Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (GameCube) Preview

By Nick Cheesman 25.08.2004

With the conclusion of the Lord of The Rings Trilogy last Christmas, it may have seemed that EA would have trouble making another game set on Middle Earth, but not so. When you begin to consider the numerous back story Tolkien created in the Lord of the Rings, and his other Middle Earth books, EA could very well make Lord of the Rings games for quite some time. If they chose to open up a book and read it, that is...

The Third Age is a 3000 year time period which contains much history of Middle Earth, beginning from the planting of the White Tree in Minas Anor in Gondor, to the destruction of the One Ring. During this period, was the supposed death of Sauron, the rule of Isildur and the story of the Hobbit. The posthumous amount of story here is so great EA could make this game last for a long while, but unfortunately the levels revealed currently are mostly centred around Peter Jackson's motion pictures, such as Helm's Deep, the Mines of Moria and the Gondorion harbor of Osgiliath. It has been promised that previously unseen locations will be explored such as White Mountain Plains, yet other such places could be the Elven cities of Rivendell and Lothlorian, or even the Shire, the home of the hobbits.

Up till now Lord of the Rings has been of the hack 'em slash 'em up nature, really in an aid to suit the huge battles and sword fighting that came with the films. Free of this restraint, EA are taking Lord of the Rings, to where it should of always been, in an RPG. If you think about it, most RPGs today borrow some ideas from Tolkien's creation, so it seems only right the franchise turned to this genre. The RPG battles use the old formula of turn based attacks, similar to that found in the Final Fantasy series. The battles are of a seemingly slow nature, with the warriors waiting in line to perform over extravagant attacks. These warriors are not members of the Fellowship or were even seen in the film, but do consist of the appropriate races such as dwarves, Gondorion soldiers, elves and rangers, such as Idrial the she elf and Berethor, the soldier of Gondor, who slightly resembles Aragon.

Screenshot for Lord of the Rings: The Third Age on GameCube

EA have chosen a very simplistic RPG, much simpler than the ones being developed at the moment, for instant when wandering through dungeons you have one representative of your band of warriors to symbolize the four of you, and the one representing can be changed by pressing the L and R buttons, but it does not alter anything else except the group appearance. As usual you can walk and run, and also added is the ability to use the C-stick to pan around your character and even zoom in on them. Which may be something worthwhile as your party members do wear the equipment you give them for all to see. The only problem here is that, most RPGs do not rely on a camera angles and are merely in fixed locations, so this could cause un-needed camera problems. In the start menu the typical Status section is present to show items, equipments, statistics and abilities, you Quest details, a map of Middle Earth and Equipment to arm items you find, such as weapons, armour and other accessories.

Random battles begin with a flash on screen of the eye of Sauron, and in the usual fare your party has standard attacks, magic attacks and other special abilities (The equivalent of limit breaks) to defeat the henchman of the Dark Lord. Commands do differ on the character you use, all of them have the Item and Attack commands, but specialists ones vary; elves have a Bow Strike command, which open abilities like cocooning enemies in vines. Other interesting special abilities include The Eye of Sauron, Lightening Bolt and Water Seed. The battle order is done by a coloumn of pictures of the fighters, the one at the top fights first, and then goes to the bottom and so on. Some moves place enemies at the bottom of this coloumn, others can use Defensive Skills, like healing a party members hit points or raising defense, vigor or attack. Fighting is done by moving a cursor over characters, a red loop for an enemy, blue for a party member. The stats in battle, are simple enough, Hit Points, Ability Points and any negative effects on your party. Not all battles will be random, as the odd cinematic scene will introduce more prestige enemies, and sometimes enemy layout will come into play, such as circles around you, rather than the standard line.

Screenshot for Lord of the Rings: The Third Age on GameCube

One boasting point about The Third Age is how it takes you through Middle Earth in great depth. The RPG experience here mainly consists of doing side quests, collecting weapons and bonuses and other party members. Leveling up is present with a skill-tree system, where in you can gain new moves in defense, magic, melee and long range combat. Most quests consist of searching for characters to speak to, but later on these soon become members of the Fellowship, such as Legolas aiding you at Helm's Deep. In this battle you have to stop Urukhai scaling the walls, so you do this by attacking the ladders they climb on. A new way to blend story with battles, as the longer you take to destroy the ladder, the more Urukhai appear. Can't be much of a fight though. Sadly one down fall of the Third Age is EA's attempt to merge in with the film. In one level you fight the Balrog with Gandalf on the Bridge of Khazad-d

Screenshot for Lord of the Rings: The Third Age on GameCube

Middle Earth looks very polished and detailed, as do the character models in their changing armour and the monsters you encounter, but while not realistic as the members of the Fellowship, they do hold their own. The spells and attacks look very magical and impressive, which is complimented by the camera shots that are with them. Once again the sounds from the film have been collected here, with the sound track blaring in place, the sound of steel clashing and magic summoning all ready and even impressive voice overs from the cast, such as Ian McKellen, the voice of Gandalf. There are even "story cards" to collect, which are edited movie pieces to explain the story and its connection to the films. Along with this there are bonuses to obtain from collecting sets of armour, and even the ability to fight on horseback or on wargs. Plus the new idea of playing from dark point of view, becoming one of Sauron's warriors where you play specific "evil" missions.

Screenshot for Lord of the Rings: The Third Age on GameCube

Final Thoughts

This is not the most in-depth role playing game, and compared to epics such as Final Fantasy and Secret of Mana, this will not hold up well. But for those who wish to see a Middle Earth the other games did not show, this could be a true hit. With a very simple combat system, more experienced RPG players may be put off, yet its simplicity could very well allow it to be an exceptional game with lots of features to hold its own against new comers to the RPG genre. And lets not forget it sits on one of the greatest fantasy franchises of all time.

Developer

Redwood Shores

Publisher

Redwood Shores

Genre

Turn Based RPG

Players

2

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  7/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  10/10 (1 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now   

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