Reindeer Games

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

PlayStation2

Warning: Contains spoiler. Not this review, but the game itself. EA's Two Towers action game is actually a fusion of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, with the first half of the game's 12 (listed) levels based on scenes from the Fellowship. Actual footage from both films runs rampant here, setting up action scenes in which the real footage morphs into the game characters, at which point you'd better be prepared to slice through hordes of bloodthirsty orcs as either Aragorn, Legolas, or Gimli. Big props for showing the actual Fellowship intro, bleeding (if you will) into a fun tutorial sequence in which you actually get to be Isildur, the original fallen hero himself, re-enacting the ancient battle against Sauron. No egghead RPG here, all swift bloody action, with quick-drawing bows, swords, axes, and elfin magiks galore. Light on language and mythology, heavy on hurtling headlong into seas of baddies.