A propelling story and very solid gameplay make this a worthy RPG of the namesake.
The game's story is basically that of the movies. You start out in a forest, where you find Berethor (a soldier of Gondor) being attacked by Nazgul. He is luckily saved from the fight, but not from danger. His savior takes them on a quest through Mordor as they follow the one ring to the fires on mount doom. The story is fairly long and is basically a side quest through the movies, yet it is not a bad story nonetheless. Along the way, you'll find many more characters that will join you in your quest for mount doom. There are 6 characters in total, although you can only use 3 at a time in battle.
Now onto the next matter of business, gameplay. The gameplay is like no other LotR game so far. You fight in a turn based strategy style, which uses quite a bit of strategy. To attack, you simply click on the move you want to perform. Each character has a standard move, and then some more advanced ones. The more advance moves use special points. You only have a certain amount of points to start with, and each time you use a move your points decrease. You'll always want to use the special moves over the standard move, mostly because the specials do a lot more damage. Now you only start out with maybe one or two special moves, but as you use more and more attacks you'll start to gain moves in your arsenal. You'll find out fast that these moves make things lots easier, and you'll surely want to keep unlocking them as fast as possible.
In addition to new moves, you'll also unlock new armor and weapons throughout the game. At first, your characters will start out in some old, beat-up armor that wouldn't protect you from anything. But as the story develops deeper, you'll soon be fighting with shining gold armor that only the kings have. The only way to get these new weapons and armor, is to continue to defeat enemies in battle. Most of the time, you get these weapons at set points in the game, but sometimes you'll find a new sword popping out of the last orc you killed. You'll surely want to equip these new weapons and armor as fast as you can, since they dish out so much more damage then your regular items.
The battle mechanics of LotR:TTA work good, even though they don't differ to much from other RPG's. When in a battle, you can have 3 members of your party on the field at a time. You and your opponents will trade off attacks depending on each others speed. Battles are simple and easy to learn, and after a while they'll get a bit repetitive. As you battle more and more, you'll unlock new moves, weapons, and abilities for your character which adds a lot of depth and strategy to the game, which makes your second play through still a nice experience. The 6 characters you unlock all have different abilities that you can switch around the next time you play. You can build a party based off strength and power, or defense and magic. The combinations are pretty balanced, so either way you should be able to beat the game without a ton of trouble.
As far as the visuals go, they look fine, but not spectacular. The character models look pretty good, but occasionally your sword will glitch right through an enemy without the enemy having any noticeable recoil. The main thing that looks really cool is your characters magic attacks. When the fire explodes out of your hand in an eruption of power, the flames look extremely nice and satisfying. The same goes for the sound effects in the game. They're pretty average, except for the voice acting, which is exceptionally good. When your characters interact, it really feels like you are watching a movie. Unfortunately, there aren't as many cut-scenes with character interaction as most would like.
Overall, Lord of the Rings: The Third Age is a satisfying RPG that is worth a try for not only LotR fans but also RPG fans alike. The battle mechanics and gameplay work fine, and they are backed up by a fairly nice story and great voice acting. The only downside is that it doesn't really do anything above and beyond other RPG's available, and the gameplay can get slightly repetitive. Overall, this game is probably worth a rent to RPG fans, and probably a buy for LotR fans. If your not a fan of those, it might not appeal to you a ton. But in the end, Lord of the Rings: The Third Age is a fine RPG that is deserving of the LotR namesake.
Overall, I give Lord of the Rings: The Third Age a 7.5 out of 10.
-NFS102