As a follow-up to last year's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers game, Return of the King is largely similar, but, well, larger. With it, EA has done a laudable job of sequel-making - learning from the original by removing the bad, building upon the good, and adding just enough new things to make it interesting. This review functions best with prior knowledge of what the TTT game entails.

In a surprising and somewhat hazardous move, the RotK game was released before the movie by a fair time margin. It was constructed in such a way as to spoil only a small amount of the story for those who haven't heard it before, but as compared with the film, it flubs a few lines and scenes, and even lets out a few secrets (there are things in the game that aren't in the theatrical release, and thus can be concluded will show up in the Extended version). So while it may not be as good a movie companion as its predecessor, the RotK game still does a smashing job.

When JRR Tolkein created the world of Arda and Middle-Earth, and more specifically the tale of the Lord of the Rings, he crafted a rich tapestry of simultaneous detail and wonder, able to entice and consume the imagination. Peter Jackson has more recently become noteworthy in his own right, for being able to cinematize the Lord of the Rings into three splendid works - each a triumph over the last - while still remaining respectably faithful to the word of Tolkein. While it is narrated by Gandalf and filled to the brim with cutscenes from the movie, the RotK game, like TTT before it, has little story to speak of. It can at times be disappointing to neglect the epic storytelling potential, but at the same time, doing so doesn't detract from the actual game.

The gameplay of RotK is immediately identical to that of TTT, but with the maxim "more is better." Where Two Towers had three playable characters and one secret, Return has six playable characters and three secret ones (more or less, rounding out the entire fellowship). While the characters are at first restricted to pathways (Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli to the Path of the King missions; Gandalf to the Path of the Wizard missions; Sam and Frodo to the Path of the Hobbits missions), this restriction is broken upon the completion of the game's last story mission, which shouldn't take long at all - though where TTT had 12 missions and one bonus, RotK has 13 and two bonuses (and even the shortest RotK mission is longer than the longest TTT mission). There's also a lot more environmental interaction, with catapults, gate winches, and all sorts of flaming weapon goodness. The upgrade system is mostly the same, with the addition that certain upgrades (like increased life) can be bought in bulk, netting it for all the characters in the Fellowship for less than what it would cost to buy it individually for each of them.

Graphically and soundwise, again, RotK and TTT are virtually identical. The movie cutscenes look great, and usually run smoothly, while the in-game graphics are enough to get by. Sound effects are pleasing, the music fitting, characters' sound bytes taken directly from the actors (most of the time).

Again in respect to replay value, RotK and TTT are similar in content, while RotK has more overall to offer. With fifteen total missions and nine total characters to play through them all, and a generally higher level of difficulty, RotK can keep you busy as long as you could possibly want it to. And, while there's no word from John Rhys-Davies, there are a few new interviews to unlock - including one with Elijah Wood (Frodo), Billy Boyd (Pippin), and Dominic Monaghan (Merry) filled with gamer trash-talk.

The Two Towers was recognized as, while not being perfect, a more than respectable movie-to-game production; and Return of the King trumps it in every way. There are new (and bigger) levels to play through, and more characters to use (hobbits! and Gandalf!). There's even a co-op play mode, though it's not much to speak of. Return of the King just has more to do, and more fun to offer. It should be interesting to see what EA does with the next game to come in the series, the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

Progress: Complete

JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings novels have long been favorites of sci-fi/fantasy geeks the world over. They have been hailed as some of the greatest literary pieces ever written. The movie franchise based on these books, directed by Peter Jackson, has also received more than a little praise. Electronic Arts took it upon itself to make a video game based on the first two movies - The Fellowship of the Ring, and The Two Towers - for Gamecube, Playstation 2, and Xbox; and despite humongous expectations, it has succeeded spectacularly.

