... then you should probably listen to Nesh, here! For I am about to tell you about a BAD one.

Lord of the Rings: The Third Age. Released for X-Box/Ps2, and Gamecube, I think. I got this when I was a wee caddy (13ish?) because I love RPGs, I liked Lord of the Rings, and there was only 1 gamestore in the town.

I was very disapointed. Later, I read some interesting articles on why it was bad,which add more to the tale. See, they never got more then the movie license, or something to that degree, thus they could not put stuff in that wasn't in the films. So, while you got to play people /technically/ in the movie canon, and /technically/ were taking part in everything, you have no real impact (and any you do is nonsensical).

You play a generic Gondor soldier, Captain of the Citadel Guard. Promoted for his adherence to heroic archetype, no doubt. You're going to Rivendell to find Boromir, because his dad wants him back. Or maybe he forgot his lunch, frankly it doesn't matter much after this point. You are equipped about as well as a hobbit, and Nazgul are your first opponents. Naturally, you win an- oh wait, they stab you and you get saved by a mysterious Elven female.

Turns out she is Sherlock Holmes, as the sight of Crebain makes her realize Saruman is a traitor, and is attacking a convoy of elves right that instant. You go and help, because the plot says o, and then go look for survivors on Caradhras, of all places. You then encounter a Dunedain Ranger(Rare? Pfft, not at all!) who is looking for his dwarf friend. You manage to track him down in Moria. As it turns ou the Watcher reopens the entrance, trying to get the Fellowship, and you get to run in, then hunt down and kill it.

Then you run around making noise, and killing goblins, and chase after the Fellowship more. Yakkity Sax ensues. Oh, and then you jump in to help Gandalf fight the Balrog on the tiny bridge. Hmm, I don't recall that scene... After you help him win (but he still falls) you follow the Fellowship out, learn Boromir is dead, and you've been wasting time. Both the characters and player.

You then follow their trail to Rohan, where Gandalf gives you the job or finding all of Eomer's men. Then you fight in Helm's Deep, where it turns out Saruman can contorl you to fight several cave trolls at once. I forgot the part where the Uruk-hai had cave trolls. Then it turns out that that Idreal (forgive me for not posting names unless relevent, the characters are shallow and 2-d)the female Elf was sent by Gandalf and Galadriel, who knew Saruman could control you, and was to stop you from taking the ring to him. She's also a love interest.

You then get to fight in Osgiliath,where you fight and beat Goth Mog, and the Witch King (killing neither, naturally, and go to Minas Tirith for soem more excitement. A few dozen fights leter you are fighting two Mumakil at once. On foot. And killing them. And after the ghost army wins the battle? Suddenly you are fighting the Eye of Sauron. On top of his tower. No explanation is given. I never beat him, and never went back to the game.

The characters are all shallow, and they barely evolve past stereotypes. They barely have any downtime talk, to get to know eachother, or really explain why they bother doing what they are doing. The fights are tedious because, as said way above, they reuse the same enemies over and over.

Naturally, the most fleshed out party member is the lead, Berethor. We learn he fled from battle long ago because he was stabbed by a Nazgul stab (before the game, mind. so he was stabbed twice, technically.) So he was banished to Rohan. He fell in love in Rohan with a Shieldmaiden, then Saruman used a spell to make him chase after Boromir to steal the ring and take it to him. Said Shieldmaiden is also in the party. So... like Cloud from FF7, maybe?

Sorry for rambling, it's been a while since I've posted. Point is, LotR: The Third Age isn't very good in any sense. I have heard that Shadow of Mordooooooor has fun gameplay, and interestign mechanics. So if you can ignore the fanficesque story, i could be fun. But yeah, reading about OC Do Not Steal Ranger #35 and his best bud the Wraith taking control of orcs made me cringe.

I haven't played the game or seen it played, though, so I don't know.

If you're looking for a goodfic-quality LotR game, though, check out The Lord of the Rings: War in the North. It takes place during LotR, but entirely separately from the main quest. There are one or two things that make me raise my eyebrows a little, but on the other hand, it's sensible about things like the Great Eagles and Radagast, and it wins a lot more points than it loses in my book. For the most part it slots in quite nicely as a story that could have happened in the world.

~Neshomeh