Good entry game for new RPGers, and a great game for fans of the Movies. Well worth checking out! :)
User Rating: 8.2 | The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age PS2
Well, I gotta say I QUITE enjoyed this game. I won't make any claims about it being the Best RPG I've ever played, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. So why should you play it? Lemme go through some good (and bad) points of the game. Gameplay wise, the game is pretty easy to pick up. It's a turn-based combat system, which makes it easy for those new to RPG's to get into the style of game. The combat isn't terribly difficult in the early stages of the game, but becomes increasingly tricky as you progress, with some fights getting QUITE difficult and almost frustrating. Level advancement through combat is fairly easy, and you race up the first few levels because of it. Being able to "rotate" your characters in and out of combat is useful, and almost necessary if you wish to keep them of a similar level. The rest of the time you're running around in a third person mode, exploring the world around you. The game tends to be a lil' linear, which is a tad disappointing, but not the end of the world. There are some opportunities to run around where you like, but mostly you're confined to certain areas. Now that may sound like a bad thing, but given that those areas are great to look at, I don't think it matters too much. Graphically, the game is great. The scenery is picturesque for the most part, and the characters are quite well animated. Personally, I quite liked how in any given scene you could see whatever they were wearing as per equipment you had given them. Might be just me, but I don't like a game that shows you looking one way during the combats, and another during cut-scenes. *shrug* The animations of the fights is AWESOME! I love the lil' scenes that play when you use one of your abilities (although after you see the same scene over and over again, the excitement tends to dull a lil') and the enemies look kewl as well. Some people have mentioned the Balrog fight as impressive, but there are others suitably kewl to look at as well, including some of the Nazghul fights. Sound-wise, I quite enjoyed the soundtrack. I liked the epic sounds of it all, and whether it was like the movie soundtrack of not didn't bother me. In fact, I liked that it was similar in some respects. Gave you more of a feel of being involved in the movie to a degree. The music varied depending on the area of the game you were in, but was nearly always present, and never intrusive from my point of view. The value of the game? Well, there is fairly limited replay value. Once you're done, you're done. One thing about a lot of console games is that they have various "unlockables" that you can use on subsequent replays of a game, or as rewards to encourage you to finish a game. Third Age doesn't really have any of those. Sure, there are the Epic Scenes (from the Movie cut and spliced to explain bits and pieces of what is happening while you adventure) that you can unlock, and they're good. But there's not much more than that. Evil Mode is great fun, as you get to smash the "Good Guys" as some of the evil monsters in the game - it's GREAT fun being a Balrog, or playing as the Witch-King. However, I found it a lil' puzzling. How come the good guys keep coming back, even though you keep KILLING them? The rewards you earn for playing through Evil Mode vary. Some are awesome, and almost too powerful for the area you are in, and others seem strangely lacking. WHILE you'e playing the game though, it's good fun. You run around, fighting the enemies from the Movies, and generally causing some trouble. The story of the game isn't deep by any standards, but quite enjoyable just the same. Your story plays "behind the scenes" of the Movie Trilogy, and from time to time interacts with the events of the Movies themselves - helping Gandalf to fight the Balrog in Moria for example. This works well for the most part. My specific tilt? The game itself is quite enjoyable. I think there were some problem areas that took away from the game slightly, but nothing major. The skills you learn during the game are not based on level, but on how often you use them. Good idea, but for some of the skills to develop, you need to use the earlier skills A WHOLE LOT, which sometimes wears thin (even WITH the kewl animations). The sheer number of items you acquire during the game is sometimes daunting - did NEone ELSE notice you seem to corner the market on Legendary Swords and Spears during the game? *grin* Also, sometimes the power of weapon you acquire in a level seems to be LESS than those found in previous levels, which I thought was a bit strange. Not being able to get rid of "older" items you don't need NEmore was a minor gripe, but easily managed due to the "New Items" option. Finally, the last couple of combats were almost TOO easy. I had more trouble fighting the Mamakil than I did the final two "boss" fights! For the most part however, these were not major gripes. Overall, I'd recommend this game to any fan of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. The game itself can draw you in, as you wonder how the "new" Fellowship will interact with the older one, and even having watched the movies, I was still surprised with some of the events that unfolded. If you're a hardcore RPGer, you might find the game a lil' simplistic in play style, but it's well worth checking out for the ride just the same. 