The Two Towers is an episodic action-RPG that puts the player in the shoes of Aragorn the Ranger, Gimli the Dwarf, or Legolas the Elf in a series of missions - each of which is based on a scene in one of the movies, and each of which involves battling hordes of orcs, goblins, trolls, and uruk-hai to the death; those epic battle scenes written by Tolkien and directed by Jackson are now in the hands of Joe Gamer.

The Lord of the Rings itself has a splendid story, one that cannot be accurately described in short (except to praise it). The movies also do a wonderful job of retaining the story, despite a handful of changes for the sake of cinematics. The game, however, possesses little story; it essentially assumes that the player knows the plot, then thrusts him into select situations from it. If you're playing the game in order to see the story of the first two Lord of the Rings installments, then you've come to the wrong place; however, if you're playing it with prior knowledge of the storyline, the game will serve to enhance many beloved moments.

The Two Towers is an action RPG, but not in quite the same manner as Diablo and its kin. TTT could more accurately be compared to Gauntlet Legends, but this still does not quite serve to portray it. There are twelve missions in the game, and three characters to play as. In the first two missions, play is restricted to a single character for each, for the integrity of the storyline; but in the following missions, the player chooses one of three characters (Aragorn, Legolas, or Gimli) and plays it out. The missions are either taken directly from the movies, as in Balin's Tomb and Amon Hen, or adapted from them using some literary freedom, as in the villages of Rohan. Each mission pits the player against large enemy forces, sometimes with the help of other characters (who are computer-controlled, but have abilities based on how the player has built those characters up - more on this later).

Each character has both a melee weapon and a projectile weapon. Aragorn has his longsword and a bow; Legolas, elven blades and his bow; and Gimli, an axe and smaller throwing axes. Melee battles are controlled by different buttons (one for a quick attack, one for a slower but more powerful attack, one for kicking an enemy away, one for parrying enemy blows, one for finishing off an enemy on the ground, and one for a quick jump back). Long range weapons are brought out by holding a button, aimed with the control stick, and fired with another button. Combo moves can also be executed by pressing a certain sequence of buttons, resulting in a powerful attack. These different attacks will come in handy when the game throws out more powerful - and more varied - enemies as things move on. These combos, as well as other upgrades (like more life and more powerful weapons), can be purchased with skill points attained at the end of a mission - a player earns skill points for every kill made in a mission, with more points given based on how well he does.

Each character has his own specialties. Gimli is slow, and his projectile weapons are not very impressive; but his axe has great might, and his upgrades will net him a very large amount of life. Legolas can have troubles holding his own in melee combat, but he is fast, and his arrows are powerful (becoming even more powerful with upgrades). Aragorn is somewhat of a blend of the two, possessing medium strength, medium speed, and balanced melee and projectile abilities.

The graphics of The Two Towers are a mixed bag. They can be separated into three categories: gameplay graphics, computer-generated cinematics, and actual film footage. The film footage, obviously, looks very nice; the CG cinemas are respectable; and while the gameplay graphics look quite good at a distance, when they are used for cinematics, they appear somewhat flawed. In short, though at times cinematic graphics will appear bland, graphics while playing the game are impressive. The game's soundtrack is taken directly from the movies, and sounds magnificent, scaling well depending upon the battle situations; and sound effects, from exploding barrels to clanking weapons, are all excellent. One particular audial point is that all of the characters' sound bytes - from spoken speech to battle grunts - were recorded directly from the movies' actors.

