No Surprises Here
The Lord of the Rings The Third Age is a turn based strategy game set in the universe created by the writing genius JRR Tolkien. This game follows the formula that any other turn based role playing game does. You run around in a surprisingly foggy world [the draw distance is one of the weakest elements of this game] and are sucked into random battles with different numbers and kinds of enemies. Then based on the speed rating of your character the order of turns is decided. When it is your turn, the choices given are the regular ones, attack, heal, etc. The battle goes on and ends with either all your characters dying or you being victorius over the enemy.
The player is put in the shoes of a gondorian warrior wandering around for a few resons. He runs into and elf early in the game and later he hooks up with a few more people who have varying skillsets. For example the elf you meet early has very strong healing powers and as she levels up her powers will become very useful but she can not hurt the enemy like the gondorian warrior.
A few things about the gameplay-- Having more characters at a high level helps you because you can bring them in and out of the battle. If a person in your party has their HP drop to zero they fall on the ground in a dramatic fashion and they can be revived by spells or potions. Also at different points hero characters will join you for a time and you fight some recognizable villans from the movies too.
There is not a lot from the books in this game because the liscense is the movie liscense. Also there are a few annoying things about the game, namely attack and victory animations. Some of the animations take longer than others but after you see them about four times you will grow very weary of them and no, they canNOT be skipped. This can be very frustrating as different animations play when the battle is won, these are no better. Also the difficulty can ramp up quickly at points and the player can find themselvs loading and reloading the same battles again and again. Also some of the battles take quite a while so if you lose at just the end try to keep from throwing the controller.
Overall this game is a weak turn based RPG with noting new to add to the genre. The game can be frusting and boring at times with very repetitve action. This is a game to play only if you can find a very cheap used copy or if you are a die hard fan of these types of games. If your looking for a good turn based experience, look elesewhere. This is Average at its best.