Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, The

Armchair Empire

What makes this game a real standout, though, is its production value.

Game Informer

Filled with amazing battles and worthy strategy, and anchored by strong gameplay. [Dec 2004, p.166]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Nintendojo

It’s fun and will keep you playing for at least 30 hours if you go everywhere, find everything and kill everyone.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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]

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.

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.

GamePro

It takes more than formulaic adventuring and dusty turn-based combat to craft a role-playing title worthy of the LOTR name.

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.)

Nintendo Power

A well-produced, if slightly generic RPG. [Jan 2005, p.136]

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]

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.

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]

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.

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.