Toying with a cherished franchise is like trying to light a cigarette while swimming in gasoline: you will likely find yourself engulfed in flames. And whether it be the flames of fire or hateful Internet slander, no one desires that (well, almost no one). Case in point: when New Line Cinema announced that they were developing a trilogy of movies based on the Lord of the Rings, there was much trepidation. And as an individual to whom The Hobbit was read every night as a young child and grew up adoring the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, I hosted a few moderate reservations. After seeing the preliminary artwork and some early on-set pictures, my fears subsided. And after seeing the three films multiple times, I feel as though they form a strong candidate for the best film series of all time.

So when the game that accompanies all big-budget films was released for The Lord of the Rings, I was fairly indifferent. Excellent movies had been made, and that was my primary concern. And after a game based on The Fellowship of the Ring for the PS2 and Xbox was met with ho-hum reviews, it was still moot to me. I only owned a GameCube at the time, and I still had more films to anticipate. But when Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was released for the GameCube, I decided to give it a shot. And man-oh-man was it awesome. It perfectly captured the spirit of the film. Additionally, as it was created by a different developer, they incorporated most major scenes from The Fellowship of the Ring. Despite some expected padding for gameplay purposes, there are hardly any detriments. It's a worthy game to accompany a film worthy of portraying the events of one of history's most cherished novels.

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