The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Review
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- Опубліковано 1 чер 2024
- The Lord of the Rings The Return of the King is one of a precious few movie licensed games that turned out really well. Co-op is cool, but the review touches on a bit more with a special guest.
Support the channel at: / mandaloregaming or www.paypal.me/MandaloreGaming
I take video suggestions at mandaloremovies@gmail.com
Twitter: / lord_mandalore
Sean Astin's audio was mixed and mastered by @SirMeowMusic
#LordoftheRings #ReturnoftheKing #ReturnoftheKingReview #LordoftheRingsGame #ReturnoftheKingtheGame
00:00 - Intro
00:39 - PC Version Issues
2:56 - Game Premise
3:06 - Visuals
5:14 - Music & Sound Design
6:33 - Gameplay Mechanics
11:01 - Co-op Gameplay
12:08 - Film Fan Features
12:48 - Sean Astin Reveals the Secrets
15:21 - Conclusions
16:14 - Credits
17:21 - Smaug - Ігри
THE LIST - docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_K3ziSxT9zcUUGCddS4sF1uNJTWHSbOwB1CQX2Rx4Uo
RotK Widescreen Patch - ps2wide.net/pc.html#lotr
Yell at GOG to add BFME (this might get the ball rolling for RotK) - www.gog.com/wishlist/games/the_lord_of_the_rings_battle_for_middle_earth_anthology?pp=ea44f9f30a420daae75cc97b35ace35e373be70a
Sorry for the delay, this is the sixth, maybe seventh version of this video since others kept getting blocked for different seemingly random things. The first few minutes have some slight audio distortion on UA-cam's end but I don't want to risk a second upload again. Movie licensed games are NOT your friend on this website.
Yo review John Woo's Stranglehold.
hi love your videos
also are you interested in any kind of halo stuff?
How did you get Sean astin to do this! I mean hes super chill, but mad props for reaching out!
Wow, that's weird. This isn't Lego Racer 2.
Is no one else actually flabbergasted that Sean Astin just casually showed up in the video...
Yes.
Nobody knows who that is.
@@Saneek0215 i hope you're trolling.
At this point I've just given up.
If it exists, Mandalore has access.
I nearly fell out of my chair
Lets take a minute to congratulate Mandalore on actually getting Sean Astin himself on the show.
Cheers man. You've outdone yourself.
Did Sean snort a line of something before recording that?
You open your flower shop yet?
Ikr
I really hope it wasn't a cameo thing and Mandy just emailed Sean and Sean was happy to tell his part of the story.
@@TheTGOACOf course it's a cameo thing lol... how can you all be so naïve
Ah yes, the famous Gandalf line:
“LEADS HIM ARAGORNS PATH LEADS HIM ARAGORNS PATH LEADS HIM-“
"MY HEART IS FILLED WITH BOTH GREAT HOPE MY HEART IS FILLED WITH BOTH GREAT HOPE MY HEART IS FILLED WITH BOTH GREAT HOPE"
Sean Astin is like a rambling old man, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
i could listen to his stories for hours
Rambling Sean is pretty great.
Sean Bean characters die even in behind the scenes anecdotes
XD
He just can't get a break huh?
@@ap1evideogame44 Jijila in cazul i j
.pppll,l0llp000p00p0p000p0 un j lpptcpj ju. În perioadele în jurul j în limba franceză jjj j t j u pop j ii place pioniîn mmmm juu. Nu este i. In plus la u u . Nj j i am zis j j a0pp I ppp0ppp0pp0l mnn np
. live
S C O O B thank you
@@bruhSaintJohn you're welcome
Holy shit you get sean astin in this video?! Thats awesome!
Holy shit was also the exact thought that came to my head!
@@LostLEGION123 i know right!
holy shit!!!1
Santa Merda!!!!!!
i shit myself
Sean Astin's little story about Goldeneye was so sweet. Incredible that you managed to get him to talk about the game, and amazing that he was so willing to talk about it
It is funny how Sean Bean's character dies in the story. His characters just can't get a break.
Sean Astin looks like a legit dude fr
I don't know man it felt like Sean was rambling incoherently for that whole interview clip to me
@@dilanrajapaksha a little bit, but it was a very fun little interview
yea its called cameo and its entirely cash motivated
I remember playing this in coop with my best buddy and slaughtering orcs on the gate mission until they literally stopped spawning. Took forever but it was so much fun.
same, and one of things about the game was that it allowed us to play as anyone in any level after we beat it, so I could be Legolas in every level
me and my brother did that as merry and pippin, because we thought it was funny
Same, i did with Legolas to level him up and get that purple arrows or whatever that was. To hit with them on next map, pellenor fields :d
SAME! also that sweet xp for leveling up
my little sister and I would do that for hours with the perfect mode cheat on, arguing over who's orc that was... i was always legolas of course and stole them
Was not expecting you to get the actual Sean for this video. What a nice suprise!