Missions can be played and completed with multiple characters, characters can be upgraded, there are three difficulty levels, there is a bonus mission, and there is a bonus character. Ordinarily, this might seem like more than enough replay value; except that the missions go by quickly, and by the time you're done, your characters are already almost fully upgraded. However, there is a saving grace: unlockables. Several things are unlocked from progress in the game, including conceptual art, movie screenshots, and interviews with people who developed and voiced for the game. There are interviews with Ian McKellan (Gandalf), Elijah Wood (Frodo), Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), Orlando Bloom (Legolas), and John Rhys-Davies (Gimli), and they range from informative to humorous. Ian McKellan regrets to admit that he doesn't have the necessary skills to play a game that most people "under the age of six" seem to possess. Elijah Wood talks about his love for video games, professing his own game-geekdom. John Rhys-Davies calls the game his "new addiction," though he claims that he could never get to the required level to unlock his own interview. The interviews are themselves perhaps replay enough, a very apt reward for playing the game, and a joy to watch and re-watch over again.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, despite the hurdles of delivering well upon an established and beloved franchise, has managed to do so. It boasts great gameplay features and executes them well. Perhaps its only failing is that it isn't exceptionally long as a game. Its sequel, though, hopes to correct that.

Progress: Complete

Universal Studios Theme Park places you in, you guessed it, the Universal Studios Theme Park. There are rides (mini-games) you can ride (play), and a few other inane things to do.

You'll start out (after you enter your name and select a politically correct child-character model) next to Woody Woodpecker, ready to listen to his headache-inducing voice. He tells you about the park, but if you're anything like me, you'll hold down A and scroll through the text, swiftly reading (or possibly ignoring) it just to get away. After this speech, you're set free, with little direction.

The perspective of this game is akin to that of Resident Evil (PC, PS1). You're in a screen, in which you can walk around, with a fixed camera perspective; then when you move to another screen, by walking to the appropriate spot on the edge of your current screen, it loads the new screen in a short blur-effect, and you're in another screen with another (different angle) fixed camera perspective. However, like the aforementioned game, this suffers from some inherent flaws: if you get stuck behind something, or if you're really far away, it's nearly impossible to see where your character is. Also, the spots where you can get from one screen to another aren't entirely obvious.

Something which the game does not emphasize as much as it should is that you need points to buy things from Woody; and you need to buy things to get anywhere or do anything. You can get points by completing mini-games, and by shaking hands with Universal Studios figures (like the Creature from the Black Lagoon), but the best way by far of getting points is by picking up trash. That's right. By picking up pieces of trash on the streets, then depositing them in trash cans, you'll get a lot of points.

Oh, there's one more thing you'll ''need'': a map. A few screens away from the starting point, you'll encounter a few people (two, to be precise) who will tell you that you should get a map, and that you can get one from a guy near the entrance. So, hopefully remembering where you came from, backtrack a few screens, and get the map (side-note: if you play this game again for some reason, you'll notice that you HAVE to talk to the people a few areas away first, or the person near the entrance will not offer you a map). Not that it's particularly useful; because of the game's camera, and since the map only notes where you are and not where you're facing, there is no way to tell where you are going.

And then there's the people in the park, who number somewhere in the thousands (though there are only a dozen or so different character models), and have the collective intelligence of a pumpkin patch. They also have several inane and repetitive phrases. By the time you're done with this game, you'll be very sick of hearing ''This is exciting!'' not only because they keep saying it, but also because they're wrong.

You can get into a ride or two at the beginning without lifting a finger; but after a while, the lines fill up, and you'll need to do one of three things: get an E-pass (which will let you in one ride regardless of line, but only works once), get a Hat for a particular ride (apparently, Woody doesn't care about lines if you've got a cool hat), or go turn the game off and do something more fun, like hitting yourself in the face with a blender.

Here's an overview of each ride, mini-game, and feature of Universal Studios Theme Park:

Backdraft. A building is burning, and there are people trapped inside. The point of the game is to go through the burning building and rescue all the people. The trick is that you're not invincible, and getting hit by fire hurts you. There are hearts along the way to replenish your life, which you'll need, because sometimes getting hit is pretty hard to avoid, with the awkward camera angles. And if you miss even one of the trapped people, you lose.

