Lord of the Rings: The Third Age
After more than 11 hours and nearly 30 percent completion, this is what I have to say about The Third Age: not too shabby, EA, not too shabby at all. The 30-second TV spots proclaimed this game as "The greatest RPG since Final Fantasy!" and I can see why they would make that comparison. EA took many of the formulas that worked in the Final Fantasy series and shoved it all together in this tale of epic proportions.
Instead of retelling the story we've heard over and over, The Third Age puts players into the shoes of a Gondorian soldier and friends traveling roughly along the same path as the Fellowship. You'll rescue trapped elves, fight hordes of orcs, uruk-hai goblins and meet new companions as you make your way toward your final goal.
The battle system is completely turn-based so you can make decisions as fast or slow as you please without adverse effects, i.e., having your entire party wiped out as you think of what you should do next. Every action a character takes draws from his or her action point pool which, when depleted, allows characters the use of only the most basic attacks. Action points can be replenished with items, however. Skill points are earned every time you performs special attacks which in turn allow a character to gain even better skills, whether that be stronger attacks or party aiding war cries. The problem is that these new skills don't look much different than the old skills. Battles
tend to get repetitive quickly when fighting one kind of enemy in a given area. One of the most intense battles will have some people angry at EA because it has your party aiding Gandalf as he fights the cool-looking Balrog.
The Third Age has a great world to draw its story from and mostly does a good job blending these new characters into the world and events that are taking place. For fans of RPGs and Tolkien's masterpiece, this game is a must play, but it is not for everybody.
Grade Bthe back into the book section. As I walked to the back, I wanted to cry. I was so proud of the gaming community that day. The Master Chief has returned.
— Nick Finnegan
Halo 2
Nov. 9 will go down as one of the biggest days in gaming history. The midnight release of Halo 2 was something to see. I decided to go check out the release of it and see if people were hyped up about it as I thought they would be. Sure enough, I go down to Hastings and I see a line inside it wrapping around to
Covenant stage a space attack on the Marines and everything starts up again.
The sequel is a lot like the first one but has way more features to it: new enemies to face, places to battle, and more weapons to use. One new feature is the ability to dual-wield certain weapons. The players now use both trigger buttons to shoot the weapons on the corresponding hand. Also, the addition of new weapons and weapons that you couldn't use in the first one is exceptional. One of them is the Energy sword. This is the best weapon when using melee attacks. If you can get your enemy in the crosshairs and it turns red, it will be a one-hit kill if it connects. Also, you can pilot more vehicles. You can pilot the Covenant tanks that you couldn't drive in the first one.
The game picks up right after the events of Halo. Halo has been destroyed and an Elite of the Covenant is being put on trial for letting it be blown up. For this crime, he is tortured and his fleet will stay behind during the Covenants attack upon Earth. He is also labeled as a heretic. Meanwhile, Master Chief is back on Earth and is being rewarded for his actions. All of a sudden, the
The ability to destroy vehicles makes it seem more realistic. You can even kick other people off vehicles. A good thing to do to a player in a tank is to bust open the hatch and pop a grenade into it. They will either have to evacuate the vehicle, or stay in and get blow up.
Halo 2 is compatible online. You can hook your XBox up to XBox Live and can play anyone, anywhere. Now you don't have to all be on the same network to take on other players.
It's still the same Halo, just with a new
story and a few add-ons. And it's still the best to play the game with packs of people.
Grade: B
Chris Moore