Wow i thought you were joking. That's awesome!
Ik seriously how did they even do that?
You can just pay him to make a video for you on one of those "celebrity message" websites, forgot the exact name
Cameo
The actual Sean would have been Sean Bean. :D But yeah, what a surprise.
I had a feeling Sean is gonna roast Elijah any minute.
He had to hold back his epic roasts to save Elijah's feelings
Let's see...
1. Fixed Camera
2. Gameplay focused on simplistic mostly melee combat
3. Best way to play is same-screen co-op
This is a Lego (Insert Franchise Here) game without the Legos. Or, in other words, it's Legoless.
Hack n slash genre came before Lego video games lol. Lego games are just a more "family friendly" hack n slash
6:18 Turn captions on lol. Had gut feeling it wasn't Orlando Bloom, still dunno if wasn't Viggo (Two towers game definitely had pretty much all same voice actors)
Well, this comment certainly took a turn
i didnt know where this comment Was going but i didnt expect this haha
Well played, sir.
Ooof
Seeing the "Hobbits on Gaming" but completely took me back in time. I knew every line before they said it and it was buried in my mind all these years, even that "yeeeaassss" from Elijah Wood. Holy shit that was a trip. I loved this game so much, thank you for the video and nostalgia.
Also, this if further confirmation Sean Astin is the beat person ever and it's so cool he came on.
Nice timing, I was planning to watch a few of your vids
"the beat person"
Holy shit me too! I love that I haven’t played this for like 15 years but i still remembered Elijah talking about magically picking up the controller and playing the game without touching a single button 😂😂
@Mike McCokiner ahahah been quoting that ever since the first time i saw it
I have shed a tear. Remember Gimli saying gameplayers instead of gamers?
Sean Astin? The actual SAMWISE GAMGEE (a.k.a 50% of the fellowship's power) in the video?
You have ascended, my friend.
Also 50% of the Fellowship's weight.
@@bilbobaggins5938 What's its doing?!?!?
That took my by surprise as well ... boy, and Sean Astin doesn't look 20 years older. Remember, the movies where done in 1999, and he looks like maybe 5 years older. 10 max. Not 20.
SAMWISE GAMGEE: Orc slayer
@@AlexJones-ue1ll Goonies is also a blast from the past, so many great actors in it, including Marvel's big bad Mr Brolin himself making some early gains
Mandalore, you absolute madman by featuring Sean in the video.
It added a whole new level of awesomeness and wholesomeness to an already great video. :)
I worked as a production assistant on this game. Made the video for the E3 wall among many other things. Very first AAA title I had worked on. Thanks for posting som many years later!!!
Duuude remake this gem on the new console
Remaster it now! With online coop.
Thanks for your hard work on this gem !
This game is awesome, played it tons as a teen, you all did great work on it!
Can you explain who was responsible for making the music for one of the trailers the requiem for a dream theme?
"Sean Bean's character was in it"
**Shows footage of David Wenham**
Sean Astin, what a boss to do a bit like that.
We all love Mandalore around here ... but from where Mr. Astin's standing, Mandalore's basically a nobody youtuber, talking about an old-ass game from like sixteen years ago, but he still was like _sure, I'm down to reminisce about that with you for a bit!_
I mean I already figured Astin was a pretty cool and down to earth dude, but now it's definitely confirmed :)
Sycophant
Up next:
The Chronicles of Riddick video game review with guest cameo Vin Diesel
Yes please!
😹
Yes holy shit!
no.. please, no!
Vin Diesel as a person is the living definition of cringe^^
Awesome game but no Vin Diesel pls
This was basically the only video game my dad and I played together when I was a kid. We both loved LotR, and Gimli's combos were simple enough that he could just have fun. We played the same levels on repeat constantly and they're some of my most cherished memories. Thanks for bringing them back up.
This game is literally my childhood
I remember watching my dad playing this game
Literally. Such an overused and misused word.
I liked the two towers game because it seemed a bit harder and the color palette was colder. But this game was denser, more things go on etc.
This game was the first time I pulled an all nighter
This, Lord of The Rings the 3rd Age, and Star Wars Galactic battlegrounds were mine.
Spent a good chunk of 2003/2004 playing this. Also wow, didn't know the guys behind Visceral were behind this.
me and my nephew would have a sleepover almost every weekend and play the shit out of this
And now they’re dead. Thanks ea
A horror game set in Middle-earth could be cool hehe, while we're at it (their Dead Space was definitely cool) just a random thought.
