The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy has proved to be fertile source material for video game adaptations, spawning hack-and-slash action adventures as well as a soon-to-be-released real-time strategy title. The Third Age, however, is a turn-based, console-style role-playing game that takes a slightly different path from its film-faithful cousins. Instead of featuring the original cast of characters and following their journey as it was laid out in the films and novels, The Third Age introduces a new cross-cultural group of travelers as they put their own stamp on the history of Middle-earth. While there are some rough edges, the result is mostly a nice little role-playing jaunt into the world of Tolkien.