Product Description

Lord Of The Rings: Third Age allows fans to explore the world of Middle-Earth from an entirelynew perspective. Players get a chance to fight alongside or against key characters from The Lord of the Rings, like Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas, Eowyn, even the Balrog. Travel in the wake of the Fellowship, exploring your own path while intersecting with major characters and events from the films. Choose to align yourself with the people of Middle-Earth or undertake missions on behalf of Sauron. See the action from any angle, with the user-controlled cameras. Uncover various side quests as you discover hidden characters, secret weapons, and powerful items Voiceovers from the original actors and footage from all three The Lord of the Rings films

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7152 in Video Games
• Brand: Electronic Arts
• Model: 14633148497
• Released on: 2006-06-15
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Platform: Xbox
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 2.00 pounds

Features

• In-depth skill system lets players upgrade and customize their hero or villain
• Relive exciting moments from the film trilogy -- from fighting the Balrog in the Mines Of Moria to fighting the Battle Of Helm's Deep
• Play as all-new characters from the Middle-Earth saga, interacting with the classic heroes and villains of the film
• Innovative turn-based combat system as you ride horses or Wargs through massive armies
• Free-roaming adventure as you explore a beautiful and realistic game world

From the Manufacturer
Play as all-new characters from Middle-earth, interacting with the heroes, villains, and supporting cast who populate the world.

Travel in the wake of the Fellowship in a unique structure that allows players to explore their own path while periodically intersecting the major events of New Line Cinema's film trilogy.

Features

• Play on the side of light or shadow. In an adventure that intersects the main plot points of the film trilogy, battle on the side of the Fellowship in their quest to save Middle-earth or unlock the evil missions where you fight on the side of Sauron.
• Deep gameplay that expands all three films. Travel to familiar and unfamiliar places such as the Mines of Moria, Helm's Deep, Pelennor Fields, Minas Tirith, and a host of unexpected locations like the White Mountains Plains.
• Customize your hero or villain: Upgrade your character with an in-depth skill tree system where you can acquire unique skills in melee combat, ranged weaponry, defense, and magic.
• Discover a vast array of weapons, armor and clothing, and other Middle-earth items.
• Free-roaming gameplay. Explore, take on side quests, and uncover secret characters to join your party, or special weapons and items to boost your existing characters.
• Fight alongside or against key characters from The Lord of the Rings such as Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas, Eowyn, and the Balrog.
• New user-controlled cameras keep players aware of everything around them.
• Innovative turn-based battle system allows you to fight on horseback or Warg and define the rules of engagement.
• Voiceover from the original actors and assets from all three The Lord of the Rings films.

Customer Reviews

Fun, but very mass market
Sincerely, it is difficult to rate this game.
It has all it needs to be considered a good game, but also has some issues:

Graphics 9/10: Simply great and beautiful. The landscape looks as if it comes directly out of the movie.

Story 7/10: this is where I think hardcore LOTR fans will be divided from Mass Market customers. The story is a bit of a slap in the face for anybody who read or loves Tolkien. Your party is basically always 5 minutes behind the company of the ring. Especially at the beginning of the game... a bit too much for somebody but very appealing for those who would like to feel as if they were in some way part of the trilogy story line.

Sound 10/10: how could it be better?

Gameplay 5/10: Weird things go on in 3rd age.
*Monsters appear from nowhere while you go around on the 3D world map.
*You can only use three members of your party as you work through fights. Since your characters will become stronger as they use their abilities, the fourth guy you leave out will soon be so behind the other ones he will almost be useless.
*You can't cast healing spells while not in combat. At least I didn't manage to. So either you use items or your wait for a fight.
*Each character has a skill set. For example, the elf has healing powers. Everytime you use one of those powers, her "spirit skill" will go up by a point. Once you achieve enough points you unlock the next skill. Since you use skills in combat it becomes paramount to use the most possible everytime.
*No game economy. No shops. No buying and selling stuff. No random NPC encounters. Low feeling of being part of an "alive" world.

Overall the game is fun but it really is not an RPG. It seems that RPGs have gone down to define every game where your character grows during the game and you can personalize her. Not true. Role playing is about playing a role, and you really don't get this in 3rd Age.

Plus the fact you have no possibility of roaming freely the land, you don't buy and sell stuff, and every treasure you find is in a nice chest. Yes, chests everywhere: in Moria, in the Mountains, in Fangorn...always chests.

Bottom line
Buy this game if:
1) you are a LOTR fan, liked the movies and like simple RPGs.
2) you are LOTR fan and will own anything with LOTR written on it.
3) you mildy like the LOTR and you like fantasy.
4) you like "simple RPGs."

Don't buy this game if you were hurt by all the differences the LOTR movies had from the book. This game would kill you.

HINT/SPOILER: to gain "specialization points" have the Gondorian learn "Company Grace." This will give you a boost in AP (action points) every round. You need these to use your skills. Go through a fight and once you have only one foe alive, use the dwarf to cast "stone shield" on the Gondorian. This will grant him physical immunity for a while. Then use the Gondorian and "taunt" the last foe. Your enemy will only attack the fighter from Gondor. At that point just start using skills. Your enemy will wast attacks and you will gain a specialization point every round. Remember to have "company grace" always active and to recast "stone shield" once it expires.

Rules Them All (If you like Japanese-style RPGs)
I'm surprised to see as many negative reviews as I have for this game. I think the problem is that a lot of people are used to American style RPGs and don't understand that this is supposed to be a Japanese-style RPG.

In a nutshell, American style RPGs tend to let you create your character at the outset and focus on exploration and decision-making that affects the course of the game. You could call it a D&D approach. Japanese-style RPGS, on the other hand, tend to give you a predetermined character which you use to progress through a long, mostly linear storyline. They usually use anime style graphics and feature lengthy cutscenes.

In my opinion, this game is an excellent execution of the Japanese-style RPG. The graphics are beautiful, the audio is perfect, the storyline is excellent, the cutscenes are literally feature-film quality, and the turn-based battles are modeled on the outstanding combat system used in Final Fantasy X. If any of that sounds appealing to you, I highly recommend picking this one up.

What a STINKER!
It sounds like a great idea at first. The "Lord of the Rings" books are about a group of heroes that save Middle Earth. But they could not do it single-handed. So let's make a game that follows a group of lesser known heroes through the adventure behind the adventure. Sure, SOUNDS like a good idea.

It Isn't.

At least it isn't in this disappointment of a game. Don't get me wrong, the graphics and sound are superb, what you would expect from an epic game with such a famous name. But the substance is pathetic. You play a Gondorian who is following Boromir to Rivendale and gets entangled in a parallel adventure to the Fellowship. But it perverts the tale. You wind up fighting the Balrog next to Gandalf, you end up fighting next to every hero at Helm's deep. You destroy all 9 of the Ring Wraiths, single-handed! Come on! To make it even worse, they could not secure all of the actors to lend their voices to the game, so they just used lines from the movie! And the lines are not even used in the same context. A 10 year old with a dual tape deck could come up with better executed dialogue.

The not-so-apparent love story will take you by surprise. You will say "Hey, when did they take the time to fall in love?".

And to top it all off, you wind up fighting the "Eye of Sauron", magically appearing on top of the black tower en-masse to do battle with a flaming apparition! So much for Frodo's menial task!

To sum up, don't waste your time. Spend the money on the books and read them under a shady tree. It's a much more worthwhile task.