Back to the Future. Imagine a racing game with one opponent who never falls behind you, and whenever he gets too far ahead, stops and waits for you. Imagine that the opponent has lines like ''What's up!'' and ''Hey, what's up!'' Imagine that the goal of the game is to crash into your opponent. This is the Back to the Future game. Biff has stolen the time-traveling DeLorean; so your goal is to race up to Biff in the other DeLorean, and knock his car out. This game has fairly impressive graphics, the levels are well done, and the whole flying car experience is nice, but a bit repetitive. It's not too bad.

E.T. Adventure. This game was challenging, but only because the controls were the most awkward thing since Janet Reno in rollerskates. This mini-game is a semi-top-down-perspective side-scroller, racing your bicycle through the streets and forests to get E.T. to the waiting spaceship in time. The intuitive controls you would think of do not work; this takes a lot of getting used to. And even if you get used to it, the level design is very unimpressive.

Jaws. Fighting giant sharks was never quite like this. You're placed on a boat, with sonar (to track Jaws), and crates. Pick up a crate. When Jaws attacks with his big gaping mouth, you need to throw the crate at him. It takes a while to perfect your timing, but after that, you'll find this game unrewardingly simple and dull.

Jurassic Park. This game puts you in the back of the Jurassic Park humvee, and you get to shoot at dinosaurs with a laser gun while the humvee is driven along (not by you). Almost all you do is use the A button to shoot, or hold it down to charge a shot. There's also an awkward targeting system, but I won't go into that. Despite the fact that the laser seems to be more powerful than the entire continent of Eurasia, you'll have a lot of trouble taking down velociraptors, because even if you think you've hit them, they can easily avoid being shot due to their speed. Overall, this is almost a fun game, if you can cope with the horrible accuracy.

Waterworld. Let's clarify something from the start: this is not a game. In the Waterworld ride, you choose one of five spots in the semicircular bleachers from which to see the event (the viewing angle changes), and then watch a scene from the movie Waterworld. As if this fact in itself was not enough to steer you away, they pull it off really badly. The graphics are good, with the fire and water splashing effects; but it isn't exciting, or even interesting. It's just a seaplane crashing through a barrier and splashing onto the water. Then flames shoot up, and it's over in 7.9 seconds of pointlessness.

Wild Wild Wild West. In this game, you compete with a computer (or second player) controlled gunslinger, trying to shoot down as many targets as possible in a western town. Not only is this game neither wild, wild, nor wild, but the controls have sensitivity issues. It's not bad, but gets dull.

The Quiz. Run by ''Winnie Woodpecker,'' this mini-game is a quiz about Universal Studios movies. It was a long time before I started seeing duplicate questions, though there were also a few typoes I noticed. During the quiz, I was very tempted to curse loudly at my television, due to the obscure and inane questions (my friend said ''hectares....what the **** is a hectare?''). And after failing the quiz, the woodpecker says ''You need to watch more movies'' in positively the most infuriating way possible.

15 Puzzle. Like everyone's old love-to-hate slide puzzle, this mini-game gives you a slide puzzle of a selected size (3x3 blocks, 4x4, or 5x5) to re-arrange into a picture. As with real slide puzzle games, unless you know how to do this, it is entirely possible that this game will drive you to smash your head into a brick wall.

Concentration. Finally, a game that makes sense! Just like the old Concentration game, and just as simple. Sadly, this is one of the best games that Universal Studios Theme Park has to offer.

''Universal Studios'' letters. Throughout the park, you may see letters laying on the ground (they look sorta like trash, only gold-colored). Walk over them to collect them; it'll fill in a letter of ''UNIVERSAL STUDIOS,'' and you'll get some points. You get a stamp if you get all the letters.

Stamps. Collect stamps from the mini-games. Blue stamps are for completing them, and Red stamps are for doing them well (in Medium and Hard difficulties). After you get all the (blue) stamps, you can see the ''Hollywood Magic Show,'' which is a bunch of badly-animated fireworks, and a cheesy excuse for an ending. If want to see what happens after you get all the Red stamps, knock yourself out; I personally didn't have the patience to do so.

