One Ring to Rule Them All and One Game To Bind All Gamers – The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age Continues Peter Jackson’s Epic Journey

by Louis Bedigian

“We expect the core gameplay to be at least 30 – 40 hours long… and that would be pushing through the levels as fast as possible.” 

What does it take to win the battle for Middle-earth?  Frodo knows.  What does it take to continue the battle for Middle-earth?  Only Electronic Arts knows the answer to that question.  When EA skipped the first film, releasing games based on The Two Towers and The Return of the King but not The Fellowship of the Ring, gamers wondered if EA would go back and make a third game to complete the trilogy.

You can’t hold onto the past though.  You must always move forward, hence the creation of The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, a role-playing game that takes place during The Lord of the Rings trilogy. 

Rings fanatics can pick up the game right now, but before you rush out the door, read what Steve Gray had to say about the game, its development, and the future of the series. 

EA has released a new Lord of the Rings game three years in a row.  Prior to The Third Age, you guys worked on The Return of the King.  Tell us about this experience, and what it was like to immediately move from one game to the next.

Steve Gray: The core team has actually moved from The Two Towers to The Return of the King and then on to The Third Age.  Doing three games in a row like this is quite a challenge but it also has its upsides.  The team really knows how to work together very well, and we certainly know our Lord of the Rings material coming and going.  That is especially important for building an RPG which delves much deeper into the film fiction than either of the two previous games.

The Third Age is somewhat of a departure from the previous games, having new playable characters instead of the Hobbits we're used to.  What made EA decide to do this?  Is there hope that these new characters will spawn future adventures?

SG: We wanted to make a story that, while based on the films, had elements in it that the Player needed to discover by playing the game.  I think discovering the story elements through gameplay is a very important part of an RPG.   We also feature quite prominently the main characters from the films as well. 

You’re no match for him.

There are intertwining moments where the new character encounter events from the film.  How often does this happen, and how much of the three films' does the game cover?

SG: The characters quite often interact with more central characters from the films.  We cover material and characters from all three films.  We don’t follow the hobbits’ path so there are bits that get left out, but in terms of the Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf story – most of the important parts are there.

Talk about the battle system.  How is it different from the previous Lord of the Rings games?  How does it compare to other RPGs?

SG: The battle system will be very familiar to fans of Japanese style turn-based RPGs.  While we have our own system, we wanted to make it easy to learn, and we believe that it is very easy to learn.  The controller works the way you expect.

Are there separate systems for both magic and weapon attacks?

SG: There are quite a few different skill trees.  In addition to obvious ones like melee, range and special.  We have trees for leadership as well as crafting – to name two of the systems.

All this eye candy is making my mouth water.

Can you go over the various locations that we'll be able to explore in the game?

SG: Some of the highlights are Moria, including Khazad Dum, Helms’ Deep, Minas Tirith, Osgiliath and the Pelennor Fields… just to name a few.  There are 9 total levels … not including the surprise ending level.  The levels are really big however – probably between 5 and 10 times the size of a level in The Return of the King.

In addition to fighting for the Fellowship, players can unlock special battles and fight along Sauron.  What's that like?  How can you win when, in the end, we all know that Sauron doesn't?

SG: When you fight on the side of Evil it’s just within the context of a series of battles.  There is no story mode for the Evil side.  However winning as Evil does unlock unique inventory items that you’re Good side characters can use.

Where is the music coming from?  Was it taken from the film?  Or did you wish to have a different sound for this particular game?

SG: The music is all from the films.  We really like the film score and were happy to be able to continue to use it. 

I think it goes without saying, but I’m gonna say it anyway: this looks awesome.

The last two games were really good, but kind of short.  Since The Third Age is an RPG, can players expect a much lengthier quest?

SG: We expect the core game play to be at least 30 – 40 hours long… and that would be pushing through the levels as fast as possible.  If you do all the Quests and play as Evil the game is quite a bit longer than that.

Three films and three games.  The movie trilogy is complete...does this mean the end for Lord of the Rings video games?

SG: We really don’t know right now.  The Lord of the Rings fiction has been around for a long, long time, and I can definitely imagine future Lord of the Rings games.  But there isn’t anything we can commit to right now.

Thank you for your time.