Turn-based combat, Real-time exploration, and a strong character development system make this a top-notch game.
User Rating: 9.3 | The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age PS2
An elegant combat system, character development that blends "automatic" skill level-ups with decision making and stat allocations blend to make this a unique and highly enjoyable game. While combat is very similar to the Final Fantasy series, the designers have done an outstanding job of evoking the tone of Middle-Earth. Perhaps my only complaint is that in a few places (such as Moria), multi-level dungeons are not captured very well by the mapping system, which can lead to a little bit of tedium as you backtrack to try to find a way out. Cut-scenes are well done, combat is fun, character development is much more intricate than it seems at first. All in all, the best treatment I've seen of Middle-earth. With at least 100 hours of gameplay, you won't notice the lack of replayability. Features like "Evil mode" (you try to defeat your own party by using the creatures of Sauron) add even more gameplay.
