Well the success story continues here because the new title The Return Of The King is everything The Two Towers was plus quite a bit more. The basic gameplay and style remain largely the same but there's been a fair bit of tweaking and a few new features added to make this installment even better. If you played the first game then you'll feel right at home jumping straight into ROTK. For those who haven't be ready for a very pleasant surprise but we at least suggest you read our earlier The Two Towers review in order to set the scene and give you some idea of the background for what you are about experience.

The biggest drawcard in the new game is of course the feature we screamed out for in The Two Towers - Co-Op mode! EA have done us all proud with a great implementation that allows 2 players to play through the entire game using any of the available and unlocked characters. The really great thing though is that any experience points you gain in Co-Op mode get added to your character's overall abilities. This means that after a decent bash with a mate in Co-Op you can take your now powered-up character and jump back into the single-player game with all the experience you just gained. It works both ways too so you can play Co-Op with upgraded characters from the single-player game giving you more abilities to take on tougher enemies together.

Because both of you are playing on one screen there's just a little co-ordination required to stay together so you don't end up having a tug-o-war with the camera and each other. However you quickly work this out and it all becomes part of the fun as you employ team tactics. It must be said though that some of the camera views in Co-Op are the most frustrating in the game often giving you a poorer view of the action than the same scene did in single-player. Also things can get so hectic that it's hard to keep track of your own character. To the game's credit though little touches like an optional overhead marker identifying each player help to make it all as smoothly playable as possible.

Speaking of the characters you now have access to more than double the number you initially had in The Two Towers, plus the level structure is slightly different meaning you can't actually play ALL of them in every mission at the start of the game. The first level again throws you straight into the action, this time as Gandalph, and you get to sample his wizard powers in the heat of battle at Helm's Deep. It is a bit of a training session of sorts allowing you to get to grips with everything. After this the games opens out into 3 paths that can be followed in whatever order you wish although you need to complete all 12 levels in the branched path structure before you can access the 13th, The Crack Of Doom.

The more direct path with the most levels is The Path Of The King where you can play just as you did in The Two Towers with Aragorn, Legolas or Gimli. The two side routes are The Path Of The Wizard where you play Gandalph and The Path Of The Hobbits where you initially play Sam but then can also play as Frodo after you unlock him. What's so great here is that you can move between the levels as you like along your journey which allows you to not only dictate your own progress but also to go back and better your score in previously completed missions. This can come in really handy if you're stuck on a particularly difficult section and need to go back and gain more experince points to purchase more strength or fighting moves to help you overcome it. It also means you always have another option or way around if you get stuck thus removing any chance of the unecessary "up against impossible odds" kind of feeling you get in some games.

Another big new feature that becomes apparent in the first level is the ability to interact with items in the game's environment as never before. You can now climb ladders, swing on ropes, throw spears and even fire flaming projectiles from large catapaults. There's actually a whole range of different actions you can perform throughout the game and while some such as operating levers to lower drawbridges are essential for progress others used in combat are there to add more powerful, dramatic and ultimately more cinematic ways to dispatch of your evil foes. The system is quite simple and works well too as an illuminated ring appears in areas where interaction is required or possible when you are nearby. Simply standing in the ring and pressing the action button (R1 by default) then very smoothly initiates the action.

Of course the most important thing to learn in order to progress through the game is the art of combat. Single button mashing may get you through the first few levels relatively unscathed but you'll soon find out that this just ends up leading to multiple deaths and repeated efforts to complete the mission. This is where just a little thought and your best attempt to gain as much experience as possible come in. At first you have a few basic moves such as a Speed Attack (X), a Fierce Attack for breaking through shields (triangle), a Physical Attack (circle), a Parry or block (square) and a killing or finishing move (R2) plus your Ranged Attack for using different projectiles depending on the character chosen (hold L1 then press X). The right analogue stick can also be used instead of the symbol buttons for a smoother employment of the different attacks for those that prefer it over button pounding. There's also a unique Special Ability now for each type of character that can be implemented by pressing in all of the shoulder buttons simultaneously and each of these abilities is also upgradable. For instance this allows the Hobbits to use their cloaks of invisibility or others to use a shield of invincibility for short periods of time.

Gaining experience points in battle then allows you to enhance your repertoire by purchasing progressivley more powerful combo moves and powerups for strength and other abilities. The upgrade system in the game has a nice easy interface and there is now the ability to upgrade your whole fellowship with one purchase of each item. Only characters in your Fellowship who have reached the skill level under which the upgrade was purchased though may use it but if they haven't then they will be able to once you build them up to this level. This is a great feature but obviously costs more so there's yet another incentive to do well.

During battle you have a skill meter showing on your HUD that graphically displays your combat prowess as it happens and determines how many skill points you will be awarded for each kill. Stringing together a series of successful blows will raise the meter and thus award a higher rating and points. Single blows will cause the meter to drop with the opposite effect. There are 4 possible ratings - Fair, Good, Excellent and Perfect. If the Perfect rating is achieved, all attacks then cause additional damage for a brief period and the experience received for each kill is doubled.

