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| | Title:
The Lord of the Rings; The Third Age
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System:
Gamecube
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Genre:
RPG
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Publisher:
Electronic Arts
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Developer:
EA Redwood Shores
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Release:
11/02/2004
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Online:
No
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ESRB:
Teen (T)
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Here we are again. Another installment in the highly successful Lord of the Rings saga, which was masterfully created by J.R.R. Tolkien and re-created in epic cinematic form by director Peter Jackson. Being such a magical and epic premise, you really can’t expect these movies to not see video game iterations, just like Star Wars (you can roll your eyes; we did.) So through these imaginative creations were forged some equally impressive video games by Electronic Arts (EA.) This installment, considered to be a standalone, is ultimately still part of the Trilogy in regards to characters and broad storyline. What sets it apart is the fact that this title is more of the RPG heritage, vice action. Nevertheless, it proved to be a brilliant idea by the creators to give us something a little different in this mainstream society. For the fans of the previous games, don’t get your Huggies in a bunch; the turn-based action is nothing to be turned off about! The creators did an exquisite job of bringing the world of Middle Earth into the castle you call home. Epic battles, calling forth devastating spells, the effects and grandeur… none of it is limited. The characters look every bit the part that one would want from their home console video game.
For those of you who don’t know the story (in the words of David Bowie: “Is there anybody out there?"), I’ll give you a quick down and dirty of what it is you can expect: Frodo Baggins is a Hobbit or Halfling (small, nearly human creatures with hairy feet) who unexpectedly inherited a magic ring from his uncle, Bilbo Baggins. This ring was in fact a “master” ring created thousands of year earlier and eagerly sought by the evil Sauron. Sauron had the “One Ring” cut from his finger by a Gondorian Lord named Isildur, who greedily kept the unholy ring for himself. After a struggle for its possession, it fell into a river, seemingly lost forever. The ring was later found by a creature named Gollum. The ring accidently found a new owner named Bilbo Baggins after Gollum lost it somewhere in his subteranean home. Another tale lies in wait for you here, but after Bilbo’s adventure, the ring is passed down to Frodo. Gandalf the Grey, friend and wizard, surmised that this ring was in fact The One ring and could under no circumstances be allowed to remain in the world.
After counsel with Elrond of Rivendell and other races of Middle Earth, Frodo decided to take the burden of ridding the world of the cursed ring. He and his friends came to be known as “The Fellowship of the Ring” and embarked on an epic journey to the dreaded land of Mordor, where the evil Sauron and the fires of Mount Doom resided. It was in these fires that the cursed ring was to be destroyed and, in so doing, would also destroy the malevolent Sauron.
Now, you may or may not be thinking: “I wanna play as Gimli again! He’s my favorite!” Well, hold tough, because this story takes its own route; your fellowship is of the behind-the-scenes sort, though no less important! Your goal is still to decimate Sauron and his evil hordes... only, you are never mentioned in the books or movies (bum deal, we says.) While you are not actually in the “Fellowship,” you may have a member of the Fellowship join your party for periods of time at certain junctures in the game, be it throwing down Orcs (yeeach, good riddance to the hideous creatures) from the walls of Helm’s Deep or pummeling the Balrog in the mines of Moria. Believe us; you’ll be more than glad for their help when they do show up! Whilst waiting for your beautifully rendered counterparts to help you along the way, you can experiment with your full-time characters and who you want to view while in the adventure screen by pressing [X] (Note that it does not change how you interact with NPC’s [non-playable characters], nor does it change any of your objectives). This feature just gives you the option of who you want to look at while “adventuring”--we would like to add that the She-Elf was on our screen the most!
Although the storyline ultimately revolves around the Fellowship, you’ll have a storyline of your own, which is no less intriguing. The story ultimately revolves around Berethor, a warrior of Gondor who is searching for the Gondorian heir, Boromir. Along your journey, you will acquire allies. Your allies can be “swapped” out during battle (reminiscent of FFX) and other than that you’ll only see them during cut scenes or as mentioned above. Your fellow travelers include the beautiful and wise She-Elf of Lothlorien, a gruff Dwarf of the Iron Hills, and a Dunedain Ranger with a trusty bow, among others. As it turns out, Gandalf himself assigns objectives for you, in a way that really impresses.
Using actual movie sequences from the Trilogy, your objectives and your storyline unfurl through cinematic events while commentary is personalized for this party of non-celebrities. You can view these events and your current objectives at any time (except, of course, during battles) in your menu by pressing [Y]. Note that all control actions in the menu are manipulated by the directional pad.
