Even those who stay clear of the fantasy genre have heard of The Lord Of The Rings. There have been countless books, movies, and video games based on Tolkien’s epic trilogy.
As with every video game franchise that has multiple entries, there are going to be good and bad games. The PlayStation 2 had one of the longest life spans of any console lasting 12 years in Japan and 13 years in all other regions the console was released.
During that time, a total of six Lord Of The Rings PS2 games were released and most of them were bangers! We are going to cover them all and breakdown
The Best Lord Of The Rings Games For The PlayStation 2
The Lord Of The Rings: Return of the King
This game was the sequel to Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers. Everything that made it in the predecessor is here but better. It is still just as fun to hack and slash your way through Middle Earth.
The production value has been increased with interactive environments and the ability for two players to journey together. On top of those improvements, there are more characters that you can choose to play as.
The game begins with Gandalf during the final stage of Helm’s Deep battle. After those levels, you can choose if you want to go through the game as a Wizard, King, or Hobbit with different stories and quests for every path.
Not only is the story different for every path but there are different levels for every path. You don’t have to commit to one path so you can switch between them if you want to try them all at once.
In the previous game, you could only improve the skills of your character with Fellowship points. In Return Of The King, you can hand out fellowship points to members of your party if you want to make them stronger.
There is even a multiplayer mode online and there are many different things you can unlock including concept art, video interviews, and secret characters. With great sound and graphics, this is a Lord Of Rings PS2 gaming experience you should check out.
Metacritic Score: 85/100
Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers
This is a fun beat ’em-up game that has good graphics and sound. There was a lot of content from the Peter Jackson film that made it into the game but it didn’t add as much as you might think.
The name can be a bit deceiving because the game actually covers events from the first 2 films, Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Ring and Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers.
There are loads of characters and even some unlockables. Each fighter has their own combos and special attacks to fight their way through memorable battles like Helm’s Deep or the mines of Moria
Given the source material, it is surprising this game is so short, but there is a lot of fun to be had here, and is a great starting point, especially if you plan on playing the sequel.
Metacritic Score: 82/100
The Lord Of The Rings: The Third Age
This is the Lord Of The Rings game that has the best graphics (at least for the PS2). Everything that is featured in this title looks like it did in the movie but the gameplay diverts heavily from the others on this list.
This roleplaying title features a lot of fast-action combat that is fun to play. The mechanics are traditional and straightforward forward so any RPG fans will feel right at home and inexperienced gamers won’t be turned off.
From the opening credits, you will never experience a boring moment in the story and there are some interesting options you would not expect to see in a strategy game.
You can play with a friend in co-op mode or you can choose “Evil Mode” which lets you play the game from the bad guy’s point of view giving you a different look at the story.
Great graphics and audio make this one a winner. For many, the evil mode alone is enough to make this release worth checking out.
Metacritic Score: 73/100
The Hobbit
If you like adventure games then you will enjoy the Hobbit. While it does score lower there is enough here to keep you entertained.
Inevitable Entertainment was trying to create their kind of Zelda game set in the Shire and they hit the spot on some points. The puzzles are not very hard to solve but the game will increase in difficulty as you play through.
The story is explained through cutscenes that look great and the game doesn’t take too many liberties with the plot so this game feels like a faithful representation of the book with the same name.
The music is amazing and the voice acting could not be done any better.
The difficulty in The Hobbit will not scare off inexperienced or younger gamers and there is enough gameplay to keep the adventures going without feeling forced.
While this game may not be perfect, there are elements this game gets right to have fun, especially for people who can’t get enough “Zelda style” gameplay.
Metacritic Score: 59/100
The Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Ring
While many Lord Of The Rings games were based on the movies, this one switches up things by being based on the original books. The developers try to offer something different than the movie but also offer something that doesn’t insult the movie adaptation.
For die-hard fans, this is great because many things that didn’t make it into the movie were included in this game. There are a lot of fun puzzles but they are not hard to figure out.
You play as three different characters and all three have both melee attacks for enemies that are close by and another one for range.
In terms of character models, hobbits and enemies look exactly like you would expect them to, and the environment is a good representation of what you would expect Middle Earth to look like.
Metacritic Score: 59/100
The Lord Of The Rings: Aragorn’s Quest
This game was released on PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS, and the PSP. If you are looking for a LOTR game that had simple gameplay like Gauntlet then you will enjoy this one.
The plot is divided into chapters that use scenes from the movie to explain things. Sadly there is a lack of extras that you would want in a game like this and there isn’t much reason to explore the levels.
Your objective is to make it to the end of each stage after you take care of the enemies trying to stop you. There are a few missions where you will have to find a certain number of things before you can proceed but it is not too involving.
As with the other games here Aragorn is equipped with a number of attacks. There are also abilities that you can earn which will help with specific enemies you meet later on. If you are looking for a simple game to bash through Sauron’s army of orcs then this is one you will want to try.
Metacritic Score: 58/100
That is every Lord Of The Rings game on PlayStation 2. Considering the variety of games we get on newer consoles it is a surprise that most of these follow a similar play style. The owners of the Tolkien estate have always been very careful when giving out licenses for his works and it shows in the quality of these games.