GAME STUDIO DESCRIPTION: Return to Middle-earth™ to forge a new adventure… The Lord of the Rings™, The Third Age™ role-playing game is an epic quest in which players will take on the roles of previously unplayable characters choosing their own path through Middle-earth while interacting with the heroes and villains of the movie trilogy.
Based on New Line Cinema and Peter Jackson’s acclaimed film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic The Lord of the Rings™ trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, The Third Age videogame allows players to adventure through Middle-earth, building a party of heroes as they journey. Players battle on the side of the Fellowship, but can unlock additional encounters where they fight on the side of Sauron as they progress. In the game, players will interact with key characters of the Fellowship in a unique structure, taking on individual quests while intersecting the major events of the film trilogy that drive the story forward such as the epic battles at Helm’s Deep and Minas Tirith. Parties will traverse through both familiar and seldom-glimpsed locations, using an innovative turn-based battle system as they fight, encountering the demonic Balrog in the Mines of Moria, or defending the fallen city of Osgiliath.
GRAPHICS: EA knows how to make games look great and this is no different. The characters are modeled well—even the enemies look fantastic. The animation is strong and very fluid. You feel like you are part of the battles. Everything from the weapons to the armor is designed so that you can easily tell them apart.
PLAY: The Third Age feels like a voyage to no where—or to your death. In adventure mode you search for enemies as you move from one quest to another. Some of the quests are more exploring rather than killing, but there is killing. You can’t avoid killing—besides why would you? It’s the only way to gather new equipment. You will need these upgrades in order to deal with the enemies as you move further into the game. In all honesty the fun comes with fighting. An eye of Sauron graphic shines brighter as you encounter enemies. Monsters are everywhere and that is part of the excitement.
There are three characters for you to choose and often you want one over the other because of what they offer in the way of skills. Sometimes you just hack your way through a crowd of enemies and at other times magic is better to keep yourself alive. There are some issues when fighting, such as when a magic attack will work and when it doesn’t.
SOUND: The voice acting is quite good. The cast is here to lend their voices and that is a big plus. The musical score is as lush as the film as are the battle sound effects.
FRANKLY: The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age is perfect for fans that have finished the other releases. If EA keeps churning out LOTR games we’ll keep playing them.
+ Richie Wright
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