Lord of the Rings: The Third Age

by Clockwork Crow
October 25, 2004 00:00 AM PST

GamePro goes all across Eregion and Moria, and all you got was this hands-on preview.

The last time a North American game maker tried to beat Square's Final Fantasy at its own game was THQ's The Aidyn Chronicles, and bringing up that N64 "classic" to the average gamer nowadays results in quizzical stares and the occasional naughty word or two. EA is threatening to change all that with their latest Lord of the Rings game (their first one since the movies), and judging by the preliminary PS2 version of The Third Age, Square could finally have some serious competition on its hands.

You Shall Not Pass, Nomura

The Third Age does let you play as Fellowship characters like Gandalf and Aragorn from time to time, but the real hero here is Berethor, a man from Gondor sent out by his lord to fetch fellow citadel guard Boromir. This eventually leads him to the Fellowship, but at the start of the game, you and your first few companions (elven priestess Idrial and the Aragorn-like ranger Elegost) have your hands full traversing the caverns of Moria and fending off attacks from the Ringwraiths and other nasties blocking your trail.

The gameplay is tremendously simple to explain: it's Final Fantasy X, period. You have your great big overworld (which Berethor traverses on horseback); you have your twisty dungeon areas with individual maps connected by arbitrary portals; you have your random encounters; and you have your turn-based battle system, complete with summons and combo attacks.

PO-TA-TOES

Sounds like a clone job, then, doesn't it? Well, not quite: The game's the same, yes, but the atmosphere is completely different. From the meticulously detailed backdrops to the remarkable animation variety in battle, the faithfulness to the LOTR movie series was astounding to see in The Third Age--and the story cards you find within the game (extra movie scenes narrated by old Gandalf himself, Ian McKellan) only serve to immerse you further into the universe.

While work still remains to be done on the sound and difficulty tweaking, The Third Age already looked like a contender for the hearts and minds of RPG fans. You won't find any self-loathing 14-year-olds with 20-foot-long swords running around here--just a promising RPG with one of the most dearly loved stories in the world behind it.