Willie Hawaii : unfortunately that's EA for you, they never seem to do something right, I mean come on, they decided to cancel, CANCEL, Lotr White Council which could have been first truly great open wold RPG set in Middle-earth setting, the first Lotr based story driven RPG single player experience I'm waiting for years, they can be really dumb :).
The real Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was the friends we made along the way.
@The Legend of Texas stop with with the lies youre not from texas
@@dirpyturtle69
Quit kidding yourself, you are actually a wise sea-god, and deep down you know it!
This and Two Towers were the games that finally showed me that yes, it's possible for a licensed game adaptation of a movie to be good.
The Two Towers was just as amazing. I miss these games.
Goldeneye..?
Play king Kong. It's also great
For the longest time, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay was _the_ standard/benchmark of how to do a license game right (to the point that everyone said it was better than the movie). Try it out sometime - only, play the original, NOT the remake.
I always loved Aragorn's counter attack animation against human enemies where he judo throws them over his body and drives his knife through their heads. And Faramir just crushes their helmeted skulls with his mighty fist
Sean Astin, one of the most lovable people ever
Sean Astin and Sam are two differents person.
Stranger Things
For gays maybe...
I thought that was Patton Oswald.
@Flawful _ Look after yourself snowflake.
You got Sean Astin to do a cameo?! Solid work brother
He paid him lol
Still, getting the clip is pretty sick.
@@teddybear1792
You know this?
@@Kyle_Schaff It's in the name. Cameo is a paid service. You can basically give any celebrity on there some money and in return they'll make a video for you based on your request. Mandalore's is basically just a quick Q&A.
Nothing wrong with it. He gets paid for his time and Mandalore gets to ask a question. He put in a decent amount of effort with the question, too, which was cool of him.
I played this and The Two Towers with my mom on the gamecube when I was a kid and nothing was ever as satisfying as hearing and seeing the post level exp screen when it ticks up above the different helmets
I can still hear the sound!
I loved this game as a kid. Id spend literally hours on the Minas Tirith wall map fighting cause I thought it was so epic that I wouldnt even bother trying to progress. I just enjoyed killing the orcs over and over.
Based and orc-bane pilled.
I thought I was the only one doing this, big "W"
You got Sean Astin! Mandalore hit the big time, baby!
He got him by paying him $200 through a website
@@SnaresAndNets Have a link to the site?
Ryan Kent fiverr I guess
Berserk
Sam: "Frodo no! Frodoooo! Mr. Frodo!"
Frodo: "Go back Sam! I'm playing The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King alone!"
Sam: "Of course you are! And I'm playin' with you!!"
Frodo: "Sam, you can't do co-op!"
Frodo: "SAM!"
Sam: "I made a promise to Mandalore, Mr. Frodo! A promise! 'Don't you leave him Samwise Gamgee.' And I don’t mean to! I don’t mean to..."
Frodo: "Oh Sam!"
Thank you.
*Slow clap...* You beautiful son of a bitch.
I remember one time when I was little me and my sister were playing this on Gamecube, we stayed in one area killing orcs repeatedly for about 3 hours, we ended up killing so many orcs that they permanently stopped spawning. We then had to restart the game to finish the level. Man I miss those days
A reviewer is never late, nor is he early. He reviews precisely when he means to!
best comment ever!
Still fire in 2023
How is Sean Astin 48 years of age.
20 years ago they shot the first LotR.
Where did the time go ...
Gosh i feel old ...
Bro I just googled it. SEAN ASTIN IS 48!?!? He looks like he JUST turned 30. Wow!
Goonies came out 34 years ago this week.
Its Okay Dude, I feel the same way....and I'm 17!!
fuck you're right
This sucks.
Ahhhhhhh, Lord of the Rings. My bread and butter
SEAN ASTIN!?
Hearing Sean Astin talking about the special features of lotr rotk is something my childhood always needed
I love how he used stronghold music when the actor of Sam was talking.
Ok, but what's Sauron's tax policy.
His tower is on lease.
Where did this meme come from? I kept seeing it again and again
www.tolkiensociety.org/2014/04/grrm-asks-what-was-aragorns-tax-policy/
@@gluever54 George RR Martin's quote on Tolkien.
Derivative of something G.RR.Martin said. "What was Aragorn’s tax policy" in reference to finding lines & sentiments such as " Aragorn became king and reigned for a hundred years, and he was wise and good." being a little lacklustre in his eyes, what does it mean to be a good ruler? Just because your a good person or a brave warrior doesn't necessirly correlate with having prosperity.
Another fun quote is "Did Aragorn pursue a policy of systematic genocide and kill them? Even the little baby orcs, in their little orc cradles?".
Mandalore is now UA-cam famous?
well, he was bought by T series after all
His second channel has been doing really well lately, who knew being an African warlord could give you so much pull.
