It seemed like most folks didn’t have a lot of great things to say about “King Arthur” the movie, and I’m sad to say this trend continues with the game. While it’s not horrible by any stretch of the imagination, the game is almost identical in gameplay and mechanics to the action-based The Lord of the Rings games, The Two Towers and The Return of the King by EA.

If nothing else, the graphics of the game are fairly impressive. While the transitions from movie to game are a little more startling than its LOTR counterparts, King Arthur does, for the most part, present a very realistic parallel to the movie. The characters all look convincingly like their theatrical counterparts. The environments look large, even if you can’t walk around in most of them, and do a terrific job of capturing the beauty of Briton in the dark ages.

Similarly, the audio portion of the game returns the player to the sounds of animals, winds, and steel found in the movie. Sadly, few, if any, of the actors reprise their roles for the game’s voice acting, and the ones they do get, while not horrible, are merely passable in their presentations.

I can’t really put it any more simply than King Arthur is a pretty blatant clone of the two The Lord of the Rings action titles from EA. Three levels of attack, a parry, a finishing move, buying moves with experience points, frequently useless attack combos... they’re all here. Granted, they have some new additions, such as riding on horseback, but these additions are usually pretty tacked on and don’t play nearly as well as the others.

Replace all the Middle Earth graphics with images of the Arthurian movie, add a few horses, and you’ve pretty much got the gameplay of King Arthur. Two major differences are the horseback portions and the way the game handles the experience pool. While the LOTR titles had several characters that you would level up separately, the characters in King Arthur share abilities and power you’ve unlocked with experience points. There are quite a few characters as well, and at the beginning of each level, you’ll have the chance to pick one from a constantly changing pool of heroes to choose from. Arthur, Lancelot, Galahad... they’re all here.

The other section of the gameplay worth mentioning is fighting on horseback. While it seems great in concept, and had great potential, the game fails utterly in its execution. You feel more vulnerable on horseback in many situations, they control poorly, and the horse attacks are too slow and cumbersome to frequently be of any real use. It IS great fun trampling over enemies though. I can’t deny that.

What else can I say except that King Arthur is hard; too darn hard. If you thought the The Lord of the Rings games were hard, be prepared for the worst. It is as if the designers of King Arthur decided to forgo any sort of play balancing and decided to just make almost every stage as hard as they possibly could while still allowing the game to be, just barely, completable. Even by the third stage, I found myself running around in circles from huge hoards of enemies that would quickly dispatch me, trying desperately to take out a single enemy, if I could get them alone. It was just too extreme. The game is consistently frustrating to the player at every front.

As you earn experience points in battle, you can spend them on upgrades for your characters. There are many things to spend them on, including increased power, speed, and a large assortment of combat upgrades big and small. You can learn abilities which allow link combat attacks together, pre-made combos to instantly kill enemies, and even upgrades for your ranged attacks.

One addition that is unique to the game is the inclusion of a quest map screen. From this screen, you can keep track of areas you have completed, missions in each area, and the overall progress of your campaign. King Arthur also provides an entertaining co-op mode that allows you to play through the game with a friend.

The story of the game is identical to that of the movie; a historical depiction of King Arthur, rather than the famous legends. Arthur and his men are cavalry-men bound into service as members of the Roman army. Much of the game involves protecting the Roman land of Briton from an invasion of Saxon barbarians. During the game, you’ll meet the Celtic people and two of their members, Merlin and Guinevere.

If you enjoy the action and high-difficulty of Two Towers and Return of the King, and enjoy the setting of the recent theatrical release of “King Arthur,” then this game is one you will enjoy. If not, you may find that King Arthur only serves to frustrate and bore you.