This and Return of the King fucking SLAP, some of the best beat em ups I've ever played. Unsung heroes of the Ps2/Xbox/GC era

12 year old me was SO PUMPED by the live action clips. I couldn't comprehend how a video game could do it lmao.

Orlando Bloom IS Legolas in this, but like all movie games, the actor reprising their roles are bored as hell, except for John Rhys-Davies, he's done plenty of it. And yeah, Orlando Bloom is in Carnival Row on Amazon Prime Streaming, I should know, I watched it all, wasn't great. (No Balrog fight sadly, a bunch of others did)

"he says it in a slightly different cadence" Yes, yes he does...not bored

Cate Blanchett as the Boss is the most PERFECT casting call i've EVER heard!

Back when EA put out good licensed games

I'm laughing at the fact that Matt asked "Is Orlando Bloom even in movies anymore?" in the exact same time I asked myself that question.

LOTR: The Third Age was fun because they just straight up copied Final Fantasy X's battle system. Like the menu and everything was just SO identical. It was great.

Oh, my childhood.. I loved this game as a kid. I have fond memories of completing every section as every character, just to see the differences. I've been meaning to return to it sometime.

I remember playing the GBA port of Two Towers. It was like a pocket Diablo.

More of this game please brought back so many memories had a lot of fun playing this game. So much fun

I remember this and return of the king vividly. Played the shit out of it. Them and War In The North

The old lord of the rings beat em up games were my childhood... man, such great memories.

I remember playing both of these games alot as a kid. The nostalgia is hitting hard right now

Actually now that Matt mentions it, I could see Kate Blanchett as The Boss if they ever did make a movie out of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Provided she could do the CQC moves, I'm sure she would do pretty well. I do think Charlize Theron would be a better choice in regards to the action choreography, but when it comes to having a commanding presence while also able to pull off the more low key and dramatic side of things convincingly, I can't think of anyone at the moment more well-suited to it than Kate. There may be more actresses well-suited to the role, I just can't think of any. lol In regards to why Christopher Lee knows what it sounds like to be stabbed in the back is because of his military experience during WWII as well as his time as a Nazi spy hunter. That's only a fraction of how awesome he was and what an amazing life he lived.

This is one of my all-time favorite games.

I remember renting this game a bunch of times in middle school.

I loved this game on the PS2

I've been waiting for this for sooo long! I demand that all you request this to be a full series 👀

Oh hell yes! The throwback to end all throwbacks. Man, this game takes me back to those Saturday mornings of co-oping with my cousin. Looking up cheat codes, writing them down in a notebook because we were too dumb to memorize them, then laughing our butts off because we were literally invincible... Ah! I love the nostalgia this brings... Thanks, Mr. McMuscles, for taking me back to the good, old days of my childhood :)

I had completely forgotten about this game until you posted this video and damn the nostalgia wave Thank you so much. I'm honestly tempted to see if I still have my old PS2 copy kicking about somewhere

Fuuuck, i spent like two whole summers with just this game. Amazingly fun!

Yeah Matt, you gotta keep playing this! The fight on the walls of helms deep always made me stressed as a kid. Appreciate the trip down memory lane

I remember seeing this at a demo kiosk while growing up and finding the sheer scope of the game to be mind-blowing at the time.

I have very fond memories of playing The Return of the King. Such a great game. I never got to play this one but this has definitely made me want to. Dirty disk error and all

CONTINUE! This was loads of fun.

I remember magazine articles about this where they put CG clips next to movie clips side by side, showing off the graphics. I was 8 or 9 and in complete awe.

Matt, please continue this! My nostalgia is killing me!

I didn't play this game, my brother did. I was more enthralled by the RTS LOTR game, Battle for Middle Earth. I think that one was fairly faithful to the movies during maps you played in-game, as it had both the dialogue from the movies and played clips during story missions. It also had you doing some occasionally bonkers kind of super moves if you knew how to ready yourself and prepare them. The heroes for example, you could summon the eagles to come and tear shit up, and late game you got access to the ghost army from Return of the King, and they would just fucking launch themselves at everything put in front of them. I only managed it once but I somehow got the ghosts available for the Helm's Deep mission, and it def. makes that map a hell lot easier. And then on the villains side, you could basically spawn a balrog onto any map you wanted. And then going through pretty much major battle from the films, slaughtering the heroes and all the major cities.

