DarkMaster
04-25-2003, 03:33 PM
In an announcement made to IGN just moments ago, Electronic Arts' sequel to the ultra-popular movie-licensed actioner The Two Towers is now officially underway. Developed by the same team that assembled last year's excellent effort, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King could be set to be everything the last title was and more. Slated for appearances this Fall on every major platform, including the PlayStation 2, GameCube, PC, and Xbox, (sorry, Mac users, none for you!), the new action/adventure is already being hyped as the most accurate rendition of Middle Earth since the movies themselves. That fact that there's an all-new multiplayer co-op mode has us hyped up as it is.
But what can we expect from Return of the King that we didn't experience before? And what elements from the previous game have been retained to keep returning fans hungry for more? To get those answers, we spoke with EA's Lord of the Rings Executive Producer, Neil Young. A man who has previously worked on the aforementioned Two Towers, Majestic, Ultima Online, and one of our personal favorites, Wing Commander. Here's what Neil had to say:
IGN: After the success of EA's first Lord of the Rings game, The Two Towers, what suggestions did you take from players and critics to implement in this new title?
Neil Young: We felt like Two Towers was a good game, it was very well executed on a very focused thread.
IGN: What kind of game is this? A beat-'em-up, an RPG, or a straight action title?
Neil: Big Action, little adventure is probably the best way to describe the game. Like last year, we've kept the concept of experience points that get converted into a currency to purchase upgrades; although, there is a greater differentiation between the characters this time out.
IGN: Which characters can you play? What are some of the differences between them? Like, for instance, what's it like to play Gandalf as opposed to Sam or Frodo?
Neil: You play Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Frodo, Sam and two to four hidden characters. Characters are differentiated by their moves, upgrades, weaponry, stats, and of course, the environment that they're operating in. Frodo or Sam are not as expert at dispatching Orcs in Cirith Ungol as Gandalf would be at Minas Tirith and of course, they also don't have Magic on their side.
IGN: How have the characters from the first game improved? What can I do with Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn that I couldn't do the first time around?
Neil: One big change this year is how we're making the environments relevant to gameplay. This adds a lot, characters can operate machinery (firing a catapult for example, or cranking a winch) which helps them progress through the levels. Imagine Sam cutting a rope that unleashes a loaded catapult at a wall that collapses a bridge, sending orcs flying and then, as Sam runs to the now unguarded entrance, the bridge collapses around him. The environment will allow for some pretty cool interactions.
Screens:
http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/lotr_rotk_03.jpg
http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/lotr_rotk_02.jpg
http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/lotr_rotk_01.jpg
the rest of the 3 page article, along with more screens, can be found here (http://ps2.ign.com/articles/395/395082p1.html)
But what can we expect from Return of the King that we didn't experience before? And what elements from the previous game have been retained to keep returning fans hungry for more? To get those answers, we spoke with EA's Lord of the Rings Executive Producer, Neil Young. A man who has previously worked on the aforementioned Two Towers, Majestic, Ultima Online, and one of our personal favorites, Wing Commander. Here's what Neil had to say:
IGN: After the success of EA's first Lord of the Rings game, The Two Towers, what suggestions did you take from players and critics to implement in this new title?
Neil Young: We felt like Two Towers was a good game, it was very well executed on a very focused thread.
IGN: What kind of game is this? A beat-'em-up, an RPG, or a straight action title?
Neil: Big Action, little adventure is probably the best way to describe the game. Like last year, we've kept the concept of experience points that get converted into a currency to purchase upgrades; although, there is a greater differentiation between the characters this time out.
IGN: Which characters can you play? What are some of the differences between them? Like, for instance, what's it like to play Gandalf as opposed to Sam or Frodo?
Neil: You play Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Frodo, Sam and two to four hidden characters. Characters are differentiated by their moves, upgrades, weaponry, stats, and of course, the environment that they're operating in. Frodo or Sam are not as expert at dispatching Orcs in Cirith Ungol as Gandalf would be at Minas Tirith and of course, they also don't have Magic on their side.
IGN: How have the characters from the first game improved? What can I do with Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn that I couldn't do the first time around?
Neil: One big change this year is how we're making the environments relevant to gameplay. This adds a lot, characters can operate machinery (firing a catapult for example, or cranking a winch) which helps them progress through the levels. Imagine Sam cutting a rope that unleashes a loaded catapult at a wall that collapses a bridge, sending orcs flying and then, as Sam runs to the now unguarded entrance, the bridge collapses around him. The environment will allow for some pretty cool interactions.
Screens:
http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/lotr_rotk_03.jpg
http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/lotr_rotk_02.jpg
http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/lotr_rotk_01.jpg
the rest of the 3 page article, along with more screens, can be found here (http://ps2.ign.com/articles/395/395082p1.html)