Lord of the Rings: The Third Age Reviews

A couple more reviews for EA’s Lord of the Rings: The Third Age have reached the web, although they’re not all that positive. The first is at G4techTV with an overall score of 2/5:

Somewhere in between its faithfulness to its source material and adherence to established RPG traditions, Lord of the Rings: The Third Age went astray. The characters and the trials they face simply aren’t cut out for the game they inhabit, and the game feels shallow and incomplete as a result. Lest you be tempted, the prominently featured, cobbled-together movie footage barely relates to the story and is no asset at all. Evil mode, which lets you fight a few key battles from the perspective of evil, is a mere curiosity. If you’re a big Lord of the Rings fan, the solid strategic battles and stunning looks could be enough to warrant checking the game out. Afterwards, we’d recommend you toss this sucker into Mount Doom.

And the second is at Boomtown with an overall score of 6/10:

Taken as a game in its own right, Lord Of The Rings: The Third Age doesn’t hold up to its competitors. But taken as a colourful ride through Middle Earth, a beefed-up moving pop-up book if you will, it’s fun for a while at least.

Even if that fun does wear off after ten or thirty hours, there’s no denying the amusement factor. If you looked around a bit you’d probably find that it’s been reduced in the sales too, which is perhaps the best news for fans.