Traveling through Middle Earth wasn’t as rewarding as I would have hoped. Character movement is not as fluid as you would want. Their appearance looks smooth, but the appearance of their movement: Blah. Also, there is no “world map," only an “area map.” This means that your destination in the environment is very linear. Unfortunately, again, this nullifies the reward of going out and “farming” for experience. This may or may not turn you off, and it didn’t for us. Aside from those negative concerns, the overall feel is great. For instance, we feel it is more than appropriate to note the stunning pre-rendered backgrounds that should keep even the most avid experience-hunter happy! And don’t worry; while you’re staring in awe at the said environment, you won’t be rudely interrupted by a random battle. In the top left corner of your screen (while in adventure mode), you’ll notice an “Eye of Sauron” which acts as your encounter meter. The meter will get darker as you near an enemy encounter. The Orcs, Goblins and Nazgul you are about to lay to waste to are visually stunning!
Enemies are clear and detailed quite brilliantly with only limited choppiness that occurs when there is a lot of action. The turn-based battles run smoothly where characters (both enemies and allies) show full motion from running to the attack, to using any number of special abilities that are character specific (e.g. Berethor’s Swordcraft technique.) You’ll know your abilities inside and out very quickly because the pacing (gradual development of difficulty that coincides with character leveling) in this game is, well, horrible. You can pretty much play this game on the hard difficulty up until your first real boss fight and not have a single member die--but by golly you’ll be switching straight back to “normal” (heck, you may even drop down to easy!) once you get to that point. On the bright side, it adds a level of difficulty that will make you curse and grumble, but I bet you won’t put down your controller! The rewards are worth the struggle.
Evil Mode is one of those said rewards. Evil Mode allows the player to go back to the previous area that was traveled and play as the enemy! AGAINST YOUR OWN COMPANY! I had NO idea that this would take place the first time I tried it. I was like, “What the heck is wrong with the camera? Why in sam hell can’t I... wait a minute! That battle screen says ‘Orc Slash’!” Yes, I “got it” then. Pretty cool idea that’s worth your time to take advantage of. You will acquire “Evil” weapons and armor that, for the most part, are better than your equipped items at present.
Evil Mode. ”Oh that’s great! That’s PERFECT!” Which bring us to the “Perfect Mode!” Perfect mode? What the heck is that? While the idea is not wholly new in an RPG game, the added features you will be able to use are immensely helpful; believe us, you’ll need it! So what can you look forward to? Well, we would be taking too much away from you if we told you that! But, we can tell you HOW to use it! A meter is built up in the bottom right corner of your screen and once it is full, your attack menu will in turn have the available “Perfect Mode” option. Not only will you be able to “conjure” magical creatures (hint, hint), but your basic attacks will have a better chance of being critical. In turn, you will have the chance to conjure more destructive “creatures” as you move through the storyline--we’ll just say that you’ll be more than amazed! (Especially... um... near the end.)
Are you sick of not being able to view the part of the battle you’d like? Well we felt the same way (saying nothing of our preference to zoom in on the she-elf.) Fear not, the “C-stick” controls camera adjustments. Did I say camera “adjustments?” I really meant full 360 degree rotation, as well as zoom properties! Yeah, not too shabby on Redwood Shores part! They also did a heck of a job with the sound. As vague as that sounds * rimshot here, * the silken voice of the ‘Elf’ to the guttural spitting of the ‘Orcs’, was masterfully done; it all seemed straight out of the Trilogy! Yeah, that good! Most of the background music is likewise integrated from film. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Slams the subwoofer from the intimidating sounds of the orc drums! The Dolby Pro Logic adds a feel to the game you could easily expect from the motion picture--bravo fellas, bravo!
Customary conclusion time: The game is well done, overall. With the minor complaints of character movement, balance, and linear questing, it still gave me a healthy dose of quality turn-based action. It’s a good thing that this installment was geared towards the combat-heavy side or the illustrious graphics would have been for naught. That said, these graphics are easily the best of the Lord of the Rings games to date. Clashing weapons, stunning visuals, gorgeous backgrounds, multiple play options, and marvelous sound effects will keep even the pickiest gamer enthralled.
| The Core Score |
Overall
8.8 |
| Fun |
|
8 |
| Gameplay |
|
8.5 |
| Graphics |
|
9 |
| Audio |
|
9 |
| Replay |
|
7 |
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