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Fun, but very mass market

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 40 / 41
Date: November 16, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Sincerely, it is difficult to rate this game.
It has all it needs to be considered a good game, but also has some issues:

Graphics 9/10: Simply great and beautiful. The landscape looks as if it comes directly out of the movie.

Story 7/10: this is where I think hardcore LOTR fans will be divided from Mass Market customers. The story is a bit of a slap in the face for anybody who read or loves Tolkien. Your party is basically always 5 minutes behind the company of the ring. Especially at the beginning of the game... a bit too much for somebody but very appealing for those who would like to feel as if they were in some way part of the trilogy story line.

Sound 10/10: how could it be better?

Gameplay 5/10: Weird things go on in 3rd age.
*Monsters appear from nowhere while you go around on the 3D world map.
*You can only use three members of your party as you work through fights. Since your characters will become stronger as they use their abilities, the fourth guy you leave out will soon be so behind the other ones he will almost be useless.
*You can't cast healing spells while not in combat. At least I didn't manage to. So either you use items or your wait for a fight.
*Each character has a skill set. For example, the elf has healing powers. Everytime you use one of those powers, her "spirit skill" will go up by a point. Once you achieve enough points you unlock the next skill. Since you use skills in combat it becomes paramount to use the most possible everytime.
*No game economy. No shops. No buying and selling stuff. No random NPC encounters. Low feeling of being part of an "alive" world.

Overall the game is fun but it really is not an RPG. It seems that RPGs have gone down to define every game where your character grows during the game and you can personalize her. Not true. Role playing is about playing a role, and you really don't get this in 3rd Age.

Plus the fact you have no possibility of roaming freely the land, you don't buy and sell stuff, and every treasure you find is in a nice chest. Yes, chests everywhere: in Moria, in the Mountains, in Fangorn...always chests.

Bottom line
Buy this game if:
1) you are a LOTR fan, liked the movies and like simple RPGs.
2) you are LOTR fan and will own anything with LOTR written on it.
3) you mildy like the LOTR and you like fantasy.
4) you like "simple RPGs."

Don't buy this game if you were hurt by all the differences the LOTR movies had from the book. This game would kill you.

HINT/SPOILER: to gain "specialization points" have the Gondorian learn "Company Grace." This will give you a boost in AP (action points) every round. You need these to use your skills. Go through a fight and once you have only one foe alive, use the dwarf to cast "stone shield" on the Gondorian. This will grant him physical immunity for a while. Then use the Gondorian and "taunt" the last foe. Your enemy will only attack the fighter from Gondor. At that point just start using skills. Your enemy will wast attacks and you will gain a specialization point every round. Remember to have "company grace" always active and to recast "stone shield" once it expires.

upsettingly BAD!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 55 / 64
Date: November 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I was SOOOO EXCITED about this game from the get go! I called the stores EVERY day even to see when it was available etc. I got it and now find that EA has botched another good idea - An LOTR RPG. But first, the pros before the cons.

The graphics are superb along with the musical score! Another thing that is cool is how you can add new armor and it changes the appearance of your character. Now this is ALL that is good about it!

Cons
The game is TOTALLY Linear!!!! In EVERY rpg Ive played you can go to towns and talk to people/buy weapons etc. And you can generally go around and explore and level up etc. Not here. Here its set up to where you run along a SET path unable to leave the path (if you try your character just runs in place!) So basically you run from point A to point B and open chests to get the same items every time(Which means NO replay value) You fight a few orcs etc then move on to the next area. This is IT! The WHOLE GAME IS LIKE THIS!

I find that the ONLY meat of the game is "battle" turn based battle. the battles are traditional rpg style, choose attack or a spell, defend or heal etc. But you cannot find new special weapons etc. Early on when you only have a few spells etc you start from easy battles to insane battles! There is NO room to level up on your own through random battles etc.

Why EA chose to make a game that is totally Linear from point A to point B is beyond me! I used to be a HUGE Final Fantasy fan along with Xenogears, Xenosaga etc. This game will be HIGHLY diappointing for anyone who is a fan of LOTR and is looking for a meaty rpg. Nope, its for UBER fans ONLY! If you like running here fighting, then running there fighting etc its for you. If you like variety in an rpg then pass, rent this just to see how bad it is. I would have to say that this gets #1 on my most disappointing game of the year!

