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EA Redwood Shores tries its hand at the turn-based RPG genre. EA’s previous Lord of the Rings titles have certainly pleased fans of the movies thanks to their excellent production values and respectable hack-and-slash gameplay. The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, the company’s entry into the traditional RPG genre, takes some liberties with the Lord of the Rings story but matches it with conventional RPG gameplay to produce a compelling RPG.
The Third Age tells the story of the Gondorian warrior Berethor as he looks for Boromir, a Gondorian heir. Along the way you’ll meet a number of fellows, which fit the Lord of the Rings franchise well, including Hadhod the pitiless and proud dwarf, the ever-knowledgeable elf, and the expected line of characters. The story is told through a mix of scenes from the movies, and is narrated by Gandalf (voiced by Ian McKellan, as in the movies). Gandalf’s narration is key to the story as it brings it all together, explaining exactly what happened and what will happen, and generally serves the game well.
A large portion of the game is exploring whatever location you are currently in whether this is a village or cavern or anything in between. You’ll be given a number of objectives in these areas, most of which you need to complete in order to move on. The exploration segments are also where you’ll gain many of the items like armor or weapons that you’ll need for the characters, since said items can be found scattered through treasure chests. It should be mentioned that some items can also be picked up in battles, but never in a shop since there is no currency in The Third Age.
The game doesn’t let you go long without a battle, though. Sometimes you can spot these enemies on the fields and engage in battle. There are also random encounters set off by a glowing eye that fills up as you travel through the areas. Other times, you’ll know that you’re about to battle when a blue orb gets brighter as you get closer to a certain group of enemies.
The game’s battle system is the conventional turn-based system found in many RPGs. You can use three characters at one time, and will find the typical Lord of the Rings enemies like wild men and orcs to fight with. The battle system is made more complex by the inclusion of the skill system. Characters have different sets of skills (mainly melee and magic skills), and the game rewards you for using a particular skill with skill points, which are then used to get better abilities in that certain group. It is also possible to level up characters’ strength, speed, among other typical skills.
To extend the game’s length the game includes an evil mode for cleared chapters. They aren’t standalone chapters though, just a collection of battles from the chapter which are fought from the perspective of the Mordor. Completing these series of battles rewards you with a cool item or two, some of which are helpful when completing the game. The Third Age even includes a rudimentary cooperative mode. The second player’s input is limited to the battles, where both players can select the attacks to use. While not particularly interesting, at least it allows someone else to have some input over the thirty or so hours that the game takes to finish.
The game’s visuals are impressive. Much work went into the character models which are all intricately designed, complete with an unbelievable amount of detail. You’ll note that the clothing and armor behave as expected, and shine of believably. They also animate well, with realistic attacks that fit the game very well. The environments don’t have the same outstanding quality, but fit the game just as well. The effects, as seen in the screenshots, are excellent, as well. The PS2 has a few problems keeping up with all of this and there are a number of framerate drops, but don’t distract too much from the gameplay.
The game’s audio is excellent. The voice acting is top-notch like always. All of the characters sound admirable and play off the dialogue very well. While all of the characters are excellent, Ian McKellan’s portrayal of Gandalf is exceptionally well done. The sound effects portray the game well, particularly the sounds of battle. The music is ripped from the films and of course fits the game well.
The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age is a great additional to the PlayStation 2 role playing genre. The Lord of the Rings franchise lends itself excellently to videogames, and EA Redwood Shores took advantage of that quality very well with this game. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Nov 26, 2004
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