Have you heard the phrase, "hack n' slash"? Some way or another it’s a vile meaning that was placed on Lord of the Rings. Have no worries, because it is simply not true! The combat alone is fantastic! The concept is not button mashing, but rather timed combos with Tekken-esque fighting..

As soon as you start The Two Towers you will see the in-depth control configuration, oh wait it is just 'Vibration: on/off.' I really don’t know why it is limited to that either. Did the developers give us this great fighting system and excellent ranged attack feature only to say, 'hah, now they won’t be able to customize their controls?.' It really doesn't add up to me, the only thing you can change is the vibration, and the game difficulty. Based on how well you executed your combo attacks, you are given experience points which are spent on the different attacks, and weapon upgrades (such as bow and shield improvements).

When it comes down to it, you can upgrade the attacks you get, and you can even buy new arrows/faster bows. However, you still can't change the way you use the buttons or how you view the virtual world (Why not different camera angles?). With all of that said, a portion of these flaws leave a bad taste in my mouth, and one ugly stain on Lord of the Rings game play.

Though on a better note, I must say the combat engine that drives this game is nothing less then pure ecstasy, and sheer gamers delight. Each of the three characters: Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli have their own fighting style and weapons. You can do a wide variety of attacks based on the combo strings you put together. To explain this further, imagine trying a combo like A, A, A, B, L, A). This would do one attack combo and then fire an arrow at the enemy. Whatever character you are you have a ranged and melee attack that you can switch on the fly. Trust me, you will need both. The action pace is non-stop and if you are not being chased by a huge cave troll, then you’re probably fighting off seven different Orcish Hordes. All of them want nothing more than to smash Helm's Deep into a pile of rubble.

Sadly, by the time you get a great feel for the game, and you begin to get drawn to it, the game is already over. I hope gaming companies begin to focus more on game depth, the fundamental controls, and of course the storyline. After you finish each level you can redo it with one of the other characters, or else advance to the next level.

While the integration between game play and FMV cut scenes is flawless, I also love the look of The Two Towers. It’s a game with a huge graphical presence that is unmistakably hard to ignore. Each and every creature, level, and building are filled with realistic detail, the X-Box’s true 3d modeling power is unleashed! You will be seeing a good deal of character and level interaction, which makes ‘level beater’ games much more interesting, and compelling.

You can see all the hard work put in making Lord of the Rings visually appealing paid off greatly. If it was anyone thing, this was a game that looked pleasant at all times. Like Baldur’s Gate before it, you see a great battle engine, and awesome graphics. After advancing you see a new movie scene, and the level selection image will show you if you have any new levels or interviews unlocked. The interviews and secret level alone is not much to persuade you into unlocking everything, but the true fans will fall in love with the extras none the less. Each character has unique attack animations, and all three have their own type of weapons they can use. As you make your way through the story you will see your guy improve, with new special effects such as arrows taking different colors, and even weapons that light up with each combo completed.

Once you selected your level and character, the sound effects and music variations took over the immersion aspect of the game. When you walked into puddles of water you could hear your character struggle through the currents. Each character had their own spoken dialogue, and best of all was listening to the DVD movie scenes that were unlocked in each level. The audio proved the characters were given extra attention from the start to the end. Every character had something to say when reaching an event in the game, and naturally they spoke during the movie scenes. The secret interviews are completely original, and also include a few hours worth of comments on the game from the Lord of the Rings cast. The sound quality itself is near perfect, and its seamless integration into game play is topnotch. Yet that doesn't makeup for the limited things the characters say in battle.

While a musical score doesn't exist, the longest track is about a fifteen second drum roll looped over and over. This created mixed impressions for me. It was annoying to hear some of the music constantly looped, but when things heat up the constant 'drum roll war beats' was always setting the right tone for a realistic battle.

Another EA published title, including some things to unlock, and the option to select from three characters. But hold on, the total game time is about twenty-five hours! You could beat this game and unlock everything in about a week. After you unlock the levels and interviews you will find no reason to ever load this title again. I had a hard time wanting to even continue playing after I beat it the first time because everything is completely the same. Unless you are one of the huge fans, the mediocre incentives will most likely not keep you playing.

Multiplayer would have made this game much more fun. I had a vision for co-op battles and the such making Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers well worth playing many times over with my friends. This simply didn’t happen, multiplayer was null and void.