Rules Them All (If you like Japanese-style RPGs)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 21
Date: November 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I'm surprised to see as many negative reviews as I have for this game. I think the problem is that a lot of people are used to American style RPGs and don't understand that this is supposed to be a Japanese-style RPG.

In a nutshell, American style RPGs tend to let you create your character at the outset and focus on exploration and decision-making that affects the course of the game. You could call it a D&D approach. Japanese-style RPGS, on the other hand, tend to give you a predetermined character which you use to progress through a long, mostly linear storyline. They usually use anime style graphics and feature lengthy cutscenes.

In my opinion, this game is an excellent execution of the Japanese-style RPG. The graphics are beautiful, the audio is perfect, the storyline is excellent, the cutscenes are literally feature-film quality, and the turn-based battles are modeled on the outstanding combat system used in Final Fantasy X. If any of that sounds appealing to you, I highly recommend picking this one up.

Would rather eat Warg droppings than play this anymore

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: November 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I had very high hopes for this game and went out to buy it as soon as it came out. Now that I've been "playing" it I have some major gripes...

This game is beyond what I would call linear, you are confined to a set path, unlike KOTOR where you ran around zones, here you run down paths. Dreadful.

Combat looks stupid. All the fights seem predetermined. When you enter combat a large loud annoying "start of combat" screen pops up. You decide your attack, you execute your attack, then you run back to where you were to stand like an idiot waiting on the enemy to attack you. I just can't get over how bad that looks.

What it boils down to is that there is little to no exploration and all the game is is a series of battles you run too. Rent this thing if you have to play it.

Rabid LotR fans beware!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: November 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

All that about the over-linear game play and reasonably dull battle seems to have been said many times. It's very true. But I have other problems with this game.
If you're a Tolkien geek you may find yourself rolling your eyes a lot, or kneeding your eyebrows in frustration. Among other discrepencies, you don't really get to see a whole lot of Middle Earth, the characters are less than stimulating, and words are CONSTANTLY mispronounced.
So if you're looking to add this to your collection of LotR stuff and things I say go for it, (You're going to regardless of what I say, right?) but be prepared.

Good idea, poor implementation

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: January 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The Good:

- Excellent turn-based fighting. Before it gets boring, it's a blast. And it gets boring not because of the system itself, but because of the enemies you fight, repetition and lack of imagination.
- Excellent fighting menu, very user-friendly. Probably best I have seen in years.
- Excellent effects for spells and fighting.

The Bad:

- There is no story. Every time the characters talk, you wish they would not do it. The lines they say are about as deep as 'Star Wars : Episode Two'. Remember that 'it's like sand, it gets everywhere' line? That's this game.
- Adventure mode is terrible. Basically, you run through empty levels and enter combat mode when attacked by enemies that you cannot see. Almost all turn-based games show you the enemies, giving you the option to avoid fights, but not this one.
- The Map. Too small, cannot be zoomed out enough. Map does not show the real level. You get to a point that there is on the map and then something totally different shows up as a new map. Does not make any sense.
- Save points. Later in the game, you may fight even for one full hour without being let to save (battle of Helm's Deep comes to mind). And since it is very easy to die, you will have to fight same battles all over again.
- Character development. There is none. You need to use the characters, because that is the only way they get better. But since you can only have 3 characters out of 6 in a fight, it means 3 will not gain skills. This will force you decide which 3 you want to use and keep using same spells and moves over and over again. Which brings me to:
- Fighting: Maybe LOTR is not the best game to be turn-based. You fight same orcs over and over again, for 40 hours! It takes a lot of time, fights are the same (orcs have a whoopin' 5 moves they do all the time!) and since you cannot see them in Adventure mode, you cannot avoid them.
- Movie sequences. All of them are in very poor quality.
- The RPG statistics: I do not know how this engine works, but I have seen this many times in the game. Even with 100 Dexterity, a fighter would still miss a ladder. I could understand - not easily, but I would make an effort - how he could miss a boss, but a ladder?! Come on ... Increasing strength, dexterity or spirit, all seem to do nothing.
- Linear story. You follow one path and cannot change anything about it.