Some of the mini-games are insultingly simple, while others are insultingly impossible. The music throughout the park is poorly done, and very mentally tiring at times. The sound effects are repetitive and annoying, and the spoken voices are just plain irritating. The graphics are good sometimes, mediocre most of the time, and horrible the rest of the time. Replay value in this game doesn't exist, since there's no new challenges after one time through, and the old ones are things you just don't want to do again. Fun factor is low to none. This game appears to be geared towards kids, but I'm not sure if they'd enjoy it much either, with the massive park to meander through. And there's another thing I'm wondering about - this game is rated Teen. I was surprised when Super Smash Bros. Melee earned a Teen, though it is about fighting, after all; but this one just doesn't make sense. And if the game is for Teens, then why in the name of Miyamoto are all the characters you can select small children?!

Another minor feature that bugs me is that you need to save the game manually. Unlike most Gamecube games I've seen/played so far, where saves are automatic or you're prompted to save after doing something, you need to select Save from the menu and manually save your game here. This is just a little thing, but every little thing adds up.

Overall, this game should not have been made. I'd like to hope that anyone who was able to purchase a Gamecube Development Kit would have some talent at making games; it is clear that Universal Studios Theme Park does not show this in any way. I'm impressed with how they managed to make so many different game engines for the mini-games, but it's too bad they're almost all horrible games.

Bottom Line: Do not buy this game. Do not rent this game. If you are offered this game by someone, run away. This game might have been successful if it was used as a demo game to show off what the Gamecube can do, because it has a variety of mini-games; but again, even if it was for demo only, there's still the problem that the park is too big. If for some reason, you play this game and like it, then I wish you the best of luck; but I highly urge you against that, because there are better things you can do with your time, like writing letters to government officials asking to make the grass pink.

Progress: Complete

A tactical game with an action twist and an English accent. Future Tactics is set in a somewhat post-apocalyptic world of... you know, the setting isn't really that interesting. There are evil alien monsters and you have to blow them up. It's turn-based, but units move in real-time when their turn is up, and you can even jump over stuff. However, all attacks (as far as I know) are projectiles, usually guns, but sometimes lobbing grenades. When you attack, you must do a short series of steps to lock on to a target, the accuracy of which will affect your hit.

The cool part about this game (okay, the main cool part - the soundtrack is also pretty spiffy, if a bit loud in some places) is the malleable terrain. When you shoot objects, they can fly up in the air, fall down, roll around; explosions will actually make craters in the ground. This may not have been thought all the way through - after a few hits in the same place, you'll basically have a tiger trap in front of you - but it's a nice thought. Unfortunately the lack of variety in gameplay hasn't compelled me to follow through with this one thus far.

Progress: Third mission

I-Ninja is loud-mouthed, rambunctious, and full of rage and wanton violence. He's the worst ninja ever. But, he's pretty fun to use as a means of slicing guys up. The game's failings are clear from the outset, but there are a few things it does pretty well.

Combat is simplistic, but not without merit. In addition to just running into guys and slashing around, there are certain scripted encounters with miniboss-type enemies which will place Ninja and the baddie in an anime-styled action tube, with leaping and slashing and so forth. There are also some environmental puzzles ala Prince of Persia (though not nearly as impressive). The level design is somewhat eye-catching, if a little monotonous; the enemies use robots and have control panels everywhere, so a lot of areas look the same.

There's even some character growth, though in the end it's somewhat disappointing. Ninja receives sword upgrades based on the amount of enemies he's killed, but you'll have the final sword long before you even have access to the last levels of the game. You can also get health upgrades by earning new belts, which in turn are from completing more levels, but, more importantly, you need higher belts to access new areas. And, apparently, someone decided that playing each level once isn't enough to proceed; each level has multiple 'grades' you can earn (by doing alternate challenges like a time attack, or collecting red coins, or defeating all the enemies), and you'll need to do these to open up the game farther. This is what's kept me in what I believe is the final area of the game, without the impetus to finish it up.

