If you've ever played Final Fantasy Tactics or Fire Emblem, you'll soon get used to the battle system that the GBA version of The Third Age provides. This version of the game, unlike its console counterparts, focuses on the main battles of the movies (Moria, Helm's Deep, Osgiliath, Minas Tirith, etc.), but allows you many different choices along the path to the end of the game. General Overview
You start your game by choosing which side you want to play as: good or evil. Upon choosing your respective side, you choose a general for your army, which again, depends on your alignment. Here are your choices: Good side: Gandalf, Aragorn, Elrond
Evil side: Saruman, The Witch King, Mouth of Sauron Each battle in this game has more than a few enemies on the screen, up to a dozen, in fact. The game is set up with a three-flank system, where two dividing lines are placed on screen between each side. When it's your turn, you will have the chance to move your characters with the shoulder buttons for a specific number of turns. Each line of troops in your regiment will have their own unique abilities, either being archers, horse-back riders or anything else. Each of your units are controlled by your general character (mentioned above) and, depending on whom you choose you may have the chance at more moves. At random intervals, depending on the makeup of your army, random events will occur that could have a vast effect on your party. For example, these random events could change how many movement points you have and how much damage you inflict. In addition, it has the possibility of ruining your entire party, sending them all into problematic times for the battle Upgrades
In between battles, you will have the ability to upgrade your weapons and armor. This will be exceedingly useful later on in the game because, obviously, it gets harder as time goes on.