Game #1207: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

 The king never left.

  I spent a huge part of my childhood playing The Lord of The Rings: The Return of the King, albeit on PC, over and over and over again. Leveling up every single character, playing and replaying every stage with everyone. I loved it. The Two Towers was a fantastic game, with the Return of the King they dialed it up a notch.

 Well, at its core, it's the same game. Same gameplay. Weak and strong attacks, a parry, a projectiles attack, a score multiplier that, when maxed, makes you stronger, and an incredibly satisfying downward stab to finish off enemies. It feels a bit faster now, more arcadey, which I love. It also has Multiplayer, which makes it even better. 

 But they took it up a notch by making everything bigger. While it has more or less the same amount of stages, they are longer, and now there are three routes: The Wizard route, in which you play as Gandalf, the King's Route, in which you play as Aragorn, Legolas or Gimli and the Hobbit Route, in which you play as Sam. But don't worry, after you finish the game you can replay any stage as any other character. You can also unlock Frodo, Merry, Pippin and friggin' Faramir.

 Honestly, there's not much else left to say. It's just like the Two Towers but better. If anything, some of the final stages can veer a bit into frustration, but it's not too bad considering how great all the other stages are.

 Yeah, The Return of the King has aged pretty well, it's still one of the best licensed games I have ever played. If you removed the license, the game would be JUST as good, but as someone who adores the book AND the movies, the license only makes it better, and they used it very well.

 9.0