Progress: Moon Base

It's not quite a Mega Man title, as it's full of the Battle Network mythos and even has weird Battle Chip mechanics. It's not quite a Battle Network title, because it's really a sidescrolling platformer in the vein of classic Mega Man. What Network Transmission ends up being is confused and unentertaining.

Progress: Finished first stage

Being released around the same time as Geist and Psi-Ops didn't really work to Second Sight's benefit. As of this time I've barely made my way into this one. It definitely has some interesting trappings of its own, but the mixture of control schemes for shooting and psychic powers thus far fails to impress me.

Progress: Experimentation

Imagine you're playing Super Mario 64, but instead of Mario, you're controlling a weird little wolfman-child-thing. Also, instead of collecting Stars and Coins, you're collecting Wraithhearts and Wraithheart Shards. Also, instead of saving the princess from the evil king Bowser, you're saving the universe(?) from the evil king I don't care what his name is.

Now, imagine that there are metal claw-gloves on your hands that are, individually, bigger than your head. This isn't just the main character's gimmick, this is what playing the game feels like. Trying to maneuver, climb walls, and even fight shit is an exercise in tolerance.

Without having played too much of the game - I think I have like six out of 60 of the whatevers I need to beat it - I'm going to pre-emptively give this game a rating of 1/10. That one point is for having the chutzpah to actually be released in a world which clearly does not welcome this game.

Progress: 6 Wraithhearts

The game portion, e.g. running and gunning (though not simultaneously), is really excellently done. Upgrading abilities through collecting blood, enemy weak spots, a wide variety of enemy types and attacks, and different character specialties suited for different situations all make up a great gameplay premise. With a few special ability exceptions, the killing flows ultra-smooth. The storyline was pretty interesting, too. Unfortunately, by halfway through the second-to-last chapter of the game, it basically becomes a long cinema sequence where you hold the 'A' button between cutscenes. Not to mention the confusing nature of the ending, it is really just long and kind of dull. Nonetheless I really enjoyed the rest of it. A short ride, but very fun while it lasted, with the exception of the ending sequence. To boot, the highly stylized graphics and eccentric soundtrack are very pleasing to the senses.

Progress: Complete

Some later portions of the game are really markedly difficult, which I would regard as 'challenging' if it weren't for the repetitive and monotonous nature of continuing after death. Especially in areas where death comes swiftly and instantly (for instance, a morph ball sequence where crushing pistons will not damage you, but kill you completely). As I've said, it lacks the storytelling elements that made Metroid Prime and 2 epic adventures; the 'hunters' theme is a neat idea, but really no match for running antagonists like increasingly powerful space pirates or Dark Samus. It also has the same environmental issue as MP2: Echoes, namely that most of the game's areas look extremely alike. There is a hot world, but only one or two rooms actually have lava; there is a cold world, but the ice is often encased with electronic regalia; and there are two space stations. The bosses have the same problem - there are eight Octolith bosses, but only two types of boss and four 'versions' of each. Plus a final boss, but that thing was so mind-numbingly easy I'm hesitant to count it. Hunters and Echoes also share the rather trite concept of collecting items; in Hunters, you must find three Alimbic Artifacts to unlock each of the eight Octoliths.

There are six highly unique alternate weapons, which would be good for variety, except most of them are pretty pointless. The sniper weapon is used in some puzzle solving, and occasionally a fire enemy will be extra vulnerable to the frost weapon or vice versa; by and large the alt weapons are meaningless in single player. They're probably more useful in multiplayer (since they can have secondary effects like freezing or distorting vision), which by the way seems like a solid offering, but I have little interest in it (not a shooter fan). Some stuff was fun and some stuff not so much, but the inconsequential ending made it very clear that Adventure Mode was not the primary focus of the game design.

Progress: Complete