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There was a time when The Lord of the Rings was just a book; now it's a billion-pound industry churning out films, merchandise and games. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is EA's foray into the realm of Middle Earth, and they've chosen good old-fashioned hack-'n'-slashery rather than offering up an RPG. You choose one of three of the fellowship of the Ring, Aragorn, Legolas or Gimli, and guide them through 16 missions of melee combat, where you use your superior fighting skills (and combinations of buttons on your controller) to beat back the hordes of Sauron. How you fight is very important; in a Devil May Cry-style rating system, the more daring moves and perfectly executed combos you pull off, the more points you get at the end of the level. The more points you get the more you can upgrade your attacks, weapons and defensive tactics. In terms of
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a storyline, although it bears the name of the second film, the game includes set pieces from Peter Jackson's Fellowship of the Rings too--Aragorn beating back the Ring Wraiths at Weathertop, the battle with the goblins in the dwarvern caverns of Moria--plus the Battle of Helm's Deep and more footage from The Two Towers. There isn't much more to the game; it looks great, provides a good dose of action, is well executed and it's obvious that a lot of thought has been put into capturing the feel of the films. But it's woefully short and most gamers are going to breeze through this in less time than it takes to watch the special features on the Fellowship of the Ring DVD. But if you're a fan of the film or love a bit of mindless button bashing, then this is a good tie-in. --Kristen Bowditch This review refers to the PlayStation 2 version.
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