Playstation 2 - Lord of the Rings: The Third Age

Format
Playstation 2
Publisher
EA
Developer
EA
Country of origin
US
Genre
RPG

Lord of the Rings : the third Age

By David Rasmussen
16th Dec 04

Studio - EAGames
Age - T for Teen (13+)
Genre - RPG

the one problem I had with the first three games was that they were not very intelligent.
For an intelligent movie series like the Lord of the Rings I would have thought a deep RPG series would have been the ticket, yet the games they put out were simple beatdown games... nothing too complex there.
Even with the clips from the movies, the interviews, and extras in those games it just wasn't enough.

But if you made it all the way to the end of Return of the King then you saw the brief notation about Lord of the Rings Trilogy (game) coming this year. this no doubt is that game, renamed "the third Age" denoting the time of the game (the third age of man).
Finally! After all my complaining I finally see an RPG set in the LotR world come out!
then I played it...

First off I thought the game would be it's own "master", and have it's own storyline... I was sadly mistaken.
It takes place during the movies, but that isn't enough.
You play a Gondorian soldier who is saved by an elf woman, who in turn leads you on the road to your destiny. You see, you're following Boromir when you're attacked by Ring Wraiths (Nasgul) and after the attack you're still following Boromir which is how the first part of the game begins...

Part 1 - Fellowship of the Ring
the whole first third of the game gets you settled with the new turn based combat system (a big improvement over the combat of old, with far more detailed combat system than before), and get you two new allies (you can have six characters in all) before you reach Moria, which is a gigantic level of itself.

Remember now you're trying to catch up to Boromir, which means your after the Fellowship.
And you'll have a hard time catching up to them UNTIL the very end of the Moria level when you FINALLY catch up to Gandalf and fight with him against the Balrog.
the first third of the game ends with you escaping Moria.

Part 2 - Two Towers
Somehow you bypass Lothlorien (which is one of my complaints about this game later) and you end up in the Plains of Rohan. Oh, and here's where you get told (at the beginning) that your old quest is done since Boromir is now dead... too bad.

You'll pick up your last two allies here, and FINALLY begin to get down to the stuff that got you into this game in the first place! ACTUAL INTERACTION WIth LotR CHARACTERS!
First you speak a few times with Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellan), nothing big.

then you hear some new dialogue from Saruman (Christopher Lee)... then your first big character fight as you take on Grima (the worm dude) which leads you to Helm's Deep and meetings with Gimli, Aragorn, Legolas and King theoden (who you fight alongside during the siege of Helm's Deep... except for theoden of course).

It's a long and terrible struggle, and by the time you end this second part you're well on your way to learning some terrible truths about yourself.

Part 3 - Return of the King
Ah. If you thought you'll be saddled with a perfect character with perfect friends then you are so wrong.
Turns out you have some major issues that need resolving, which is going to happen here.
First there's Osgiliath, the place where the enemy lands near Minas Tirith (where lots is revealed), then the final battles of Minas Tirith and... I'm near the end now, but I wouldn't reveal the end anyway.

After a journey of love, friendship, discovery, combat and struggle you reach the end of your road.
Hopefully it's a good ending for you, but you'll have to discover that yourself.

the combat system in this game rules.
Compared to what it was before for the trilogy of games this is perfect.
Turn based combat? You say you've done it before? Well this is nicely animated, in fact the whole game is nicely animated. I say it measures up as a near equal to Final Fantasy. Beautiful animation, great combat system, nicely done all around.

the attacks and items you can use are great. It all just plays out so wonderfully. the customization of characters with armor add-ons that change the look of the characters with each piece added, the moves you pick up as you go along which become more devastating as you go along, the overallness of the combat and all the wicked fun things you get to fight including huge trolls, Nasgul and more!

Now mind you I said NEARLY measures up to Final Fantasy.
One thing that falls short is the RPG part... in other words it's a stylish beatdown, but for the most part it's still a beatdown... yet this time I'm going to be majorly forgiving because it's a great beatdown, and one I recommend from me to you. Damn good if I do say so myself.

Now I wish there was more Role Playing to the RPG, but it's good nevertheless.
I wish there was more towns and so forth I could have visited, and explored (non violently) to talk to people and buy supplies, but that just doesn't seem to happen in this game.

Past the one level (Helm's Deep) where you take the time to walk about and talk to people (not very detailed either) you mostly just fight your way from area to area. Still, with the great combat system and the exciting battles I have to say this is one beatdown I can live with.