Too bad. With a story and more variation, this game could have worked. As it is though, I would not recommend buying. There is no replayability and the game is not interesting enough to be worth owning. Maybe next one will be better ... you know EA, they keep adding a couple of things and release it again ...

What a STINKER!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: July 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

It sounds like a great idea at first. The "Lord of the Rings" books are about a group of heroes that save Middle Earth. But they could not do it single-handed. So let's make a game that follows a group of lesser known heroes through the adventure behind the adventure. Sure, SOUNDS like a good idea.

It Isn't.

At least it isn't in this disappointment of a game. Don't get me wrong, the graphics and sound are superb, what you would expect from an epic game with such a famous name. But the substance is pathetic. You play a Gondorian who is following Boromir to Rivendale and gets entangled in a parallel adventure to the Fellowship. But it perverts the tale. You wind up fighting the Balrog next to Gandalf, you end up fighting next to every hero at Helm's deep. You destroy all 9 of the Ring Wraiths, single-handed! Come on! To make it even worse, they could not secure all of the actors to lend their voices to the game, so they just used lines from the movie! And the lines are not even used in the same context. A 10 year old with a dual tape deck could come up with better executed dialogue.

The not-so-apparent love story will take you by surprise. You will say "Hey, when did they take the time to fall in love?".

And to top it all off, you wind up fighting the "Eye of Sauron", magically appearing on top of the black tower en-masse to do battle with a flaming apparition! So much for Frodo's menial task!

To sum up, don't waste your time. Spend the money on the books and read them under a shady tree. It's a much more worthwhile task.

A fun game, but some misleading info on the box/site

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: December 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Like other reviewers have mentioned, this game is turn-based style so those who enjoy Final Fantasy set-ups and the like will enjoy combat. Certain character customization is fun. Note though: you do not create your character, you simply have the ability to select what skills or attributes they attain as they level up or gain experience in a certain field, and these are typically limited to two choices. Of course, you do have lots of choices with armor/weapon/etc combos.

Some misleading info on the box/site:

- Evil mode. You do NOT replay the game as (I thought) the box suggested. (It says an "expansive mini-game"... nothing "expansive" about it.) Rather, as you complete a chapter the evil mode is unlocked and you replay 2-3 combat scenes as evil chars. For example, once your party completes Moria, you replay three battles: one as a group of goblins, one as two trolls, and one as the balrog. Once completed you attain a few items you can then give to your "good party" who will continue on with their adventure. Evil mode "mini-games" last less than ten minutes a piece.

- Side quests/free play. You very rarely have the opportunity to talk to others and have no control over your player response. Most of the side quests are required to get through the chapter, and if you don't complete the unrequired ones you only hurt your party (so far as XP) and they will be weaker once they progress.

Other cons with this game:

- You cannot buy/sell items.
- 2 of the 6 chars feel superfluous - they don't contribute much and feel like a waste of time and XP that could go to the stronger bunch.
- The guide inside tells you almost nothing about how to play, spells involved, etc. This becomes irritating as you face stronger foes who cast spells that you have no idea what they do (until after you finish the chapter and replay as them), and this can really hurt your party during combat since you won't know how to repond.
- There is a very corny love story. (Not a "con" per se, but the video cut-outs about it I find annoying and lame.)

Pros about this game:

- Oddly addicting, despite its repetitiveness.
- Gandalf narrates your own story as you move through the game.
- Awesome graphics.
- Awesome music from the movie.
- Very fun to use certain characters from the movie in the occasional battle scene (i.e. you get to control Gandalf along with three of your party members when facing the Balrog)
- You have some control over choosing what spells, abilities, etc. your char learns next
- Interesting battles in places not focussed on to heavily in the movie, like Osgiliath
- Multiplayer option you can start and end at any time without having to create a separate 2-player game

Overall, I really enjoyed this game once I got over my disappoint from what I felt was misleading info on the box and site.