John Doe wait, is he actually Sseth?
@@connormccormack7953 Yesn't.
@@connormccormack7953 He is Sseth but straight and without goblin fetish.
damn I was 15 when this game came out and it literally drove my friends and I to stay up for three days at a sleep over just playing the hell out of this! Thanks for the memories and commenting for the algorithm.
The motion capture implementation is beyond ANYTHING I have seen in games from that generation :O truly impressive
It reminds me of the canned animations old games like Half-Life and Deus Ex would use, more specifically those skull knight dudes in Thief with the really fancy sword work.
I've had the Elijah Wood "Yess" from that in-game interview stuck in my head for years
same tbh
So have I!! It's crazy, man!
Yes!!
@@Arhtass YEEesS
Same. And everytime I play bad I hear Dom McMonaghan: One of the worst players of all time (about Billy Boyd)^^
Well, obviously Elijah Wood is the best gamer. He's The Guy.
The Guy literally tries to walk into level 5 and is zapped to death, just as Boromir said "One doesn't simply walk into..."
cake
The Guy with 99 lives!
twink solidarity
I'm surprised anyone caught that reference.
Playing this on co-op with friends made for some of my favourite early gaming memories. A true gem despite it’s flaws.
I’m so happy to see Sean speak in at least some detail about a game I spent hundreds of hours playing as a child. Thank you (old video but idc its perfect)
Moutian Blade: Warband
Mount and Bain: Warbland
Moulton Babe: Warbanana
DO MOUNT AND BLADE: WARBAND
He did already as his sseth fursona.
@@rightbehindyou973
I'm wet
Did I read you right ? MOUNT YOUR BANEBLADE
Will Ellijah Wood diss back in a SsethTzeentach video? Lmao
Hans Peter Hey Hey people, Frodo Baggins here
@@sneedsfeedseed9905 SHUT UP AND TAKE MY SHEKELS
I loved playing co-op with one of my best friends back in the day, and still have my GameCube copy to this day. This and The Two Towers are so much fun, even their GBA counterparts soaked up hours of my life in the mid-2000’s.
A funny note on the hobbits being gamers, I remember a random little blurb from one of my old Disney Adventures magazines in which Elijah Wood confessed that he and Sean Astin were obsessed with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3, which I always found funny. Sean’s story about playing Goldeneye reminded me of that, so these guys must have had a lot of fun gaming when they weren’t busy filming a masterpiece of a film.
Man this game was awesome back as a kid . Really hard, especially the part where you had to make sure Eowyn and Merry live .
An absolute beauty .
Mine were at the gates of Mordor. Keeping THREE characters alive (Gandalf, Gimli and Legolas In my case) while keeping YOURSELF alive In a 3 part survival stage with little to no health recovery items was hell on single player.
Mandalore how dare you remind us all how old we are getting.
just don't look at how the Hobbit actors all look now
@@echodelta2172Did you see Sean Astin?? He looks great!
Putting Sean Astin and stronghold music in the background broke my heart, the nostalgia
I was trying to place the music, thank you
Stronghold, I havnt heard that name in years
RETIRE MY LORD?!?
Wood needed
The Rats troops are attacking!
I remember playing this game during my 6th grade vacation with a friend. We'd grind for hours on end and it was so much fun.
Gosh I really miss those days.
I remember playing this on my playstation back in the day with my mum
It was a good game, never really had any issues, and she, who was not a gamer, loved it.
She also loved Champions of Norrath
I can't believe you got Steve Austin for your video
Sick cameo right? I hope he gets The Rock next time.
Glass breaks
That Royalty free Return of the King is the greatest LOTR related thing I've ever seen
i half expected sharks to start flying around
where is the full film? Anyone know who made it?
It's called Dragonfyre. The opening is totally awesome and hilarious, it gets more and more boring as the novelty wears off and the dull characters and story reveal themselves. Watch it with friends and roast the movie, that'll extend your enjoyment a fair bit.
Three good things I'll always connect with this game:
The feeling of destroying an enemy's armor. The sound, the animations and the feeling of brutally shredding the enemy afterwards always gave me an endorphin boost.
The spears. No matter if they were burning or not, watching a spear bursting through an enemy will always be so cool. Fuck me was it cool.
And, last but not least, my dad (the biggest Lord of the rings fan, I know.) coming home, taking a deep breath, walking into my room, saying "You don't know how nice it feels to come home and be reminded of something nice.". Now I know what that feels like. Well, I don't have kids yet. But soon I'll know it the way you did, dad. Yeah, I have an awesome father. He introduced me to the franchise and passed the books onto me. Like father like son.
