The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (PlayStation 2, 2004)

The Lord of the Rings The Third Age (PS2) has excellent graphics, gameplay, and storyline. The game utilizes Final Fantasy style combat but incorporates Lord of the Rings characters and locations. You'll get to fight through the Mines of Moria, on the Walls of Helm's Deep and even in the streets of Minas Tirith,as well as numerous other Middle Earth locations. Although you'll fight alongside several key characters such as Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas, etc, you'll be playing the majority of the game as previously unknown characters. Each of these charcters has different skills and attributes you'll need to utilize and develop to win. Each different location presents new and more difficult enemies to defeat so the game gets more difficult the farther you get.

A nice feature of the game allows you to customize your hero or villain. After you gain enough experience points your level will increase and you can then upgrade your character. You can increase everything from his ability to use ranged weapons to his resistance to magic to his strength etc. Also, during the game you'll find lots of weapons, armor and magical items that can help your character develop. Many of these items will be very familiar to any Lord of the Rings fan. Remember, even if an item can't be used by one character in your party, don't discard it because it could be of use to another character.

Lord of the Rings Third Age is also very free roaming as you can wander around quite a bit and see the world of Middle Earth. There's a lot to explore and many of the missions will be very familiar to fans of the films. There's a large amount of familiar bad guys to defeat ranging from Orcs to Trolls to the infamous Balrog and even Sauron himself if you live that long.

One of the best features of the game is that after you complete each location challenge with a 100% rating, you unlock a mission in which you can play as the forces of Sauron or Saruman. The game is also visually appealing but not tiresome as the backgrounds continually change. But don't forget to keep an eye out for treasure and enemies because they're hiding in every corner. Also many of the voice overs are done by the actual actors from the movie which adds a nice touch to the game.

Overall this is one of the better Lord of the Rings Games released for the PS2 platform thus far and will provide hours of enjoyment for any fan.