Why not submit a review AFTER we play the game...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 9
Date: November 10, 2004
Author: Amazon User

OK, first off, this game is nothing at all like Knights of the Old Republic. You do not get to choose sides and while can roam (you can travel back to completed chapters, but there is no wilderness roaming, all the space is confined by imaginary borders) the plot is as linear as it gets and there's no straying (side quests) at all. It follows the plot lines of the three movies (so it assumes the differences between the movies and books) and you basically start off following the Fellowship from outside Rivendell into Moria. There are over 100 movie cut scenes which at times get in the way of game play but you do get to choose to view them or not. All of the cut scenes are straight from the movies. So the content is great, but there are just points where you're hit with several in a row while you're trying to complete quests. There are also party cut scenes that you must watch; however, there are not nearly as many or lengthy.

Combat is very much like Final Fantasy 7 and becomes very very repetitive after a while. Roaming battles (random ones that are not specifically part of the plot) are basically identical where you fight the same group of three or four attackers over and over. After you complete a chapter using the Elf/Human/Dwarf party (AKA "forces of light"), you do get the opportunity to play as the forces of Sauron and Saruman; however, only in a very few select battles and even on the most difficult setting, it's always stacked in your favor either by the damage you can do, your health or action points or a combination of all three. By successfully using the evil forces after each chapter, you receive new items which are saved in one of your good forces save games (ready for use next time you load that particular save).

At certains times during the game, some of the fellowship characters will join your battles. So far I've fought with Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and Faramir (and you do get to control their actions), but I've only completed through the battle at Helm's Deep and the beginning of Osgiliath (about halfway through the game). I am sure there will be more as the game continues.

You get to fight in some of the famous battles and against some of the famous villians and creatures (which will all stray slightly from the movie plot, but I can't imagine anyone complaining about that). There are a wealth of skills for each of your party members and very few have similar skills; however, on the other hand I find many of the skills available to be unnecessary except for the purposes of advancing your skill tree (to get more powerful skills).

Overall, the plot is good, the game play is entertaining (especially if you enjoyed the movies) though roaming battles will become repetitive. Repeated plays of the game will offer very little variation since the only thing you can control are the armaments, stat levels and skills of your player characters. The voice acting is OK (Ian McKellen does the narration as Gandalf and is great but the two female characters in your party are obviously voiced by the same woman with no attempt to make them sound even remotely different which makes it very difficult to follow dialogue in a number of the party cut scenes), the party cut scenes are OK, the movie cut scenes are good (though the material often repeats with differing narratives), the graphics are very good and the music and skill animations are excellent.

This is a must play for any LOTR movie enthusiasts but if you're a hard-core RPG'er, I would save this one for lulls between any of the bigger RPG's releases this year. Not to mention, this really shouldn't be considered an RPG, but I won't get into that here...

Not as bad as people say...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I have to disagree with most reviews on this site. I find this game to be a great deal of fun--but I like RPG's and level building and I like the gameplay because it reminds me of some of my favorites--like Final Fantasy.

For people who aren't retarded (defined by those who blow through a game in 10 hours designed to be done in 40 hours), this game is a blast. There MOST DEFINITELY ARE areas to level build, and it can be quite rewarding. I have some of the higher level spells for Hadhod and am quite pleased.

The difficulty is easily adjusted for all skill levels and the gameplay is addicting.

There are several faults, however: it is true that the game is too linear. The graphics are also terrible--except for the stationary stuff like the scenery, which makes for a beautiful Middle Earth. There are hardly ever multiple paths to explore, and there are never secrets to be found. Also, you have to ignore the plot of the Tolkien world to appreciate this game at all--not that this plot is terrible (its bad, but not terrible), it just doesn't fit with the Lord of the Rings.

Despite those things, it is just too much fun to fight through the Mines of Moria, or take on hordes of Orcs, or fight the Balrog with Gandalf on your team. I can't get enough. It's great fun level building, as there are a great number of skills to be learned with each character, and most are unique. Some are quite awe-inspiring.

I'd recommend this game--especially at these reduced prices.

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