Lord of the Rings: Return of the King details and screens

[DarkMaster]

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:






the rest of the 3 page article, along with more screens, can be found here

[Perfect Stu]

sounds great...if they can improve on everything from the Two Towers like they say they have, then it will most likely find its way into my collection

[tarakan69]

EA... I hate you with a passion... and I will NEVER...YOU HEAR ME... NEVER buy one of your cursed games.

Damn you to hell... bitch company that sucks the life of everything they buy. I will NEVER forget what you did to Maxis you blood sucking bastards.

[fingersman]

Originally posted by tarakan69
EA... I hate you with a passion... and I will NEVER... NEVER buy one of your cursed games.

Damn you to hell... bitch company that sucks the life of everything they buy. I will NEVER forget what you did to Maxis you blood sucking bastards.

And emotions fly high in the forums once again.

[tarakan69]

Originally posted by fingersman
And emotions fly high in the forums once again.

Judging by your avatar... I can say if they do buy Blizzard.. the only thing you'll be playing is lifeless corpses of the past glory of their days.

[Stonecutter]

Originally posted by tarakan69
EA... I hate you with a passion... and I will NEVER...YOU HEAR ME... NEVER buy one of your cursed games.

Damn you to hell... bitch company that sucks the life of everything they buy. I will NEVER forget what you did to Maxis you blood sucking bastards.

For once our hatreds actually agree with each other!

I wouldn't say I'll never buy an EA game, but I generally avoid them like the plague.

NFL2k3 is SO much better than Madden it's not even funny anymore.

[Rndm_Perfection]

Originally posted by tarakan69
Judging by your avatar... I can say if they do buy Blizzard.. the only thing you'll be playing is lifeless corpses of the past glory of their days.

Yet another person I'll begin to call Stoney...

Peculiar though, your name never did have any relation to the nick, unlike good ol' Stoney C.

[Rndm_Perfection]

Originally posted by Stonecutter
For once our hatreds actually agree with each other!

I wouldn't say I'll never buy an EA game, but I generally avoid them like the plague.

NFL2k3 is SO much better than Madden it's not even funny anymore.

Even the voice track for Madden isn't good! "Y'see, there's this catching zone.. and what the receiver doesn't realize is that he has to be in the zone to catch the ball," as well as "The quarterback obviously doesn't know that gaining yards is part of winning the game."

Quotes not accurate

I dunno, to me he just sounds like an arse in the game.

[Perfect Stu]

Originally posted by Stonecutter
NFL2k3 is SO much better than Madden it's not even funny anymore.

I strongly disagree...Madden's the better franchise. This is coming from a footbal fanatic and competitor...Doesn't make my opinion any more valid then yours...just maybe my knowledge of the game.

And EA is a great publisher...besides Madden, you have Battlefield 1942 (GOTY 2002 IMO), Medal of Honor, SSX, NBA Street, Lord of the Rings, etc.

So much hating in this thread :

[tarakan69]

I live in Europe so I don't play American sports but all I can say is

Konami Pro Evolution Soccer, ISS>>>>>>EA FIFA (RUBBISH)

Oh by the way

Winning Eleven>>>>> Konami Pro Evlotion Soccer

Battlefield GOTY??? WTF... EA is a company that removes blood, from a damn WAR game just so it carves to a greater audience. I mean I don't get all too excited over the violence factor in GTA... but I mean come on... It's war... I shoot somebody... I want freaking blood!!

[Perfect Stu]

wow...I can't believe someone is angry at the absence of blood in a game...I'm guessing it's because of your unwarranted hate towards EA

some people...

[tarakan69]

My opinion > Your opinion


Guess we won't get anywhere...

[Perfect Stu]

Originally posted by tarakan69
My opinion > Your opinion


Guess we won't get anywhere...

grow up, fool

[Shadow_Link]

Originally posted by tarakan69
Winning Eleven>>>>> Konami Pro Evlotion Soccer

How can Winning Eleven be better than itself?

Pro Evolution Soccer and WE are the same games, it's just that they call it PES in Europe and WE in Japan.

Now I would agree with you if you say WE/PES (same) > ISS.

[ZeroCool51]

This game look's sweet, i own two towers and will most likely get this one.