History YMMV / TheLordOfTheRingsTheThirdAge

** The Xbox version is compatible with the UsefulNotes/{{Xbox 360}}, but whenever you approach a treasure chest, the faint glowing effect instead floods the entire screen with light. The game seems ''really'' excited to let you know you've found a new item.

* [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome Crowning Moment of Awesome]]: And SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming|Moments}} - a random soldier in Helm's Deep mentions that the only thing he has to lose is his life, which he received freely and is more than willing to give in order to save others. the matter-of-factness with which this line is delivered is surprisingly poignant.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The game's premise is based around the idea of what others were doing while the Fellowship was journeying to Mordor. But that's not really what's happening. As it stands, Berethor's company is just following behind the events of the film, unable to make even the slightest change to their outcomes.

** Many of the non-playable original characters such as the Lothlorien scout Aranel and
** Berethor's party as a whole suffers from this as actually interact with the Fellowship characters aside from Gandalf. Considering it's a group composed entirely of Expies, they could've have some interesting conversations. This only really happens at Helm's Deep, and even then the only actual character is Gimli. As Aragorn and Theoden are literally just reused soundbites from the film. This problem contributes to the game world not feeling very organic.

* GameBreaker: Gandalf's Stealth skill. Nominally, it's okay, as all it does is protect him from 33% of the ranged damage per level. However, at level 3, it not only makes him immune to ranged damage but seems to make him [[IdiotBall draw ranged fire from every single enemy unit, even if they have to step out of melee combat to do it]], as the game code makes it into an AIBreaker. Abusing his Stealth skill is one of the most popular strategies to defeat "The Black Gate Opens" on Grueling and unlock the secret mission "The Board is Set," as it is almost impossible to beat that level and difficulty without it.

*** "The Black Gate Opens": you have your primary hero, two secondaries and a bunch of weaker troops against the massed might of the hordes of Mordor. Your objective is simply to [[StayingAlive survive for]] [[LuckBasedMission at least 15 turns]] while ''[[CurbStompBattle Evil beats the crap out of you]]''.

*** The two missions in Isengard. [[EliteMooks Ents]] are bad enough to face one by one ... now try facing ''[[OhCrap an entire army of them]]''.

** Hadhod can actually inflict more damage with his Spirit skills than Idrial can. Yes, this is a Dwarf who's a MagicKnight capable of wiping out entire groups of enemies, shield allies with his Mountain Shield, and still pack a mean punch with his melee skills.
*** Mountain Shield, an ability that renders all party members immune to an X amount of damage. No enemy in the game can break through this barrier in one attack, and even when pummeled by lesser enemies they won't break through without you being unable to put the shield up again. This means that you are immune to damage and can grind whatever skill you want.
** Morwen has Cloak of the Plains, a Thief Craft that prevents the enemies from targeting her for a few turns. With enough Speed and a way to replenish your AP, she can stay invincible.
*** Downplayed with Seize Skill (steal skill points from an enemy). It's a fairy bad skill because most enemies only gives 1 point, but when used on trolls, Morwen can get at least 3 Skill Points per turn. In due time, her skill tree can be completed before anyone else's.

*** Fear is even worse, and it's available as a Shadowcraft through the Elfstone of Fell Shadow, meaning that ''everyone'' can learn it with enough grinding. It completely immobilizes an enemy for several turns, making them unable to doge your attacks or counter attack. And almost every single enemy in the game(except bosses of course) is vulnerable to it. There's a Lightcraft that does the same thing, but also does damage to the enemy while it's active.

* GoodBadBugs: Several.

* PlayTheGameSkipTheStory: The game's plot doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and the characters have little personality. Yet the core gameplay is solid and just plain fun.
* RomanticPlotTumor: Played straight and subverted. The entirety of the game sets up this really awkward and laughably bad UnresolvedSexualTension between Berethor, Idrial and Morwen when she shows up. Then right at the end the Nazgul says they have claimed what Berethor loves, right before they clash.

* FanPreferredCouple: A number of fans were pretty annoyed when Berethor/Idrial was sunk about half way through the game because apparently he was already married to [[NewOldFlame Morwen]].
** There is absolutely no setup for this whatsoever besides a cutscene at the end of Osgiliath, and even that comes out of nowhere, given the last scene concerning this matter was in Rohan, where Idrial bitches at Berethor for helping Morwen and Rohan over the Elves-she's basically accusing him of being easily swayed by a pretty face.
** Also not helped by Morwen's status as a FauxActionGirl. When you get her, everyone else in the party is capable of taking two or three hits before going down, provided there's not any particular buffs on them. Morwen [[OneHitKill goes down in one,]] and isn't even a GlassCannon to make up for it. In a scenario where combat takes up the majority of the player's time and mental energy, and with her being... less-than-friendly in her cutscenes, it's understandable that a large part of the fandom asks [[WhatDoesHeSeeInHer why Berethor would want to stay with her.]]

