"Let's keep that money train rollin', boys." Or something to that effect I imagine was said over in EA-ville back in April. Capping off their Lord of the Rings series, Electronic Arts has masterminded "The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age" - a role-playing game that may throw the average Rings and/or RPG fan off their stride.

I didn't know Leaf Shield was a spell in Middle-Earth...huh.

For starters, the game is only loosely based around the Fellowship we've come to know and immortalize via merchandising. Players take the role of a knight from the realm of Gondor, who leads his own party across the lands of Middle-Earth from Rivendell to Minas Tirith, shadowing Frodo & Co.'s progress for as-yet unknown reasons. As such, the game is laid out in a linear fashion, though - players can't wander about from place to place as they so choose. You do encounter the Fellowship throughout the game, from reports. Not to infer on the quality of the game, but it sounds much like Shadows of the Empire for the N64 - traipsing around the galaxy as Dash Rendar, every so often bumping into Luke or whomever.

Further differences lie in the overall RPG structure of the game. Third Age takes more after Japanese role-playing games instead of American ones like Dungeons & Dragons, KOTOR, et al. Examples lie in the pre-construction of selectable characters (the player does not make up their own character and customize their starting traits and such, rather chooses from a menu) and the camera set-up (third person, free-roaming camera that goes to a fixed position at battle times. When I described it to a more RPG-friendly colleague of mine, he remarked "Oh, like Final Fantasy X?" I guess that's the best way to put it. My opinions of the genre as a whole are well-documented, much-lamented annals of Café lore.). There are options for character customization later on in the game, through the use of various weapons, armor, and skill acquisitions that - in a rather proletarian turn of events - are not restricted by classes. If you're the type of person that wanted a hobbit fire wizard…well, looks like you got some game-buying to do.

She was a nice girl, but always with the power blasts…we promised to stay friends.

The battle system, apart from the camera, is also supposedly much like FFX. Players select their actions in a kind of indiscriminately defined order, and then they just play out in a string of animation sequences, but there are yet more differences. Items or spells or something of that sort are available in the game to screw around with the turn order in mid-battle. If you have someone in the party rather low on health with the enemy's turn coming up, you could activate an item that will force the enemy to lose their turn and be subject to another round of fellowship-whomping. Other actions are available like flanking attacks and party inspiration/morale boost/what-have-you. Confirming rumors, there are in fact parts of the game that can be unlocked and played out from the standpoint of a Balrog or the legions of Mordor. In fact, since there are no shops and items can only be gained via looting corpses, these unlockable areas provide some good access to valuable items.

Audio/visually, the game looks very much like its predecessors in Two Towers and Return of the King. Perhaps three percent less blockiness in the character models, but that's about it. Not that that's a condemnation. The video was decent in those games, and the audio was stunning. Plus, one must remember that these people are clad in metal armor, which tends to be a bit more geometric than the standard human form. Overall? I'm not the biggest fan of RPGs, though I do indulge from time to time. I'd classify this as a Tier Two rental, though honest RPG fans might be a touch more enthusiastic. The Lord Of The Rings: The Third Age is set to release November 2, 2004. Go vote and buy RPGs.

Mike Twomey