EA served up one of the best crossover titles in years with The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. The game touted one of the hottest licenses in gaming and did a commendable job of translating Peter Jackson's interpretation of Tolkien to an interactive medium. I thought it was one of the slickest looking games on the market -- especially on the PlayStation 2, considering its relatively modest horsepower -- complete with richly detailed textures and dozens of enemies on screen. The gameplay offered something for casual and hard-core gamers alike; the controls were simple enough that almost anyone could play it, but there was enough depth to keep frequent gamers satisfied. The Return of the King offers more of the same, but with even better graphics and more diverse gameplay.

I recently dropped by EA to check out a complete version of the game and was very impressed with what I saw. The Return of the King is very similar to The Two Towers, but has more variety. The action kicks off after the battle at Helm's Deep and branches into three paths: The King's Path, The Wizard's Path, and The Hobbit's Path. The first is similar to the action in The Two Towers in that the main protagonists are Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas. The second path features Gandalf the White in all his wizardly glory. The last path follows the adventures of Frodo, Sam, and Gollum as they make their way to Mount Doom.

Though the game's focus is most definitely on action, but the three paths differ enough to mix things up nicely. The King's Path has the most action, which is expected considering the characters you control. The Wizard's Path is a real treat for all the Gandalf lovers out there; his spells are pretty wicked and are fun to watch. As neither Frodo, Sam, or Gollum are particularly stout combatants, The Hobbit's Path has more stealth segments than the others. There are 15 levels in the game, including two bonus levels. You get to control nine characters, including three secret ones. The coolest part is that after you've beaten the game, you can play any of the levels with any of the characters. This gives The Return of the King some nice replay value.

How does Gandalf keep his threads so white?
To illustrate the differences of each path, I was shown select levels of the game. First up was a Gandalf mission where he must assists the Ents in storming Isengard. The initial part of the level had Gandalf running through Fangorn Forrest beating on numerous Uruk-Hai. Though the white wizard was very adept with his staff and sword, his spells were too awesome for the Uruks to deal with. Mixing up ranged and melee attacks was the key to this mission. Towards the end of the mission Gandalf had to defend an Ent that was trying to tear down one of the tower's supports. Uruk-Hai were attacking the Ent with fire from near and far, so Gandalf had to fend of the nearby Uruks while using spells to pick off the ones far away.

Next I was shown a Hobbit level that had Frodo, Sam, and Gollum fleeing Osgiliath. The trio started at the top of the castle and had to make their way out. As they descended and fended off attackers, they had to be cognizant of any Nazgul attracted to the One Ring. They could only stay in open areas for so long before the Nazgul spotted Frodo, so the action was a combination of fighting, running, and hiding.