The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King translates the final chapter of Tolkien's trilogy into a fast-paced action hack-and-slash, loosely following Peter Jackson's film version. Across the chapters, players alternately take control of Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Gandalf, moving through key battles from Helm's Deep to the final clash at the Black Gate, with each character offering a different combat style and their own set of special attacks, letting players choose based on whether they prefer melee or ranged combat.

Gameplay is built around fighting dozens of enemies at once, combos, and each hero's special abilities, which unlock as experience is gradually gained. Studio EA Redwood Shores focused on the epic scale of the battles and the atmosphere straight from the movie screen, which was one of the game's main strengths compared to competing film adaptations of the time, when similar titles often suffered from rushed production. The game also featured the voices and likenesses of the actors from the film trilogy, which reinforced the connection to the source material and gave players the feeling of being directly part of the film's story.

The GameCube version offered the same content as other platforms, including a two-player cooperative mode, which made it one of the more popular titles for playing together. Even years later it remains one of the better-received film adaptations in the beat 'em up genre, and for fans of the trilogy it offers a straightforward way to relive the key battles from both the book and the film adaptation.

Why play it: For epic battles against dozens of enemies and two-player cooperative play.