Hack and Slash Fun
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is a game based on the movie franchise and it is executed rather well. To date this is probably one of my favorite film-licensed games. For it's era the graphics are functionally sound and pretty well done. Players start the game during the event of the Last Alliance on the slopes of Mount Doom which gives the player a chance to experience the game's tutorial in a fun way. From there the game takes the player to the encounter with the Nazgul on Weathertop then onward through events in The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, ultimately leading to the film's climax at Helm's Deep.
Players are given the chance to take control of three characters: Aragorn, Legolas, or Gimli and a hidden, unlockable character after the game is completed. The game is set as a hack-and-slash rpg where stringing together combos help increase a hit multiplier that charges a "kill counter" and the more successful combos that are strung together the better chances of a more valuable (points) kill are rewarded. The points the player earns can be used after each level to purchase more powerful moves/combos, gears, and character upgrades. Each character plays a little differently with Aragorn being a more balanced character for speed/damage/health, Legolas is faster but deals less damage and Gimli is slowest but deals the most damage and carries the most health.
The levels are nicely layered and textured with smooth background animation. The controls are responsive and very smooth and the game has little to no glitching (aside from shooting bolts great distances where they may hit objects in the environment before hitting the desired target) but other than that the game doesn't really have any hiccups. This game is very well balanced and I highly recommend it to anyone familiar with the movies and/or source material. As the player progresses there are also some fun and interesting extras which are unlockable by performing well enough or completing set challenges in some levels. I would say the only huge downfall this game has is it's length (or lack thereof).