THE GOOD:
GRAPHICS: Great! The characters from the books look just like the actors who played them in the movies. Animated cut-scenes relating to the movies are fabulous as well.
SOUND: Amazing, honestly. The voices, the spells, the fighting, the music; they are all perfect as far as I'm concerned.
GAMEPLAY: Easy to move around and navigate once you know what you're doing and what all the buttons are for.
NAVIGATION: You won't get lost. You get a map! Little red dots lead you in the direction of where you need to go to complete your quests. I especially loved going to the bigger locations such as Helm's Deep. They are very explorable and it feels like you're actually there!
STORY-LINE: Action, mystery, love... Great for the people who are not bored by the cliche hero story. The entire game you are trailing or are with the Fellowship, and their story affects your story. Very creative!
BATTLE SYSTEM: Much easier to strategize than the previous battle Lord of the Rings games. The Third Age uses a system you will recognize from the Final Fantasy series, where each character or villain takes a turn. Great for people like me who are horrible at real-time combat games.
CHARACTERS: These characters are brand new, and appear to be fighting behind and along-side the Fellowship. A few times you actually get to fight with them, as they join in your party for a battle or two, or more in a few cases. Though repetitive to the Fellowship, the characters are all very good and each have their own fighting style, spells, moves, armors and weapons.THE BAD:
GRAPHICS: Can be a little patchy and laggy when the screen is graphic-intense. The majority of the cut-scenes are from the movies and are not animated.
SOUND: Nothing bad to say.
GAMEPLAY: The controls and camera angles can be a bit annoying at first, as well as the controls for the equipment, skill trees, etc.
NAVIGATION: Though you get a map, it can be a bit confusing sometimes and may seem like you're going in circles on some of the bigger landscapes. Am I the only one who got lost in Helm's Deep? Some of the more skilled gamers might not like the red guiding dots also, as they may want to find things themselves.
STORY-LINE: Kind of typical and repetitive. The hero who everyone wants to kill always saves the day and gets the girl. Very cliche at certain points.
BATTLE SYSTEM: More strategy and skill, less cunning and quick reactions. Those who enjoy the usual real-time fighting in games may be bored by this "let's take turns" Final Fantasy-style system.
CHARACTERS: The Fellowship is no longer unique. The Third Age's new characters have warriors, a dwarf, an elf, just like the Fellowship. Seemed a bit far-fetched almost. SUMMARY:
Overall, I gave The Third Age a rating of 4.5. I love this game! It takes hours to complete and is not one of those games you could possibly come close to beating in one day, unless of course you tried to play it for 24-hours straight. It still amazes me that there are people out there who do that.
I found The Third Age to be very enjoyable and entertaining, not to mention fun. I had a ball collecting armors and weapons, and playing in the dreaded Evil Mode where you get to fight as the villains and in turn collect tons of new items.
Buy this game -- You won't be disappointed! |
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4.50/5.0
4.5