Its a game from 2003, and for the time it was one of the best games ever made with amazing graphics, it was in the time of movies, everyone played it. I remember playing that co-op, i feel that today games are all virtual there is no more that feeling of playing with a friend or brother in the couch... It was an amazing game
My god how i loved this game, used so spend hours playing it alone and with my brother too in co-op mode, ah the memories
AKSebi2 same here, still have it for my Playstation 2 and it is still alot of fun. Path of the dead and the dead king gave me nightmares as a child 😅
Me too, grinding that EXP!
I wish my ps2 would still be working :(
Nostalgia getting real right now
Aaaw I'm so glad to hear that from you anyway
@@GinoNL oh goddess! I feel very sorry for the inconvenience and what happens to yours truly.
I hope you will be able to either emulator and or with a different Ps system resurge yourself onto this wonderous sensations that you felt my friend
I actually met Elijah Wood at E3 through a mutual friend and apparently we've played some CoD online before, and he recognize my gamer name. Pretty cool guy.
r/thishappened.
XXXXXXXXXXXDDD take an up doot bro
"Haha wow yeah i totally remember playing with you random fan #3127"
@@IKMojito late reply but we were partied together in CoD and he remembered my gamer tag cause it was dumb and silly.
Just love the stronghold music in the background during the interview
This was one of those games where the final product overmatched my expectations. So many happy memories playing this
Sean Astin is like 50 years old now but he's still got that soft hobbit voice.
Oh my god, goonies kid is 50? How old am I, what year is it?
Damn.I thought he was in his late thirties or something. The more you know huh
well he did wear the ring...
I think everyone wants to know... what is the B-Movie movie of cowboys murdering orcs.
Orc Wars. Also known as Dragonfyre in some countries.
@@MandaloreGaming Soo...it's not porn?
I am throughly disappointed.
Grow up.
@@unearthlyenemy It looks like a porno because of the film quality
@@unearthlyenemy
Pull the stick out of your ass.
Great you got Sean on board for this!
Really looking forward to your Pillars of Eternity review.:)
2 years late but I had to say something:
The bonus characters while mostly just re-skins do have one minor difference each.
Faramir and Merry each do more ranged attack damage. This is especially apparent if you use Aragon and faramir side by side as faramir with a maxed out bow will one shot orcs while Aragon cannot.
Pippin is actually just OP and does more damage with his fast attack(possibly strong attack as well? Need confirmation for that though). He is actually, in practice, possibly the strongest character in the game. It's actually a little outrageous how much damage he does combined with the hobbit attack speed.
You managed to get a celebrity actor, from one of the largest franchises in cinema history, answer a question about a game from 2003 all because of a small behind the scenes extra where one of his co-actors is famed as the best at games.
That is absolutely amazing. How are you going to top that for special hosts in the future?
The Entire cast of Endgame having a Skype converrsation with the cast of Lord Of The Rings(wait for it)... WITH the cast of Star Trek.
*Mind Explodes from too much awesome*
Gandalf: walks glowing
Orcs: aaaaaaaaaaaaaah
*perfect mode*
Genuinely enjoyed this for nostalgia but the fact you got Sam / Sean in the video and he has so much cool insight to say like that, more adoration for him as a person too. It was such a nice touch, was straight on the like button, like a dog on dropped chips
I remember when the game came out. When it transitioned from cutscene ro movie scene or back we where like: "Omg, it looks so real, I didn't notice the transition."
The things SD could hide...
Jeez, you got Sean Astin. That's some dedication to the review, and a joke. Lord of the Rings seems to be one of the few movie franchises that has some consistently decent games to it, I remember playing this one to death when I was younger, alongside Battle for Middle Earth.
I think BFME2 aged far better to BFME 1 though.
I remember just not enjoying it. At least other people could.
I'm still waiting for that proper open world story driven RPG in style like Elder Scrolls, Witcher 3, Gothic or even Dragon Age, a good single player experience. Damn shame they cancelled Lotr: The White Council, that could have been awesome (damn you EA!!) :) The Battle for Middle-earth was probably among the most enjoyable RTS out there :).
Both BfME Rts-es are great, and both have their own traits and quorks.
I particluary like how first game while following story line of movies takes some "creative liberties" ( like Gandalf beats barlorg and doesn't leave the fellowship ). Oh, and how Legolas is op as F**k. I still remeber vividly how after finishing the campain with good side, I looked upon final killcounts and he sits as undispiuted king on top with like 1100+ kills. Gandalf was "close" second with around 880 ( tho he killed like almost 400 targets in final mission alone ).
Seaqule is overall better game, tho one thing I don't like as much about is is how ring powers are more impactful. Fist game had most overpowerd ones on, as it should be, very end of the line. In BfME2 you get stuff like rain of arrows that can instant-win a large battle, on what, 15 points mark ? Still, great game. I wish custom hero creator for skirmish was mechanic that more games would adopt...
