from the movies to serve as bridging devices between stages makes it feel disjointed.  To be fair EA were limited; in a weird deal they had the movie license while Vivendi had the book license.  But for what they have created it works well enough.

Outside of its introduction where you control Isildur Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas are your three main characters.  The rest of the fellowship will fight by your side at set points.  All three characters have their differences, although they are a bit too much. Legolas is probably the fan favorite that everyone will rush to.  However he requires nuance to use effectively.  He is the best with a bow as he attacks twice as fast and has a stock of sixty arrows.  Unfortunately he is frail.  A few well-placed hits and he is dead. Aragorn is well rounded in all categories; perhaps a bit too good in my opinion. He has no flaws making him the go to in every situation.  Sadly Gimli brings up the rear. He is strongest but is so slow it isn’t worth bothering.

 

By default you have a lot of combat options. You have a fast attack, a heavy attack mainly used to break shields, and a few defensive moves to block or parry attacks.  You can chain these moves together to perform combos which fills the meter.  Performing successive attacks without taking damage will fill it faster and once full enables perfect status.  Here your attacks will one shot enemies; perfect status lasts until you take a hit.  This is important as your combos and attacks are graded, from fair, good, excellent and perfect. The better the grades at the end of a level the more experience awarded.   You want these to enhance your move set.

One of my biggest issues with the beat ‘em up genre is its small move set. The Two Towers avoids that by offering a massive number of attacks to purchase.  Skills are split by level with max level being eight.  These range from simple button presses to complex combinations that have a short execution window.  There is one technique, Isildur’s Swift Terror, which is game breaking.  This simple three button combo almost instantly puts you in perfect status, enabling you to clear enemies and rack up experience easily. You can buy this after the first level and I doubt most will avoid it. For those more honorable than myself the system offers a lot of options to tailor how you play.

The combat system offers a lot of depth but to a certain extent the game does not ask you to make the most of it.  The Two Towers suffers from a limited pool of enemies.  Once you have learned their patterns it becomes routine dealing with them.  To its credit the game seems aware of this as most levels have set objectives or other obstacles to deal with.  Amon Hen tasks you with slaying a set number of Uruk –hai before Frodo and Boromir die.  In the Plains of Rohan you must save villagers from Uruk-Hai before they are slaughtered or burn to death.  The difficulty curve rises sharply in the middle as the game tosses the more aggressive enemies in the mix more frequently.  But outside of the last few stages which run far too long I would say the challenge is about medium.

The Two Towers offers a wealth of features that give it longevity.  You can unlock production art, further movie clips and cast interviews. The quality of the interviews is….questionable to say the least.  While the three playable characters have their quirks there are character specific missions that unlock at the end. This is a decently long game as is and these levels add to its quality.  In addition there is a secret character and a twenty floor tower that truly tests your mastery of the battle system. All in all you get your money’s worth with this one.

In Closing

The Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers is an awesome brawler and a great licensed title. Who would have thought Electronic Arts would strike gold with this format?  Great gameplay and tons of content make this a great buy.