Story/Characters
The story of Third Age parallels the story of the films. It starts in the wilderness around Rivendell and ends with the Battle of the Pellenor Fields and the crowning of Aragorn. At the same time the game provides a new and original story with new characters. The game does this by providing the player with a series of quests that have nothing to do with destroying the one ring but still have the player's characters following the same path as, and occasionally fighting alongside with, the characters from the movies. As the player reaches the later levels the backstories of some of the characters, especially the main character Berethor, are revealed. Still, with all things considered the story is based on the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy and will most likely appeal to fans of the movies. That being said some purists would probably take issue with the story as it downplays the importance of hobbits and disregards anything from the books that was not in the movie trilogy.

The main characters in the game are a diverse group that does a good job of representing the characters in the films. In addition to an elf and a dwarf character the humans are all from different warrior groups from the films including a Gondorian Citadel Guard, a Rider of Rohan, and A Dunedain Ranger. The characters are well written and have their own personalities though for the most part all are serious and committed to their mission. Other characters including enemies are also very true to the films. In fact all of the enemies in the game are of the types of creatures fought by the Fellowship and their allies. The bosses, like the rest of the enemies, are also taken from the films though EA does provide reasonable explanations for why the characters are fighting the same enemies the fellowship has already defeated.

Visuals
The graphics for this game are stunning. The cinematic sequences are taken directly from the films and lose nothing of their quality on the Gamecube. The environments also look great. There is a high level of detail and still the environments look clean. Almost all of the areas have ambient effects such as water, fire, or snow. Sometimes the environmental effects as well as the battle effects can appear pixilated but not so much as to detract from the rest of the graphics.

The characters are incredibly detailed and their movement seems realistic. For example the character’s capes blow in the wind and hair moves when a character turns his head. The monsters are also detailed and well animated. Each character looks authentic to the films and the level of realism is comparable to more recent movie based games. By this I mean that when a scene takes place featuring a character they look exactly as they do in the film.

The main characters look appropriate next to the characters from the film and it is easy to see the level of care that went into keeping everything authentic. In addition to the costumes of the main characters being true to the film they are also true to reality in that whatever equipment a character is wearing is what he or she appears to wear both in battles and in the field. This applies to every part of the character’s costume.

Sound
The game's voice acting ranges from impressive to very impressive. All of the cinematic sequences are narrated by Ian McKellan who also returns as the voice of Gandalf. McKellan's voice acting is very well done and perfectly suited to this game. Almost all of the characters in the game are voiced and most of the voice acting is well done. The one weak point to the voice acting is that some character’s (Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli) lines are lifted directly from the films and sound out of place when used at different times and situations.

The music from the game was also impressive. The background music is either taken from the soundtracks to the films or else it is very similar in style. There is also a great variety of music and each of the games locations has different pieces of music to fit the mood of the game as the player moves through that area. For example as the characters are in danger or heading into battle the music becomes quicker and more urgent. Yet even in the least exciting locations the music conveys a sense of sorrow and a growing darkness.

The game's sound effects are, like the voice acting and music, very well done. From the different sounds of footprints depending of the surface the character is walking on to the growls of wargs or the drawing of a bow the sound effects sound as one would expect them to. However when using certain special attacks the realistic sound effects are drowned out by musical tones meant to sound like magic.

Gameplay
This may be the game's major weak point. The gameplay can at times feel repetitive. This is because many of the quests are similar asking the player to find an item or slay a certain type or number of monsters. While most quests are accomplished naturally as part of the story others can leave a player wandering around with little to no clue as to how to complete them. Additionally many of the battles, especially those in the latter part of the game, can be quite lengthy and quite numerous.

The battle system itself is both turn based and command based. However this is made more interesting by the fact that some actions can speed up or delay a character's turn. The turn order is displayed at all times on the side of the screen and this display aides players by showing them what effect a particular action would have on the turn order. The player’s battle party is made up of up to four characters. The first three being the player’s party members whom the player can switch out in the middle of battle. The fourth is a special character usually from the films. This character is often more powerful than the player’s characters but does not gain experience or skill points from battle.

The game also offers an evil mode where players can play through a series of battles as the villains of an already cleared region and fight against their own party. Doing this not only adds a new level of depth to the game but also grants new items to the player’s party upon completion of a region’s evil mode. Unlike the main game, the evil mode consists of only battles and those battles are between predetermined sets of characters with predetermined skill sets.

Outside of battle the game offers a high degree of character customization. In addition to being able to alter the appearances of characters by setting different equipment the game allows players to decide which stats to raise upon leveling up. The player also has some input into the growth of a character’s abilities. The main characters all have different skill sets that can be used in battle. Using skills from a skill set gives the player skill points toward that skill set. Between battles players can choose what skills to learn (usually there are two skills to a tier and players must learn at least one before moving to the next tier). In addition to character specific skills there are summon spells (called perfect skills) which are learned by the entire party simultaneously. There are also elfstosnes which can be given to a party member to give them a new skill set such as the ability to make items.

The gameplay suffers from a lack of many elements which are common to RPGs. One example of this is that there is no in game economy. Instead of buying items players must find them either in chests or by defeating enemies or by completing evil mode. The game also lacks NPCs that can be spoken to. While the party may encounter NPCs any dialogue with them occurs as part of the story.

Conclusion
While Lord of the Rings: The Third Age may not be the worlds greatest RPG or the world's greatest movie tie in game It does exceed expections in both of those areas. As an RPG it provides players with an involving story presented with excellent graphics and sound. As a movie tie in game it manages to remain true to the film without simply re-telling the same story. While some purists may find that it deviates too greatly from Lord of the Rings mythology others will enjoy seeing many characters and locations from the films. While neither the story or the gameplay alone would be enough to warrant a reccomendation both of these elements combined with each other, and with excellent graphics and sound make Lord of the Rings: The Third Age a good choice for gamers in general and RPG fans in specific.