@@ComissarYarrick I actually reviewed the second one for my channel! The first one is fine, but replaying it recently I found myself getting really bored. It was really fun to play the story missions like the battle of Helms Deep, but the filler inbetween got to be way too much for me.
The powers I thought myself were fine, they were balanced by fairly long recast timers for ones like the arrow barrage. Plus you're given plenty of warning when it's about to come to micro your army out of the path. I do agree on the custom heroes, they were fun if a bit broken at times.
Oh my I almost forgotten this game.
Thanks mandalore, you are best reviewer
Also... Epic special guest 👍
Man, u got Sean Astin in this? So sick, he's the man. I had so much fun replaying this game on gamecube back in the day. Wish it would get a rework. I have all the old LOTR games on console and PC still, really stoked I kept them based on how hard they are to find now.
The fact you reached out to Sean Astin & he replied with a video for you made my heart smile. :) lol
I detected some Stronghold music during Sean Astin's part. Such memories...
It BROKE me to hear that for his part and the next few minutes after, the nostalgia hit was doubled from that
came here to find someone else who heard it to. FYI If you miss stronghold, its available for Mac on GOG.com
No taxes is one thing but ah, what about a small gift? Go on...
Heey!! I also was looking for a comment about Stronghold, Stronghold gang where you at?!!
@@zandergamer5429 nooo taxxxessss are good taxes thats my motto
Yo this was one of my favs on PS2. Good times
I remember replaying it with my little brother over and over again. Gandalf was op though
The weird way you got floating swords etc. In the cut scenes when you replayed a mission with a different character made me laugh though.
@@iamwritingrightnow8217 yeah, his magic missile attack was OP. Legolas in the Two Towers game was way more OP, when fully leveled, though. His arrow attack was basically Gandolfs missiles but with 3 or 4 arrows at a time.
I was the Aragorn player, and I hated playing co-op with my brothers 😕 haha
Fun fact, this and the Two Towers game were the first two GameCube games I got back in 2004. I think I still got them in a cd carrier somewhere.
Just gotta re-connect the Wii sometime, and it's back to reliving my Middle School days.
Aha, it's so great to see Sean Astin, thank you mandalor for rewiew !
"Wood's a better gamer than the rest of the hobbits"
I'd expect the Spyro voice artist would be, yes...
That movie you added in was either:
A) Two Towers parody
B) Porn Parody
And I would like the name of the film.
*Especially if it's option B*
Seriously. There was no way it wasn't a porn. I mean damn. Look at that acting.
@@WittyUsername816 It looked like the dude had a semi good prone position with the 50 cal. The chick was hot, though.
It looked like a really weird parody, but it being porn makes too much sense.
Dragonfyre. Very shitty movie made for the Sci-Fi channel. Sadly it is not porn.
Shitty? That movie was amazing!
This game was such a masterpiece back in the day!
Pelennor Fields was my favourite level because of the Mumakil.
Yep definitely in the golden age of video games (98/99 - 04/05). Video games definitely dropped off around a few years later after this. Two towers was also very solid (thankfully discovered that first back in the day, had a ton more coolness and shiny factor imo, maybe just had to do with me being younger (would probably be harder going from Rotk to ttt with less interactive attack elements (pushing things over or using spears)/ characters), & before this game the best hack n slash I'd played was Jedi power battles-- hell of a game very difficult and frustrating regardless single or multiplayer, still fun tho, but this game for casual fun beat the pants off of Jedi power battles, and only really beat by god of war 1-3 for best hack n slash games, which of course I didn't play until years later) Yeah, good times. Still don't understand why they don't make frenetic crazy video games like this any more (or Kotor, Jedi outcast/ academy, bounty hunter) must have to do with family friendly politically correct franchises taking over idk. But back in the day video games were the go-to easy fun
@@Dman9fp this, Two Towers, Jedi Power Battles, and Shaolin Monks defined my childhood
I remember playing the prequel for this on GameCube, it was also a pretty good adaptation in my opinion plus I know you could unlock Isildur as a playable character once you beat the campaign with Legolas, Aragorn and Gimli. 😎👍🎮
Strong memories of my older brother always picking legolas and me picking aragorn, then cue me desperatly running at enemies trying to get a single kill before he snipes them with his insane bow.
@Ron 3
And then Legolas unlocks that broken ability that lets him fire 2 arrows at once, and still with only that less-than-1-second charge of his! Great memories.
And then there's Gimli... taking an eternity to charge his axe throws lol
I was the older brother...
