The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age

Because of a few questionable choices here and there its depth tends to suffer in comparison to games like Final Fantasy Tactics and Advance Wars, although fans of the movies will probably appreciate the direction EA has taken with the handheld epic.

In contrast to the console version, which is a Final Fantasy type RPG taking place amidst the events of the movies but not directly involved in them, the GBA version of The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age is a turn-based tactics game that hurls you into the major battles of the film trilogy. Because of a few questionable choices here and there its depth tends to suffer in comparison to games like Final Fantasy Tactics and Advance Wars, although fans of the movies will probably appreciate the direction EA has taken with the handheld epic.

The Eye of the Enemy is Near

Before starting the game you choose a commander (Gandalf, Aragorn, Elrond if you choose to fight for the good folks of middle-Earth; Saruman, Witch King, and Mouth of Sauron if you choose to wage battle for the glory of Mordor), and prior to each battle you select companion heroes who will help you command your units. Each map is divided into three areas, called flanks, and you are given a set number of commands within each flank, the amount of which depend on which hero is controlling that area. Heroes with high leadership qualities get more commands, and one key strategy of the game is killing off enemy heroes so no orders can be issued within the flank they control. Unfortunately you are given a limited number of commands per turn, which makes trying to wage massive-scale ground wars a very slow and sometimes frustrating experienceespecially during the games later, and larger, battles.

Somethings Rotten in Mordor

Another problem with The Third Age is the character balancing is out of tune. Some are easier to kill than they should be and others are too easy, while the amount of damage units do to one another seems too randomly generated. Also, the victory conditions of some battles are too vague to properly strategize how to use troops and your limited number of commands, and some of the games more monotonous moments couldve been sidestepped by allowing players to choose different commanders before battles.

The game does have its merits, though. Victory over enemies yields experience points that can be used to purchase spells and upgrade the abilities of companion heroes, and with the number of different unit types, hero abilities, skills, and special items at your disposal, replaying through battles is not as much of a chore since it will turn out differently every time. With its problems, however, The Third Age is merely an interesting take on the Lord of the Rings license instead of the great game it couldve been.

Comments [0]

post a comment

Post a Comment