Prerelease:The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Windows, Mac OS, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox)

This page details prerelease information and/or media for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Windows, Mac OS, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox).

Early Minas Tirith - Top of the Walls

While Minas Tirith - Top of the Walls has little-known development history, it still has interesting things.

Concept Art

MinasTirith_GateTowersB02

While everything is present in the final, the catapult was moved to the west side of the gate.

Pre-release Screenshot

This screenshot has numerous things that were never seen in the final:

• That huge battering ram was never seen during the level. Only after the third siege tower was destroyed and also the level's final cutscene.
• Graphics of the Orc's army are different. They also contain possibly the flags that were also never seen.

July 2003 PC Footage

These are pieces of early footage for the Windows version of the game dated July 10th 2003, 3 months before the game was released. They all show off the Minas Tirith Courtyard level.

• Projectile count is in a different position.
• Combat grade text is in a different position.
• Experience points are absent.
• The townspeople count meter is different.
• Gandalf can hold 70 projectiles whereas the maximum is 30 in the final game.

July 2003 PC Footage 2

• There is no mission failed screen.

(Source: IGN)