Also as you play you unlock levels to a bonus game called "Evil Mode" where you get to roll out your dark side and play the evil forces for a change. this evil play is also good for your regular game because you'll unlock new weapons and armors here while your playing.

the whole game is narrated by Sir Ian McKellan (Gandalf) who narrates every Epic Scene (which is a long cutscene of the movies with dialogue filling you in on the situation at that point of the game, or info about what you are facing or who you are with) and is the big voice talent of the game.

In terms of acting he does the most of it. Next we have Christopher Lee as Saruman. I have a feeling he does the narrative for Evil Mode, but I haven't played it yet to find out.

Others from the movie also appear... but the problem I have is that they're just reading (for the most part) lines from the movie. You can tell it's a new reading, however, since they deliver it far differently this time (voice acting wise) than they did for the movie, so you can tell it's new.

Still, with very little new dialogue for the characters it's not very good. they do have their moments of fresh dialogue, but it's few and far between. Also it's rare to run into these characters, and an even rarer thing to fight alongside them. But you will fight with them. You'll fight with Gandalf, Legolas, Gimli, Aragorn and Faramir (as of this point in the game that I'm at).
I wish there was more interaction with the big characters, and more joining up with them, but I guess what little there is in this game is OK.... I guess.

As for the characters in question? they're powerful, no question about that! Heck, maybe they're too powerful, but considering they arrive at dire times it's good to have some kickbutt fighters because you'll need their buttkicking prowess.

As for restocking your supplies and finding new gear for your characters? Since there are no stores in this game you'll have to get everything the hard way. All your gear, weapons, armor, etc. has to be found by hand, so you'll have to hunt around for treasure chest like mad (searching everywhere) because there's no other way to replenish supplies or upgrade your equipment in this game other than finding everything you need. Kind of a harsh thing but not too hard since it seems Middle Earth is littered with treasure chests.

Okay. Let's break this down already and wrap this up.

Lord of the Rings Breakdown the 4th
What's Hot? - the combat system rules, no question. When it comes to the fighting and the action of this game it is without equal. this is what Acclaim should have done to the Red Star game... well, BEFORE they went bankrupt that is. Now that they're down for the count the future of games like the Red Star (the Turok franchaise, etc) seem to be up in the air, which is not a good thing... sorry, my mind wandered.

the cutscenes (briefings by Sir Ian McKellan) are great too. Utilizing footage from all three trilogy movies (Special Edition footage including scenes only seen on the Special Edition DVD releases) it makes this game as much a must have for movie fanatics to round out the collection as well as for RPG game fans.

But if you're just looking for some blood pumping action then you can't go wrong here. this has the heat, and because it's adjustable to three difficulty levels it also has replay value which is another plus.

If you're looking for a solidly done RPG this year this is one for your collection (permanent).

What's Not? - One of the selling points of this game is the chance to meet and play with the characters of the movies (voiced by those who played them). HOWEVER it seems interaction with them is few, far between, and not very impressive. Most of the lines are rehashed from the movie, and I didn't like how little you got to interact with the characters.

Another not is the fact that you seem to be the tail end of this little parade to Mordor.
In the three beatdown games you were at the head of the parade, this time out for the most part you're trailing behind at the tail end (doing cleanup duties)!
the only time that changes is when you reach Helm's Deep (when you get there before the armies of Saruman) and Osgiliath (arrive just as the battle for the city begins), otherwise you are always a few steps behind and a little late to all the big events.

that doesn't make the game any less fun, but it seems to diminish at times your roll in it to nothing more than a clean-up role (or an afterthought).

Moments to Remember?
Lots. there is lots to remember, but I can't tell you because of some spoiler material. Sorry.

What to Ignore?
Uhh... ignore the fact that you are playing an RPG yet don't seem to do very much RP-ing in your RPG.
You fight, and fight, and fight, yet don't get to do the non-violent parts of RPG-ing.
You don't get to visit Lothlorien, nor do you get to tarry long in Helm's Deep. You don't even get to drop in on Minas Tirith pre-combat but then again...

Overall I wish there was more RP in my RPG, and I got to Role Play more here with cities and so forth to visit, wander, buy stuff in, etc.

that would have been nice, but I guess you can't have everything considering the sheer amount of movie footage that was crammed into this game! Oh, well.

Overall?
Why waste money on all three games of the trilogy when you can pick this up and experience all three movies in one game? And with it's excellent combat system this game is a far better choice by far!

Now, mind you, I wish there was more content in concerns to the original movie characters, and I wish there was the ability to visit the cities of Middle Earth and wander through their streets.
Still, as games go, this is a good one and well worth your time in checking out! Nice game if I do say so myself, and I do say so myself!

-- David Rasmussen 16th Dec 04

Playstation 2 Lord of the Rings: The Third Age Images