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How Metascores Are Calculated
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 FILM: GAMES: 
The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age roleplaying game is an epic quest in which players take on the roles of new characters choosing their own path through Middle-earth while interacting with the heroes and villains of the trilogy. Based on New Line Cinema and Peter Jackson's acclaimed film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, The Third Age videogame allows players to adventure through Middle-earth, building a party of heroes as they journey. Players battle on the side of the Fellowship, but can unlock additional encounters where they fight on the side of Sauron as they progress. In the game, players interact with the characters of the Fellowship in a unique structure, taking on individual quests while intersecting the major events of the film trilogy that drive the story forward. Parties traverse through both familiar and seldom-glimpsed locations, using an innovative turn-based battle system as they fight, encountering the demonic Balrog in the Mines of Moria, defending the fallen city of Osgiliath, or trying to destroy Helm's Deep. [Electronic Arts]
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more... 89
Armchair Empire
What makes this game a real standout, though, is its production value.
 85
Game Informer
Filled with amazing battles and worthy strategy, and anchored by strong gameplay. [Dec 2004, p.166]
85
TotalGames.net
Third Age is the definitive Lord Of The Rings experience. It remains faithful to the film trilogy in terms of graphics and sound, and uses the licence to full effect, while at the same time delivering a captivating and enjoyable adventure. Good work EA.
85
IGN
Thankfully, this combat heavy RPG delivers the goods, although some die hard RPG fans may be put off by its overly streamlined approach. The action is fast, with no lulls in gameplay from beginning to end.
82
GameCube Europe
Redwood created a magnificent detailed Middle Earth, and fans of LOTR will be pleased because of that. Yet for those who regularly play RPG’s the game offers nothing you have seen before, it suffers from repetitiveness and a more than mild difficulty level.
80
Yahoo! Games
The game lacks the complicated character advancement common in the genre, but it's fast-paced, looks and sounds great, and will keep casual RPG and Lord of the Rings fans happy.
80
AceGamez
A stylish RPG that authentically represents Middle Earth from the book and the film trilogy. Whilst the gameplay is both enjoyable and addictive, it is also very traditional in style and does nothing at all to further the genre.
80
Gamer.tv
It's involving, very, very slick, and you really do feel part of an ongoing quest. Oh yeah, and there's no hobbits either.
80
Nintendojo
It’s fun and will keep you playing for at least 30 hours if you go everywhere, find everything and kill everyone.
80
PALGN
Despite the problems faced in difficultly, story involvement and some other minor nit-picks, The Third Age is an amazing game that’ll keep gamers occupied for an easy 20+ hours.
79
BonusStage
You have a fun combat system, great character customization, gorgeous graphics, and enthralling audio. But on the other hand, the pathetic story, unbalanced difficulty, repetitive second half of the game, short game length, and unforgivable bugs and glitches really drag down what is largely an enjoyable game to play.
77
GameSpot
Molds Middle-earth into a traditional turn-based frame, and while the results aren't all that great, the game carries some pretty good features and should appeal to fans of the source material.
75
Detroit Free Press
Unfortunately, the switch to turn-based play also means a severe reduction in how much fun it is to play cooperatively with friends. Basically each person trades off controlling one of the characters you're fighting with, which sounds like more fun than it is.
75
Gaming Age
You will not find much of a challenge, or even a particularly long adventure as far as RPGs are concerned. What you will find is a game that will make you lose track of time, as you will be too engulfed in the experience.
70
games(TM)
Sadly, the adventure itself is far too linear; there’s little in the way of side-quests, and you have no freedom over where you go or what you do. If you can overlook this, though, The Third Age does mix a neat battle system with a great franchise to provide a surprisingly enjoyable adventure. [Dec 2004, p.107]
70
Total Video Games
This is not the best RPG title to be released this year by a long shot, but for those who wish to get into the world of Middle-Earth, The Third Age will satisfy some of the desire to become immersed in the story to a deeper level than the previous LOTR titles allowed.
70
My Gamer
All in all, Lord of the Rings: The Third Age is steeped in high (if utterly borrowed) production values and serves as a perfectly solid RPG.
70
GamePro
It takes more than formulaic adventuring and dusty turn-based combat to craft a role-playing title worthy of the LOTR name.
70
GameSpy
For most of the game I felt like I was too powerful and things never really felt challenging. Again, I'm thinking that this is partly by design since the game has a mainstream license and will attract many casual gamers. (Damn casuals always ruin everything.)
68
Nintendo Power
A well-produced, if slightly generic RPG. [Jan 2005, p.136]
67
Play Magazine
Better suited for those who want to play an impressive companion piece to the movies rather than play a compelling RPG. [Dec 2004, p.62]
67
Computer and Video Games
It's also AMAZINGLY loud. Random battles erupt with an explosive screech sure to stain your sofa and almost every flick of the D-Pad on menus results in a baffling, ear-smashing clang.
63
Electronic Gaming Monthly
An RPG that deftly copies "Final Fantasy X" but is burdened with a story that plays more like a "deleted scenes" bonus DVD than anything coherent. [Holiday 2004, p.104]
60
N-Insanity
A mediocre story just doesn’t cut it anymore, and this one is especially mediocre because they are presenting a story everyone knows and do nothing to spice it up to keep us interested.
50
Game Revolution
As promising as a role-playing game based on The Lord of the Rings mythos sounds, The Third Age’s reality is one of strict linearity, wacky plot foibles, and generic turn-based action.
Mikey B. gave it a10: Jeshua H. gave it a10: COREY S. gave it a10: |
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