LOTR:TA does what it needs to with overall fun gameplay, but it is a little too easy.

Reviewed by ebayermog on October 06, 2006  |  report this review

I am a HUGE fan of both the books and movies of Lord of the Rings. So, when I heard about an RPG involving the movie, I was excited. Then, I heard the gameplay was going to be just like Final Fantasy X. I was now very excited! Final Fantasy has had me hooked on RPG's for years and something like FF with the LOTR storyline? Absolutely fantastic! So, the day it came out, I picked it up, popped it in my PS2, and away I went. About an hour into it, I was curious as to why I was playing this game, but yet, I couldn't put it down. Then 2 or 3 hours go by and I'm still playing, though I'm not sure why.

Let me first point out the pros of this game. The visuals are very nice to look at. Special attacks and magic spells are pretty eye candy and the orcs, wargs, and trolls are very detailed. When you get a new piece or armor or weapon, you see your character wearing or wielding this new equipment in battle or on the field. Whenever you clear a region, it unlocks the 'Evil-Mode' of that region, which can lead to some great new items for your heroes in the main storyline. Also, you can unlock 'Epic-Scenes of Middle-Earth', which are scenes from the movies clipped together and Gandalf doing voice-overs telling you about people, places, and things that are happening in the story at that time. These are quite nice as there was one scene that I received that told me some information I never knew about in the LOTR universe. That was a nice addition.

Now for the cons. The storyline ties in with the Fellowship story quite well, though you don't really care. Nor do you care about the characters of the game. To me, this is the worst thing that can happen to an RPG. Without a story or characters, I really don't care for it. What do I care that this guy gets where he's going or this one has his family killed? I don't because I don't know these characters and there is no reason to care. I explained how the game feels to me to a friend of mine and I felt it was a good assessment, so I'm going to use it here. You're watching a football game, and you see that the quarterback and the wide receiver are racking up points and they are winning the game, BUT during the entire game, they focus on the left guard. About how he is positioned, where he's standing, when he goes to the bench, whatever. Every once in a while, they'll tell you that the quarterback threw 6 touchdowns and the wide receiver made a backflip catch, but that's it, they still focus on this left guard. You just don't care about that left guard, you want to see the quarterback and wide receiver. That's how Third Age makes you feel. You hear about the Fellowship and the things that are happening, even get thrust into it every once in a while but you never actually get invovled with it full-time.

Yet somehow, Third Age kept me coming back. Maybe it's because I'm an LOTR fan or maybe it was the chance to participate in some of the great battles that made the movies so spectacular. I'm not sure. Whatever it w

cool concept but poor follow through

Reviewed by einwol on November 01, 2006  |  report this review

I love Lord of the Rings!!! I could watch the movies over and over without a doubt. So when I heard about this game I was really pumped. It is a lot like Final Fantasy X, so I thought it would be an instant winner and it was for the first couple of hours. But I found myself very bored for the gameplay was easy and monotonous. The same fights over and over. Blah. No suprises or twists. Just the sameole stuff. Don't get me wrong, the LOTR universe with the landscapes (especially moria), music, Gandalf and such were all coolness. But like I said you see the same stuff and a long drawn out way. I think it you want to play a LOTR game go get battle for middle earth. It's a real-strat but it's more true to the movies (or the book for that matter) and the gameplay will keep you excited.

anyways....
Get this game only if you are a very hardcore fan of LOTR.

Cheers!

Possibly the WORST LOTR game

Reviewed by SBroly on March 27, 2007  |  report this review

I agree with einwol when he says the concept of the game/story was a good idea and bought it thinking it would excite me with more Lord of the Rings adventure to keep me playing for hours. However, from the very first cutscene I could tell this was a bad buy. Cheezy lines, dull, uninteresting characters, and a story line to make you cry with boredom, Lord of the Rings: The Third Age thoroughly disappointed me, as I'm sure it did many a LOTR fan. The fighting system resembles that used in the Final Fantasy genre, but less interactive or diverse. It ranges from "attack" to "Spirit Powers" to "Items" with no real excitement to keep you going. Some fights last for almost one whole hour, depending on the level of difficulty the opponent is. The game is also full of quazi-plot turns, such as a ranger's quest to kill an orc who stole something precious of his, which could have had great potential, yet lasted for 10 minutes. EA failed to utilize The Third Age's story and/or battle system to its full potential, thus creating the flop of a game you see before you. Buy it if you wish, but be warned that it's a disappointment in an case.

Its not terrible

Reviewed by steve6787 on July 05, 2008  |  report this review

Should of been able to play as the main characters, instead of EA trying to incorporate a whole new set of people. Because of that, you dont seem to care what happens to the characters you are playing with, because you know nothing about them. I do however like the videos and how they tie the story in.

It's not a complete waste, mostly because I just keep putting it in and playing it. If your a fan of LOTR, its not a bad pickup in my opinion. I think it would of been great, if they would of used the original characters.