With a surprise remaster of The Lord of the Rings: War in the North dropping earlier this month and Andy Serkis’ film, Hunt for Gollum, now in production, I’ve had a real desire to jump back into Middle-earth recently. It was a formative fictional world for millions, whether you read J. R. R. Tolkien’s classic novels or fell deeply in love with the fantasy universe through Peter Jackson’s masterful film trilogy. If you have a beating heart, chances are you love LOTR.
But as a lifelong fan of turn-based JRPGs who grew up with classics like Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger, there is one LOTR video game in the avalanche of tie-ins that stood out above all others, and despite the hostile nature of this piece’s headline, I have plenty of nice things to say about it: The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age. Developed by EA Redwood Shores (the team who would go on to make Dead Space and Dante’s Inferno), this turn-based effort tells an original story within Tolkien’s setting, with a cute cast of characters and gameplay mechanics that might seem a teensy bit familiar. And it’s basically a dead ringer for Final Fantasy 10.
All Right Then, Keep Your Blitzball
I suppose if you’re going to rip something off like this, you might as well pick one of the strongest games of the sixth console generation. Final Fantasy 10 arguably perfected the turn-based combat formula, while telling a legendary story that is fondly remembered decades later. To many, it stood as the last chapter in Final Fantasy’s golden era, and what a darling swansong it turned out to be.
Released in 2004 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube, The Third Age tells a simple yet compelling story that takes place parallel to the events of Jackson’s movie trilogy.
Your journey begins in the outskirts of Moria as Berethor, a captain of the Citadel Guard of Gondor travelling to his homeland in search of Boromir (uh oh). Shortly into the game, Berethor is rescued by Idrial, an Elf in service of Galadriel who must deliver a vitally important message to her people. If you are starting to notice a pattern here, yes, pretty much every main character in The Third Age is a secret friend of a more important character from the main story.
It’s an easy-breezy excuse to connect our adventure to the classic tale, while simultaneously making the game a roller coaster ride through familiar locales. Other party members include a bow-wielding ranger known as Elegost and a grumpy, hard-hitting dwarf called Hadhod. The gang is all here and the character dynamics even feel similar to Square’s classic RPG. Each party member is given their time to shine through individual arcs, while it often feels like they’re becoming better and more well-rounded people right up until the credits roll.
Moment-to-moment gameplay has you walking through moody environments ranging from decaying forests to elven meadows to snowy mountains, all of which are designed to look like– but not precisely be— exact locations from the films. But it gets the job done, even if you only have a single path to tread aside from a few treasure-packed side routes. Each area also comes with a quest, such as defeating a certain number of enemies or finding shrines dedicated to specific deities. It’s simple, – far more so than Final Fantasy 10 – but it works.
I adored retracing the steps of Frodo and company, stumbling upon the ashes of fading campfires and fighting through the Mines of Moria just like they did. It’s an effective, albeit hollow, form of fan service, one that’s ideal for a game like this, in which you likely want to celebrate everything you loved about the films. You even team up with Gandalf to take on the Balrog at one point.
They’re Taking The Hobbits To Zanarkand
If you’ve ever played Final Fantasy before, you will immediately guffaw at how transparent the inspiration for The Third Age’s combat is. The user interface is almost identical, with the actions list and characters lined up in a similar fashion while the turn order uses face icons in the same way. While I think the combat in The Third Age is more sluggish when performing moves or watching characters go about their business, it undeniably uses the classic JRPG as a foundation. I bet that acted as the original pitch and everything else spawned from there.
But there are ways in which it expands upon Final Fantasy 10, particularly with skill points you can assign to each character upon levelling up, or more comprehensive ways to switch up how each character looks and moves throughout the game world. Cutscenes are also far more dynamic, although don’t expect to see any hyperbudget CGI sequences for the major story moments. But whenever characters sprint across the environment with harsh urgency or a gaggle or orcs emerge from the deathly woods to ambush you it is wrought with great atmosphere. Similar to The Two Towers and Return of the King movie tie-ins, the sauce of Peter Jackson is everywhere in The Third Age.
Lack of originality aside though, The Third Age remains incredibly fun to play. Each character takes on a meaningful role in the party, and there are few better feelings than unleashing Limit Break-esque attacks that wipe out the entire field in one move. I also love that you’ll constantly unlock “Epic Scenes” to watch while progressing through the story, which are 360p clips of the films with narration from Sir Ian McKellen, who plays Gandalf. The scenes are supposed to work with the context of where these new characters are in the story, and man, are there a lot of them.
My personal favourite feature, however, is how customisable your party is. Each new weapon or piece or armour is reflected in their appearance, encouraging you to return to the menu constantly in order to allocate new skill points or see what equipment you have to play with. A number of modern RPGs don’t have this level of aesthetic depth so here I am, praising a licensed game from 2004 for such a thing. It will hardly steal the genre crown, but this gem is still well worth seeking out.
Unfortunately, unless you’re willing to hunt down original hardware and have a physical copy to hand, there is no way to play The Third Age in 2026 without emulation. This is the tragic reality for several beloved licensed games from the era. Games people fell deeply in love with during their childhoods have increasingly become untouchable relics of the past, either due to outdated licenses or companies simply not caring.
However, with the recent surprise release of War in the North, there might still be hope for The Third Age yet. It would take a dedicated team with the right expertise to enhance the visuals, spruce up the user interface, and make all those movie clips look like they aren’t playing on a potato. But a quirky RPG from such a timeless franchise deserves a second lease of life.
