The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age
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| The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | EA Redwood Shores |
| Publisher(s) | EA Games |
| Platform(s) | GameCube PlayStation 2 Xbox |
| Release | PS2, GCN Xbox |
| Genre(s) | Role-playing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age is a Template:Vgy console role-playing game by EA Games for PlayStation 2, Xbox and Nintendo Gamecube. The player controls a core group of characters that are used during the adventure, levelling up according to experience gained from battles and quests.
Plot
The plot of The Third Age involves Berethor, Captain of the Citadel Guard of Gondor, who is travelling to Rivendell to find Boromir, one of the nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring. On his way to Rivendell, he is attacked by a group of Ringwraiths and almost killed, but is rescued by a female elf named Idrial, who is a servant of Galadriel. They share a vision of Gandalf the Grey, who tells them that Boromir is travelling with the Fellowship, and that they are headed in the direction of Moria.
On Berethor's way to Moria, he meets with Elegost, a Dúnedain Ranger. Following that, they meet with Hadhod, a dwarf warrior. After Boromir's death, the group is charged with helping what is left of the Fellowship to save the world of men in Middle-earth. In another change to the plotline, they help Gandalf to slay the Balrog at the Bridge of Khazad-dûm. They continue through the land of Rohan, meeting along the way Morwen, a lady of Rohan who has lost her family to Saruman's attacks, and Éoaden, a member of Théoden's Royal Guard. They arrive at Helm's Deep and aid Aragorn, Legolas and gimli to fight off the Uruk-hai as they storm the fortress.
After this they journey to Osgiliath, and with the help of Faramir, defeat Gothmog the orc commander, as well as several Ringwraiths, where a major spoiler is revealed. They eventually fight in Minas Tirith and finally help Éowyn defeat the Witch-king on the Pelennor Fields. After defeating the 8 remaining Nazgûl, the warriors head to Mordor, where they face off with the Eye of Sauron itself, and destroy it. After this, the game is beaten.[1]
Reception
The story was not regarded as one of the game's finer points by many video game reviewers.Template:ME-fact However, the fact that the story was not more expansive or creative was due largely to the fact that the publisher and developer, EA Games, owned the rights to the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy and not the book of the same name - thus the only devices available to the creators were what could be found in the movies, or something in neither book nor movie. Thus everything had to, in some way, be tied to the movies in order to prevent a lawsuit from the owners of the rights to the book. Each of the game's main characters was based on a minor character or extra from the films.Template:ME-fact
The game's combat system was, by and large, very similar to Final Fantasy X's Conditional Turn-Based Battle System (CTB), where the players have turns in which they can attack. It also featured a 'level-up' system much akin to Final Fantasy X-2. Once again, some reviewers thought this to be derivative and unoriginal, while others welcomed a combat system like that in Square Enix's games. Either way, the game experienced good success during the holiday season of 2004.Template:ME-fact IGN awarded the game with a score of 8.5 out of 10[2] and GameSpot a 7.7 out of 10[3]
Deviations from the text
The story is intended to be original and as such is not canonical. Nonetheless, there are also some minor deviations such as Helm Hammerhand having a warhammer and the use of the term "she-elf", which never appears in the books (though it is used to refer to Liv Tyler's Arwen in the films). Other errors include the pronunciation of "Dúnedain" as rhyming with "pain" — whereas it should rhyme with "dine", as Tolkien writes in one of his appendices.
Also there are spelling differences; Arnor appears as 'Anor' in some places and Eowyn in combat is spelled Sield Maiden, not Shield. Kingsfoil and athelas are suggested to be two separate plants, but in the books they are alternate names. Also, the party is present at key plot moments, so they can participate in events which in the books are solo fights, or non-fights. Examples include interactions with the Balrog, the Witch-king, and the Eye of Sauron.
In other games
Hadhod, Berethor, Idrial and Morwen reappeared in The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II (Xbox 360 and PC special edition) as homemade heroes. Berethor and Morwen are Heroes of the 'Men of the West', while Hadhod is a hero of the Dwarves and Idrial of the Elves.
The two other fellowship-members of The Third Age are not in the game; they can be made in the hero-builder, though the system is a bit limited.