This is bringing back many fond memories. I loved the movies and I was surprised this game was so good since movie adaptations usually aren't. The battle system was pretty fun and accessible, and all characters were fun to play. The best part was that the game actually showed some scenes from The Two Towers which I hadn't seen. (Was it even out yet)

12:21 Gimili's frequent yet always unexpected cramps strike again

Oh man seeing those two Trolls in the Fangorn section is bringing back memories of when I was a kid and it took me FOREVER to beat them!

26:55 "geeze dumbledore"...mah heart, mah soul...

This and RoTK are possibly my favourite PS2 games. Used to run through the forest level against the Uruk Hai over and over with my friends. Oh, and Faramir is the best character in the RoTK game, with his flashy fighting style.

God TLOR The Third Age was absolutely fantastic, we need another TLOR rpg.

“Bushing the battons” - Matt (God of War LP)

So have you heard of LoTR: Conquest? It was this lesser known game for the 360 and PS3 that kinda flopped and got shitty reviews, though personally I thought it was a blast (well, at times). Basically it's "What if we did Star Wars Batflefront in Lord of the Rings" where the game takes you through major battles in the movies where you start as a lowly grunt and then end with the ability to play a hero character like Gandalf. It even has this sick epilogue campaign where Sauron gets the ring back, so you play as an orc stomping through Middle Earth killing and looting and slaying all of the heroes. I think the game is cool as hell, if a bit janky to learn at first, but there's a surprising amount of depth and a lot of options. You even get to play as ents and trolls and shit

I fucking love this game and now i love you too Matt

9:52 I distinctly remember one time I was playing when Aragorn walks to the edge of the cliff in the cutscene the character model just fell off the edge somehow.

Giving us mummy-faced Gimli in exchange for no Gandalf-Balrog fight might be the worst deal in the history of deals.

I remember playing the return of the king game on the ps2 all the time. I couldn't get passed the second Aragorn level as a kid tho... I have a funny story about my brother playing the Return of the King. So that game had online Co op as one of the first games to have it i think. My oldest brother was playing with randoms on this one stage where a giant troll shows up after you open up a door. He let his Co op partners open the door and they proceeded to get almost one shot as a result

As far as I remember, no Balrog in Return of the King, BUT the special playable characters are a lot of fun. It's also just a much more polished version of what this game was going for and it also is just one movie in one game, unlock The Two Towers. If you liked this, you should TOTALLY play Return of the King.

i had this one.. on gc even.. i only vaguely remember it.. but it was enjoyable. i have positive memories overall.. i think this game is what got me into the movies actually lol

This is one of my favorites :)

Couple of things. Orlando Bloom does actually voice Legolas in the game and I am 90% sure that you do fight the Balrog either a little further in the game or during ROTK because if my memory serves correctly you end up fighting it as Gandalf.

This and the sequel are easily tied as my favorite movie tin in game of all time. Cheap cash grabs maybe, but also fun af.

Man I was re-watching LOTR the other day, as you do, and I remember having a lot of fun with these games... From EA... wow

The Third Age is work another look. As the first RPG I ever completed, I have a lot of nostalgia for it. Both The Third Age and Return of the King were developed by Visceral Games before they changed their name.

You fight the balrog with Gandalf as a guest party member in the 3rd age!!!! Blew my tiny babby mind

This and RotK 100% hold up. I love the shadows and the lighting on this. And the gameplay's just simple fun.

Reading the comments makes me feel sad & old. Pretty sure that's what you were going for. Great job Matt, please play more I hate living

To be fair, Christopher Lee was a spy during World War 2 before he became an actor He almost certainly did have first-hand knowledge of the sounds people make when they're stabbed in the back.

Would love to see a video on Return of the King and The Third Age games! Hell even do that weird fellowship of the ring game!

This was the first PS2 game I ever owned. It was awesome.

