The Lord of the Rings, The Third Age

"Innovative, but with its flaws"

Note: my reviews' scores use 5 as an average score, rather than 7 -7.5 as an average as most people and schools do. Therefore, 1 is terrible, 3 is bad, 5 is average, 7 is good, and 10 is amazing.

The Third Age

Summary: A strategy-RPG, this one is very innovately different from all the others on GBA. It boasts far more skill and far more randomness at the same time, but has some flaws in the implication of the game.

Graphics 7/10
For a GBA these are great graphics. Most other sRPGs (or games in general) on GBA have simple cartoony characters. The graphics in TTA are lifelike; especially the portraits of heroes and units. Maps and features are realistic as well, unlike the direct top-down simple-2D graphics of most gba games.

Mechanics/Controls 4/10
There are a plethora of annoying little things in the game. First off, you can't see a number for HP or SP, it's displayed in a bar and you have to guesstimate it. You can't "lock on" to available units (ie in Advance Wars you could press R and the game would auto-select a unit that hasn't moved) and this is a problem because sometimes it's hard to see your units as they blend into the background quite well. You can't view the movement range of enemy units nor can you view the shooting range of enemy units OR your own units and plan ahead accordingly. Also, you can ONLY save at the end of a mission - not even a quicksave like in fire emblem. And this is a huge problem, because missions can take very long - especially so because of the next reason - YOU CAN NOT SKIP COMBAT SCENES (until you beat the game and unlock "skip combat"); so through your first play-through you'll likely be very bored watching the same battle animations 5000 times.

Sound/Music 9/10
A lot of the sound and music are taken from the movies, with some editing of the tracks. Overall very well done.

Storyline/Depth 5/10
LotR has a very intricate story, but it isn't really presented in this game. The missions are battles here and there, and if you haven't read the books or watched the movies you will not get it.

Creativity 7/10
Taking an existing story and an existing game genre and creating something very different; not bad at all.

Gameplay 8/10
There are 6 commanders to use; Elrond, Aragorn, Gandalf, Witch-King, Mouth of Sauron, and Saruman. Throughout the campaign, your commander is with you in every mission, and you may be able to use 1-3 companion heroes. Instead of letting you move every unit once every turn, the game runs on command points and flanks; the battlefield is divided into 3 "flanks" and each flank receives a number of command points based on the leadership skill of your heroes in that flank. This allows for a lot more strategy, but the CPs have a range (for example, Aragorn has a leadership of 1-4, which is a very large range of possible moves.) The character-building system is also interesting; instead of gaining levels traditionally you get EXP when you kill enemies, which can be spent on skills, equipment, and items. A few balance issues; some of the companion heroes are clearly superior (Legolas for his enormous range and no distance penalty, Wormtongue for his guaranteed 2 CP). The commanders on good are fairly even, but Saruman with his host of abilities is far superior to the Witch-King and Mouth; both of whom are only good for meleeing and being targetted by every enemy unit and dying.

Replay 7/10
A good and an evil campaign, allowing you to play both sides of every map. There are a number of unlockable maps and an unlockable companion hero for each side. There are 3 difficulty levels, and you also may want to re-play as a different commander.

Tilt 6/10
Most aspects of the game are very good, but all the nuasances like unpredictability, saving only at the end of a mission, and being forced to sit through animations really hurt the game.

Overall 7/10 - GOOD

Rent or buy
If you're a hardcore LotR fan, buy immediately. If you like sRPG games and don't mind the flaws in the game mechanics, it's still a good choice.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/23/05