It took me one week to finish but it wasn’t easy. Today, I completed the single player campaign of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Broken up into 13 levels, the game followed a subset of the movie’s plot. It was quite cinematic with cut scenes taken right out of the Academy Award winning motion picture. There was no mistaking that it originated as a console video game. From the button-mashing combat to the unlockable characters and interviews, it showed its console roots. For my taste, I’m not sure that was completely a good thing. Like XIII, the last game I finished, it had a limited save game system. Once again, I was forced to rely on checkpoints. That isn’t so bad but the game can be very difficult at times. A little experimentation was involved as I had to reply several of the levels to get through them. Accepting it for what it was, however, The Return of the King was a solid third-person action title with some thrilling and enjoyable moments.

This week I finished playing XIII, a first-person shooter. Based on a comics series, XIII had the visual style to match. Although it used the Unreal 2 engine, the graphics were cel-shaded. It felt like you were in the middle of a living comic book or graphic novel. I really enjoyed the visual look. It was a nice change of pace. The story was definitely a cut above the standard FPS offerings. It involved the assassination of the President of the United Stated and a conspiracy to take over the U.S. government. You play as an amnesiac who is trying to determine his identity. Unfortunately, you are framed for the assassination. As the story unfolds, you unravel details of the conspiracy as well as information about your own past. The game was much more stealth-oriented than run and gun. It reminded me of No One Lives Forever and Splinter Cell somewhat in that regard.

I enjoyed XIII quite a bit. However, one of the things that kept it from being an all-time favorite was the save game system. You could only save at certain checkpoints in the game. I didn’t mind that too much. However, there were a few difficult spots that I ended up replaying more times than I cared to do. That was the main detractor from an otherwise enjoyable experience.