I just found a re set up my ps2, this was on top of the stack

I had this! It was fun!

return of the king for ps2 was also pretty good and also the third age was an turn based rpg adventure aside from the main story as far as i remember

Oh god anything lotr movie related just makes me flashback to the horrors of high school

Dude, never put it together, but Cate Blanchett as The Boss would be perfect! Looks and voice would match perfectly! Holy shit you have just blown my mind

rented it on ps2, loved this game

This game uses the Ringwraith theme at very inappropriate times.

Cant wait for you to play third age. That game is sick!

The Elves made their own rings, but in the same way that Sauron did, so that Sauron still had power over them. When Sauron switched on the One Ring (tm) they were like "Woah, that ain't kosher" and they took 'em off.

I played the living hell out of this and Return of the King on PS2. A rare example of a well done licensed game

So Peter Jackson said that Christopher Lee started to talk to him about some "clandestine parts of ww2" after correcting him and everyone was intimidated and didn't want to press the subject any further so they just took his word for it and did the scene that way. Man Christopher Lee was awesome

OMG Gimli!!! What have they done to you!!! O.O

The “kraken” is called the Watcher

Wednesday of postal took a crazy turn.

Matt if you’re diving into the Ps2 Lotr games, you gotta play some Third Age!!

I played this way too much when I was 14or15 but I manage to beat every level with each character maxed out and cause of the lack of checkpoints in some levels(or every level can’t remember for sure) that was a nightmare sometimes

Love ya matty!

i think orlando bloom was acting in the pirates of the caribbean at that time. so probably didn't had the time to do voices for the game.

Definite ly run it back, there's a bloody palace mode too where if you clear it the reward is saruman shittalking your character and it's unique for each hero including the secret character.

The Watcher in the Water.

Oh God, I think I've seen the Happy souls parody of "you shall not pass" more times than I've seen the original now and it's messing with my head.

*PLEASE* tell us there's gonna be a Part 2!

I never really played this game, but bro, I love the Return of the King game. Anyone remember how fucking hard the Minas Tirith mission in RotK was?

Cate Blanchett would be perfect as the boss!!

Played this and the other two lotr ea games for hours on hours as a kid. Definitely worth 'trying' to finish this one matt but the last levels at helms deep really don't pull any punches. Also there is a balrog fight in the third age, but not in this or the return of the King games unfortunately

wheres this music from??? 29:00 somebody please help me out

Mah childhood!

Also, I wouldn't mind seeing you play LotR Conquest. It was on 360 and ps3. It was LotR Battlefront

I remember seeing someone play this game back in 2003 and thinking it was the best looking game ever.

Please continue

I would like more, pls :)

I think doing Return of the King would be fantastic! Maybe so I could see more of the game since I was so bad at that game as a tiny babby

GARD! ga-ga-ga-gard

I have this for the PS2... but it goes not beyond the first fight sequence. What a shame to let such masterpiece to rot but thats life

You mind recording Genji: Dawn of the Samurai and/or Genji: Days of the Blade, Matt? Been hoping PlayStation might remaster those.

So you mentioned how those aren’t cave trolls at that point, and you’re right! Those are actually Forest Trolls, which were made specifically for the game and have no basis in actual Tolkein lore.

they need to remaster theses

Gotta do return of the king now lol

In all fairness there isn't really a balrog fight to be had in Moria. They mostly ran from it until Gandalf makes his stand. I guess they could have orchestrated something for the game and had it end the same, but it would have been pretty different from the movie. But they did make up a lot of stuff for Fangorn so...

Do all of the LOTR games from this era!

PO-TA-TOES BOIL EM MASH EM STICK EM IN A STEW

this game was the shit growing up

Play Aragorn's quest, I wanna see what that is all about. At some point I saw it in every bargain bin.

3 for the Three Elven Kings, Elrond, Galadriel, and Thranduil. 9 for the Nine Kings of Men, who's names escape me

Matt play LOTR War in the North. It’s basically the natural evolution of this game. But with GORE lol. And loot and such. It’s a really cool game. But just a solid 7-8/10. Didn’t have a big enough budget. Also a video on Demon’s Forge?

Lord of the rings the third age has a great boss battle against the balrog