*** Aura of the Valar is completely broken. It auto-revives a character on death with full health and mp ''and'' they immediately get to attack ''and'' Idrial can cast it on herself. This means even if she dies on the very next attack, she still has an opportunity to cast it before she dies, meaning once she casts it on herself, you are invincible and it is impossible to lose except by choice (or the few enemies with [[AntiMagic Dispel]]).

* AntiClimaxBoss: [[FinalBoss The Dark Lord, Sauron]], boasting [[DamageSpongeBoss 736,973 HP]] on Hard Mode, can be taken down in under ten turns ([[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment on Hard Mode]]); fifteen if it is your first time fighting him.

** Berethor and Morwen had met before, actually. They were engaged, until Berethor disgraced himself by running from battle and had LaserGuidedAmnesia.

** The last fight in the Helm's Deep level. Once the player moves down the stairs to aid Aragorn at the gate, they are sucked into a long (and tough) series of battles against a veritable army of Uruk-hai and, in the later stages, Trolls. The very last fight in the level is against several waves of [[BloodKnight Berserkers]], who can sometimes take more than one action in a turn, and powerful Attack Trolls. Berethor's "Last Gasp" technique is more or less mandatory for this fight. Hope you restored all your HP and AP beforehand!

* CosmicDeadline: As the game goes on, it's increasingly clear the game is running low on time and budget; Levels get shorter and more linear, sidequests disappear and the game begins throwing plot reveals at you faster and faster. This culminates in the game just tossing you at Sauron for the final boss fight with basically no context.

*** War Cry makes your allies use their strongest attack on a single target. It only costs 200 AP, and the attacks are free (You don't get skill points for them though). With the right set of team mats and unlocked skills (Eaoden's Rampage of the Helm, Elegost's True Shot, Berethor's Gondor Rampage), this is the most damaging single "attack" in the game.

* GameBreaker: Gandalf's Stealth skill. Nominally, it's okay, as all it does is protect him from 33% of the ranged damage per level. However, at level 3, it not only makes him immune to ranged damage but seems to make him [[IdiotBall draw ranged fire from every single enemy unit, even if they have to step out of melee combat to do it]], as the game code makes it into an AIBreaker.

* GameBreaker: Gandalf's Stealth skill. Nominally, it's okay, as all it does is protect him from 33% of the ranged damage per level. However, at level 3, it not only makes him immune to ranged damage but seems to make him [[IdiotBall draw ranged fire from every single enemy unit, even if they have to step out of melee combat to do it]], for no apparent reason beyond the game code.

** Goblins, in any level where they appear in force -- primarily Flight From Moria, Balin's Tomb, and The Last Alliance.
** Peasants and woodsmen, defending against the player's Ringwraiths in Darkness Upon Bree.

*** The Black Gate Opens. You have your primary hero, two secondaries and a bunch of weaker troops against the massed might of the hordes of Mordor. Your objective is simply to [[StayingAlive survive for]] [[LuckBasedMission at least 15 turns]] while ''[[CurbStompBattle Evil beats the crap out of you]]''.
*** Defense of the Beacon. Your units are few and weak, and your lone primary hero is far from the main point that you need to defend. Meanwhile, the Witch-king is leading a sizable force of tougher evil units and, as soon as he can, starts spamming his Terror ability and preventing your units from moving at all. Good's only advantage is defensive positioning.
*** Charge of the Rohirrim, as well as Pelennor Fields. In both cases, your crucial heroes are lightly defended at one end of the map, while a bunch of your EliteMooks are at the other end, with a truly massive Evil army in between. If you can't get TheCavalry into the fight quickly enough to save your leadership, you are ''screwed''.

*** Oddly enough, the very first level right after the tutorial, Mission From Rivendell. The Good forces are composed entirely of a primary hero, two secondary heroes and a large number of Elven [[EliteMooks swordsmen and archers]]. Meanwhile, outside of heroes, Evil has a numerically and positionally inferior force of generic Morannon Orcs.
*** The two missions in Isengard. {{E|liteMooks}} are bad enough on their own ... now try facing ''[[OhCrap dozens at once]]''.