The Lord of the Rings, The Third Age

"Is it a good game, YES! Is it a good RPG? Well..........."

We all know to be skeptical when a movie-licensed game comes out. Game developers know that just having the characters from such-and-such a movie will sell the game by itself. Also, those who finance the making of such games don't have so much money left over after paying for the license as those who finance original games.

That being said, I am happy that the game was well made.

Its a good game, its a fun game, it will keep you interested for the vast majority of it.

For those looking to play a good Lord of the Rings game, relive some of the magic of the film, and want to treat themselves to a stunning audio-visual display, this game is for you!

But if you could care less about the Lord of the Rings license, and want to play the game because you like Role Playing Games (RPGs), look elsewhere. The RPG elements were obviously dumbed down, I am guessing so that it could appeal to a broader audience. This is a bit sad, but I got over it and maybe others can too. But it should be known before getting into this game.

In the game you follow a different storyline than what you have read in the books and seen in the movies. And your main characters are different too. Events do run concurrent to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and your path will cross with famous characters like Aragorn, Gandalf, etc.

Your main character is a human called Berethor with Idrial, a sexy she-elf as the main supporting character (but in battle she is the most important one to have around by far). There are a few other humans and a dwarf as well. You go on a quest to help save Middle-Earth during which your party will visit familiar areas like Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith. If these terms and places are unfamiliar to you, I advise you see all three Lord of the Rings movies before playing this game.

The gameplay is that of a turn-based RPG. Your party makes attacks, casts spells, uses items, and then the bad guys you are fighting take their turns doing the same. And if you are smart enough to figure out the right combination and order of doing these things, you will win every battle and eventually the game. If not, you go to the last save point, figure out what you need to do and start over just like any other game.

Just like on every other game like this you run around, slay monsters, soldiers and other enemies, and pick up treasure while you do so. Then you use the treasure to equip your party, heal them in battle etc.

BUT WHERE IS THE MONEY?

Oh, that's right. You don't use money in this game. There are no stores to buy new weapons or items. What you collect on the way is what you get. No crafting weapons and armor either, though there is a way to craft items on the fly in battle.

The above fact combined with the overly linear aspect of the game compounded by the overly simplistic methods of equipping (and it seems you are getting a new item every 5 minutes, so equipping gets repetitive after awhile) and levelling up make this game just short of perfect.

I loved doing the battles. No matter how many times I saw Idrial cast her Loudwater Fury spell, it always gave me a rush. And I enjoyed every other animation too, on both friend and foe's sides.

And if you enjoy the battling more than anything in an RPG, then maybe this game is for you, because that is mostly what you do. Go somewhere, battle, watch a cutscene from the film (but with original voice-over just for the game by Ian McLellan, the guy who plays Gandalf. Its pretty cool, actually), collect your items, equip and level up your characters, then battle, battle, battle again.

The game does have some innovation to it that should be mentioned. You have the option to "Travel" (visit previous locations) at the Save Points. Also there is an additional optional "Evil Mode" where you can replay major battles as the bad guys to earn new items.

The game kept me interested the vast majority of the time and only some of the parts toward the end got monotonous. Some of the battles toward the end could only be won by following a formula of Idrial casting an auto-resurrect spell on herself then attacking, dying and resurrecting to repeat the process over a battle that lasted 10-15 minutes. Then you had to run down the field to face the same type of monster and battle it the same way. If you can push through this dull part of the game, the ending is worth seeing.

Its a short game as far as RPGs go. You can beat it in 25-30 hours.

Here is the breakdown:

Graphics 9/10

Sound 10/10

Presentation 10/10

Gameplay 8/10

Replayability 3/10

Rent or Buy? If you have a few days off work that you can spend doing nothing but gaming, you can save a little bit of money by renting this game. Otherwise just go ahead and buy it. At the time I am writing this review it is the end of 2005 and I picked up my copy for $15.00 as the game has been out for awhile. If you did not see Lord of the Rings or you don't like Lord of the Rings, don't bother doing either. You won't like the game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/12/05