Seigneur des Anneaux, Le - Le Retour du Roi (France)
PlayStation 2
🇫🇷
Reviewed in 2003
82
✪ Reviewed on August 18, 2023
76
The Lord of the Rings The Return of the King continues the trilogy's success. Ground combat and duels, local co-op and a cinematic mood. A stylish, effective fantasy brawler.
Your verdict
Category
Action1 player12+
Description
An EA Redwood Shores and EA action game released in 2003, the French edition of The Lord of the Rings The Return of the King. Official adaptation of Peter Jackson's film: players take on Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, Frodo and Sam in epic battles (Pelennor, Black Gate, Mount Doom). Hack-and-slash combat and local co-op. Full French localization.
Seigneur des Anneaux, Le - Le Retour du Roi review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
4/5
Story
★★★★★
"Captivating"
The French edition culminates in the assault on Minas Tirith. The white city terraced in tiers, its ramparts and its watchtower dominate plains black with troops, where siege trolls and colossal oliphaunts bearing towers advance. The scale of the tableau, between the city's immaculate architecture and the dark tide encircling it, offers one of the most striking visual contrasts of the whole series.
On the music side, it is the enemy's drums that stay with you. On the approaches to the land of Shadow, the score abandons heroic melodies for a dull, relentless pulse, a hammering of low percussion that pictures the march of Sauron's legions. This obsessive beat, more menace than theme, sets up a physical oppression and announces the foe well before it appears.
The scenario allows a striking detour through the Paths of the Dead. The hero descends beneath the mountain to wake an army of specters bound by an ancient oath, crossing haunted caverns where a greenish glow floats. This passage, halfway between war tale and fantastical fable, breaks the tone of the pitched battles and recalls that victory will also be won by alliances wrested from the dead.
Complete: box, manual and disc/cart very clean. Lightly handled.
Q1 damagedQ6 completeQ10 new
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Collector interest
The French edition of Electronic Arts' Return of the King, a beat'em up from the third Lord of the Rings film, praised for its cooperative combat and use of film footage. Its interest lies mainly in this full French localization, voices included, making it the reference version for French players, the object staying common. A nostalgic piece for francophone fans of the trilogy.
Is Seigneur des Anneaux, Le - Le Retour du Roi still worth playing in 2026?
Released in 2003 on PS2, Electronic Arts' project extends the formula of the previous brawler by covering the final battles of The Lord of the Rings. The levels grow in scale, from the epic Deep to the Pelennor Fields, and the playable cast widens with paths dedicated to Gandalf, Aragorn or Sam. Local two player co-op deepens the pleasure of the mass clashes. The repetitive structure and the uneven difficulty persist. A polished adaptation, recommended for fans of cathartic action and for Tolkien devotees nostalgic about that great era of licensed games.