That's why I picked Gandalf, his magic stole a few kills and everyone else was too slow 😂
I was an older brother of the two, but Gimli was my favorite character of the 3 orc hit squad, while my brother's fave was Legolas lol. Never felt more guilty for dropping the dwarf.
"You become a killing god of Melkor"
The plot twist!
This is still one of my favourit childhood games, playing with my friend without sleeping on hard mode, it was intense and really fun to play.
Ohhh the memories! I remember when I was little and this game came out. I stayed at a friends house for the weekend, completing the game multiple times a day in coop mode while pissing in bottles. Good times
Yeah we drank them after it was great
Oh cool, Mandalore put out a new video for Spyro!... Why is it 20 minutes of Elijah Wood ripping on Sean Astin?
The Legend of Texas If that’s supposed to be a “Trouble with the trolley, eh?” joke I’m going to throw a fit
Oh god, I played this and the Third Age all the fuckin time when I was kid.
Brings back memories, thanks.
Same, those were my very first games for my PS2. I was sooooo confused when I played The Third Age and didn't recognize anyone!
I loved third age as a kid, even booted it on an emulator recently and still loved it
@@walter1383 Same!! I have the 3 of them for PS2 and 3rd Age was my least favourite cause I didn't think I was playing LoTR because of how different it was from the other 2. My favourite was deffinetly Return of The King.
Don’t know which I liked more this or two towers. Third age I actually had to use one of those cheat discs to complete; when you bought the ps2 magazine you got demo and cheat discs
no, this game is perfect... just like I remember it
no other opinions will be heard
You got Sean Astin to do a cameo. That's fricken awesome!
"and gandalf? well gandalfs a wizard (screaming)"
Daniel Stern screaming like that had me on the floor
You must be new here.
"The Hobbits have less reach than the PlayStation Vita"
Well, that hurt my soul.
EDIT: Was NOT expecting that cameo
Sean Astin showing up was so awesome.
Great video! This is a time capsule game for me, as I'd repeatedly beat this game back in elementary school. I mean, a lot. I'd play it with my friend at his place and get all lore-happy about this series and Star Wars (since the prequels were still new), and we'd endlessly debate who would win in fights across both francises. I'd unlock every level with every character, steamroll hobbit levels with Aragorn and Legolas, grind the Southern Gate level over and over again, watch all the interviews, etc. I'd even delete my save entirely to start fresh and do it all again. Good, good times.
I never knew that the team that made it eventually became Visceral! The animations were excellent, and a large part of what made the gameplay have the weight and satisfaction it did. Especially when you're Gimli! Fitting that this team would eventually divise "the stomp" in Dead Space. Just, well, visceral animation. It's great.
And I wanna personally thank you for the interview you got here. I was NOT expecting it. I felt like an old part of me lit up hearing Sean Astin talk about not just the movie, but his experience with this game in particular. I know it's childish to say it aloud, but it really felt validating to see it. He seems a pleasant guy, too, so it's all the better. I hope he knows how much happiness he brought to kids like me back then. Again, thank you.
> 3:33
>Mandalore makes a TW:Warhammer reference
>THIS ACTION DOES HAVE MY CONSENT
Or just a Warhammer reference.
bullo247 sorry you are in the video game world now!
Everything outside of video games does not exist!
@@bullo247 No, gamesworkshop just ripped off Creative Assembly and turned their product into a chess game
This and the two towers took up 90% of my early childhood
along with king arthur's game
Hell yeah. On the gamecube lol
I played the return of the king so many times... Two towers I played later on and didn't get into it as much as return of the king... It's just too good
Since all major battles starting with helms deep are in the ROTK game, which moments are there in the Two Towers one?
Moria
Amon Hen
The battle of Helm’s Deep before Gandalf’s arrival are the major ones.
That was awesome seeing Sam! lol I recall playing that game co-op with my friend in the 8th grade
I remember seeing the extra features after beating the game, thought they where talking about me!. Went around the Ronald McDonald house telling all the parents I was in a video game.
Still gives me a good chuckle all these years later.
