This isn't the type of game a Lord of the Rings fan will want to have over a long period of time.
The game starts off with your main character, Berethor, walking in the woods. Then he encounters some Nazgul. He is unable to wound them, and he is terribly wounded. Then an elven woman by the name of Idrial comes and uses a blast of energy to send them away. Now, they must do stuff and follow the footsteps of the Fellowship of the Ring, on some sort of quest.
I find the storyline rather on the dull side. For one thing, when I played the game, I had no clue what was going on in the storyline until much later in the game, which shouldn't happen in video games.
Anyways, you must wander around the different worlds, and you will occasionally run into opponents. Here is what drives me nuts. You immediately go into a screen where it shows the enemy troops (often in different sized groups, and up to three of your guys. You must select from a number of skills, in which you take turns until all of your opponents HP runs down to zero. You get experience points in which is required to make your characters grow new levels and become stronger. After your character uses a move a specific number of times, you will gain new moves. This type of battle is not what a Lord of the Rings fan wants. Each character takes turns battling, not just going in and hacking what they see, which is highly prefered by a lot of people. I wanted more of an action game, not this.
Also, the characters take a long time to level up, so the game takes longer than it normally should be.
You can also find loot around the worlds, in which you can use with your characters. There are many different types of weapons and armour that you can customize your characters with. Though I have been speaking a lot about negatives in the game, this is definetely a strength in the game. The characters are very customizable and make there some value in the game.
There are also times in the game where you go to cinematics and Gandalf talks. There are many of these, too many. These get very annoying at times, and they just waste your time.
As for the worlds, in each world you get a few quests. Some are needed in order to complete the game, others aren't. After you complete the worlds major quests, and get to the exit of the level, you move on to the next one. Most of these levels take a long time to complete. Some take only about two hours.
Now, I'll move on to graphics, sound and value.
The graphics aren't that bad in this game. The character models are great, as well as some of the landscape designs. There is a lot of detail within many of the games characters.
The sound, is fair. Though the voice casting in the game is done very well, that is pretty much the only strength in the sound category. The FX sound effects, aren't very well done. Like, does the smashing of the sword against an orc really a huge band that sounds like they are hitting a metal drum with a hammer, every single time? Also, the game doesn't seem to get their own songs, instead borrowing most of the songs from Lord of the Rings movies.
The value, is not that great also. You may like the game after you beat it for the first time, and be excited to play the game differently the second time, it suddenly gets boring, and you wish you rented it. That is what happened to me. Sure, there may be some replay value if you still continue to like it, but that hasn't happened too much.
Overall, The Lord of the Rings, The Third Age, isn't such a hot game. This isn't the type of game a Lord of the Rings fan will want to have over a long period of time. Though I do recommend just renting, don't buy it. Renting the game is the best there is. This game should only give you some fun for a week or two.