Introduction
Before I start this review, I want to say that I am a Tolkien fan; have, in fact, been one since the release of the first LOTR movie, and I'm still one now. When The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was released for the Playstation 2, I, like so many others, jumped at the chance to play it.Does it stand up well against the films? Can it capture the mythical essence? Or is it just another bad movie-to-console game?

Gameplay
Gameplay is relatively short (as is the case with most games of this nature), taking only 5-6 hours to complete the first time through. But there are numerous incentives for playing the game again. Namely that you can't go back and play previously completed missions. This also adds strategy to the game. If you do badly on a level, you can decide not to save your game and simply play it through again. And if you do well enough, you may be able to unlock one of the many secrets sprinkled throughout the game (interviews with casts members being just one of the many special features). Speaking of the cast, this game has all the original actors doing the voices for their respective characters. When you see Gandalf or Frodo on screen, you can be certain that it really is that particular actor's voice that you're hearing. The music is wonderful and sets the mood, as do the sound effects. Everything is great in that regard. The graphics are also quite stunning. While certainly not the best that the PS2 has to offer, they are certainly up there. You'll want to keep playing just to see what each new location will look like. It's a wonderful thing.


Story
First of all, TTT most certainly does retain the feel of the movies. Everything feels epic and dramatic. The game begins by placing you in the little armored shoes of Isuldur, as he and his men battle the army of the Dark Lord Sauron. The wonderful way in which the game places you in the action really gives the illusion that you're playing the movie. Though there are many clips from the two motion pictures later in the game that help with the transition from film to game, none are as great as that first one. The controls are sensible and functional for a game of this genre (basically hack-and-slash). With the controller set up much like in a fighting game, players are able to perform "fierce" or "speed" attacks, depending on which button they press. There is also a handy shove ability and a move to block enemy attacks. To help on the defensive side, the characters can also do quick backward hops remeniscent of Tomb Raider at the touch of a shoulder button. How quickly you are able to attack depends on which character you choose. You see, players are given the choice between taking control of Aragorn (human.ell-rounded), Legolas (elf. slightly weak but very fast) and Gimli (the dwarf, who has very powerful attacks but moves slower). The battle system is a lot like Devil May Cry, in that you gain more experiance points for pulling off spectacular attacks and avoiding taking any damage. As you complete more levels with each character, you can use those points to buy new abilities that will help in battle. Herein lies the genius of the Two Towers: While it seems simplistic and boring at first, you need only to complete a few missions for the game to open up in new and exciting ways. Be that as it may, there are still times when the gameplay can feel repetetive. That is usually par for the course in this type of genre, anyway, and the system is implemented so well that you probably
won't notice for long.

Graphics
There are a few problems that keep this from being a perfect game (though it certainly seems to be compared to other games based on movies). For one thing, the learning curve is very steep. Things start out a bit hard and just keep getting harder. Also, it could have been longer. There aren't very many missions, and once you've completed them and gotten all the secrets, that's really all there is. Finally, there's the plot. There really isn't one. The game jumps from one scene to the next in a disjointed, confusing manner. In other words, if you haven't seen the movies or read the books, you will have no idea what's going on. I understand that this game is geared toward the fans of the series, but even so, they could have included more plot in the instruction manual, at least.

Sound
The Two Towers is certainly a great action game. Possibly one of the best for the Playsation 2 and almost defenitely the best movie-to-game translation in history. It's great fun to have the chance to tear through Middle-Earth as one of the three main characters, and its refreshing to see this level of detail and care put into a game of this kind. This is one video game that no Lord of the Rings fan can do without!