This game was my childhood! Such a good game
This game was literally my childhood. Like the movies came out when I was like 3 or 4 and I remember playing pretend in kindergarten with some older kids (Catholic school with differing grades) where we were orcs trying to sneak up on the fellowship (because we were younger we always had to be the orcs). I would watch the original DVD releases CONSTANTLY. Rewinding every waking moment, I drove my parents insane if they watched it with me. I WAS OBSESSED!!! I was about 6 when I started playing the games (First the Two Towers then ROTK) where I would walk or ride my bike up the street to one of the other kids on the streets' house, knock on the door, ask if they could play, and either go out and do shit or pretend to be in lotr, or play co-op with him. I always clung to this specific time period because i was the happies. I had friends on my street who's houses I could walk to and be home in time for dinner like in the stories you hear from your parents (I honestly think that it was these years or maybe even that one year where the whole world changed. I'm 22 and was born in 1997. It went from simple, gradual, communal at age 6 and then suddenly everything gets ripped away, everyone's gone, im sent to a horrible place, people changed and my world is forever changed by the time I hit 8. I'll get into it in a bit, I know this is a tangent but I never really told this story to anyone and I don't know how to dumb down my life story lmao but this game was literally the hallmark of that timer period for me, a time I was desperate to return to for years, a world that got ripped away from me) But anyway back to the game (holy fuck this formatting though) I shit you not, I literally believed Elijah Wood when he said he could make the controller float (I was 6) and even showed my parents like "LOOK WHAT HE CAN DO!!!!!" and they laughed and said he was kidding but my stubborn ass still sitting there trying to make my gamecube controller float. I would give anything to be back on Oakland Ave playing co-op janky ass ROTK with Michael who would suddenly move to Florida and never hear from again. I would bleed to be able to go back to this time before I get abandoned in a psych ward at 8 scared shitless, sent off to an alternative school and put on a whole number of drugs, back to a time when I knew the feeling of what it meant to have and to KNOW you have friends, not just having them and not knowing how long you'll know them for. Back when I could trust. Back when I wasn't confused about how I was supposed to act, feel, or be. The Lord of the Rings was like my bible during these dark times, it kept my hope alive, even as I fought what seemed like a futile war, which I eventually won, but like Frodo didn't leave me without scars. Like I said, sorry this is such a long, winding, probably hard to read rant, I hope it makes any amount of sense because its hard to put this whole time period into words. I just got really eomotional
Devin Farrell enjoy the brief wave of nostalgia, don't live in it though.
I have one question. Why were you abandoned in a psych ward at such a young age?
I was disruptive in school, diagnosed with adhd, was bullied and was very tempermental at the time. I didn't know how to deal with a lot of things that were happening to me and I was very energetic and couldnt sit still well. I didn't have a lot of friends, and I connected to other "outcasts". I was a problem for too long in school and my parents were despearte to try figure out my problems and in their defense were trying to help me and steer me right. They say they regret it now but I don't think my mom does entirely, she was an RN and relies too heavily on medicine and doctors instead of the type of help that I needed. If I had a problem she would tell me to make an appointment to see x doctor or do a quick google as if I couldn't google myself. Dont get me wrong I love my parents but they can be really fucking retarded and their actions have many times caused me no end of grief. After the hospital I spent from 3rd grade until I finally managed to get out of it at an alternative school when I came back to regular pubblic school that wasn't an hour away in the 10th grade. But as you can imagine adjusting back to that enbironment which I so held to a high standard and strived to get badck to in my head which turned out to be not what I though t it was was very difficult as well, so I never stopped battling. But I did it differently then most people I knowor hear about. I never wanted to take meds (they put me on all kinds of shit since the hospital) I thought ever since I was a lid that if I need a handful of pills to have a decent mind to get through life then that was a problem, and that that wasn''t the way to deal with it. I saw through all the bullshit that they tried to feed me in the hospital and in that horrible school system. It was honestly like one of those gaslighting/brainwashing horror books or something but maybe not quite so extreme. Now after climbing the biggest mountains I've ever climbed (horrible, crippling panic attacks and anxiety, social skills and awareness, and many many other core problems) mostly all by myself with the world telling me it was hopeless but with some help from my dad and my family, I'm a sound person, my foundation is strong, I've done many things I've always wanted to do, and I'm a completely different person then I was then. My world is definitely not the same as when i was 6 nobody's is, but it feels like I'm finaally a person again or that I exist again ever since it all changed when I was 8 until I got out of high school and was nearly done with college. Now I can go on living again. So when I see people saying they need these drugs, or people giving people advice on forums and sureddits saying they should look into medication and all that, I get annoyed. Yes medication can help and everyone needs help to be able to get back on their feet but nobody unless they have certain issues (such as autism or such like my nephew) should rely on it forever. My stubborness is what got me into messes but also what essentially saved me from falling. Because when I look back, I realise that the shit I went through was not normal and that it wasn't all my fault. It was just a bunch of bad shit from and bad reactions from people who care and people who didn't care who should have cared making things worse that lasted way too long.
@@tinytaz94 I know. I've learned not to. Thanks though
This game and Lord of the Rings made up a lot of my childhood too. I would pretend to be the characters or build lego sets of castles resembling those from the movies. I was born in 1996, i'm 23 so we're about the same age and probably have some similar life experiences. But what you had to go through must've been hard. I hope you're doing okay now though.
10:21 that sound bite from Home Alone 2 is really good lol