At the end of each level you will be awarded a level rating also falling into one of the 4 categories above. Level completion with any of the 4 ratings will unlock the next mission but a higher one might just unlock another playable character as well as awarding you more experience points for further upgrades. Some may think level after level of hacking and slashing your way through hordes of enemies (just wait till you see The Black Gate level!) sounds a bit repetitive. However it never really gets too tedious as you can always vary your approaches plus there's just so much eye candy to take in along the way that you'll be enjoying every second.

Once you actually finish the game you will have unlocked all the playable characters with their various fighting styles and thus be able to play back through all the levels again in any order with any of them you choose. There's also a further two levels, the first of which will now be unlocked, that contain an extension to gameplay albeit in a slightly different fashion. For instance the first one, the Palantir Of Saruman, requires you to fight your way Arena style through 20 waves of different enemies which get progressively tougher and more in number. As you've come to expect from the series now there's also a wealth of movie-related unlockables to find and they're all here again including interviews with the stars, concept art and glorious production stills. This all rounds out this very well-produced title nicely and makes it another veritable collectors item for Lord Of The Rings fans.

Now for the only major gameplay gripe - where's the bloomin' online mode in our PAL version? The NTSC game allows 2 players to go online in Co-Op mode with a USB headset no less and play from the furthest saved point that either player has reached. EA for some strange reason chose to omit online play from the PAL game even though several other of their current titles (SSX3, Fifa and MOH: Rising Sun) have it intact. We've never received an explanation as to why this was done so all we can suggest is you hammer EA's support email addresses with an expression of your disappointment if you feel as strongly about this as we do.

Back to the goodness though. Graphics. Have we used the phrase "has the best graphics seen on the PS2 so far" for any games recenty? Despite the odd niggly camera angle in places that obviously favours cinematic effect over the best possible gameplay viewpoint and a tiny bit of slowdown here and there in Co-Op, The Return Of The King is by far THE best visual experience to date on the PS2. Interactive movies don't come any better than this but that description, even used lightly here, doesn't scratch the surface or begin to do it justice and everything visual has been improved upon from that seen in The Two Towers.

Very noticeable is the significantly improved polygon models, textures and animations of all the characters. Every member of the Fellowship looks dramatically much more like their real bigscreen incarnations which in turn makes the very smooth FMV-to-movie footage (and vice versa) morphing look even more stunning than before. Perhaps the most improved character is Gimli whose miraculous makeover from his tragic appearance in the Two Towers is very welcome! Skillful motion capture is a wonderful thing in videogames and it's been used for all the characters to great effect here creating very smooth animation routines as they move about the levels. It also noticeably captures all the nuances of each character's gait and fighting style bringing a further enhancement to the variety in the game. The Orcs and Uruk-hai also look great and move brilliantly and although they share the same basic routines the fantastic "randomiser technology" used in the game creates armies of enemy characters that all appear as believable individuals rather than endless rows of cloned cardboard cutouts.

The levels themselves are things of beauty with large areas being at least twice the size of those in last year's effort. The attention to detail in backgrounds is really quite stunning with accurately drawn and impressively recreated architecture as well as very realistic looking vegetation and expansive, brooding skies that glow from the fires of Mt. Doom. By far the most impressive visual features though are all the amazing lighting and particle effects that take place all around you as you play. Definitely some of the best we've ever seen in a PS2 title the fires, explosions, smoke trails, glowing luminous mist and all the rest never cease to impress. This really is just one of those jaw-dropping visual feasts that needs to be experienced by all gamers so you can appreciate what can be done at the top end of videogame development and we simply can't say enough about it here.

One thing we should tell you is that there's a fair bit of footage from the new movie in the game plus the storyline gives away the plot and content so in this respect it could be considered a bit of a spoiler for the movie itself. If this at all worries you even though you can't wait to get your copy then we suggest you try buying it for the initial pleasure of having the precious in your hands and resisting the temptation to play until after you've seen the film (we dare you to try!). A more annoying thing though is the fact that the vast majority of cutscenes in the game can't be skipped no matter how many button combinations you try. After repeated plays this can get quite frustrating.

Sound again as you'd expect is absolutely fantastic. No, we mean FANTASTIC IN CAPITAL LETTERS! In fact it's ALL the sound collectively in The Return Of The King, both quality and quantity, that make this game the truly great experience that it is. The THX-certified Dolby Pro Logic II quality booms out of the home theatre system like you're watching the movie itself. All the crystal clear sounds of battle like large booming explosions, clashing weaponry, the desparate shouting of your comrades and screaming Orcs combine with the powerful, moody Howard Shore composed soundtrack to create an almost overwhelming aural experience.

What contributes in no uncertain terms to making the sound so outstanding is that everything has been re-recorded and/or repackaged just for the game itself so that everything fits together perfectly and the quality is maintained to such a high degree. All the main actors recorded voice acting for their respective characters just for the videogame and in fact, although it contains many soundbites from The Fellowship Of The Ring and The Two Towers movies the vast majority of sound content here is all new to our ears.