Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II - PC

[Bob47]

Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II - PC

Requirements
Windows XP
1.6 GHz Processor
256 MB RAM memory
5.5 GB Hard drive
8 Speed DVD-ROM
64 MB Video card
Direct X 9.0c Sound card
DirectX 9.0
TCP/IP compliant NETWORK
56.6 Hbps or greater INTERNET
Broadband INTERNET

Introduction
This is EA's second attempt at a RTS for Lord of the Rings. As I've not played the first one I can't compare the two so sorry about that.

Gameplay
As RTSs go it is the standard set-up with your fortress already built and two builders ready. I haven't played the first one so I don't know what the difference is between the two. But I heard that you can't build defence on the first one which you can on this one. A feature I like is the level system your units get and how they gain the lost troops back. There is the system (which I first saw on Command and Conquer) where you have upgrade points, these are gained by killing and completing normal and bonus objectives. During a skirmish you can find Gollum who has the one ring and killing him thus gets you the one ring to take back to your fortress where by you can summon Galadriel (for good) or Sauron (as bad). There is also a feature where you play a total war like game which is turn based, apart from when a battle takes place where you can choose to fight, auto fight (it is predicted) or retreat.

Good side
On the good side you get to play as ELVES with heroes such as Glorfindel, Legolas and the lovable Treebeard. All with different skills and powers. Another side is the Dwarven army with heroes as well, including Gimli. I wont name them all but the Dwarfs have a tunnel network (hinting toward the GLA)

Bad side
On the bad side you play as Isengard, Mordor and Goblins with heroes like Saruman, the Witch-king and the legendary spider Shelob. again all with their separate skills and spells. The Goblins, like the dwarfs, have tunnel networks.

Landscape
The graphics are, in my eyes, stunning. With trees which bending the wind and the cinematic go from movie to pictures with characters from the real lord of the rings and from L.O.T.R the third age.

As I only got it today I haven't played it all that much but I can tell it will be good so if someone wants to do a better on than that is fine

Score :

It is a typical RTS with no much new about it.

I hope it was good and sorry for the mistakes

[spoodie]

Nice review

I made some mod edits for formatting and spelling.
edit: Oh yeah, it could do with a conclusion but you probably want to play it a bit more first, then you can come back and edit your review.

[Bob47]

that was what i was going to do or (as it said i thinks) someone else could do a proper review

[Strawberry Dragon]

Cool, i might check that one out.

The first one was a pretty decent game, as it managed to capture the "feel" of the films quite well whilst still being fairly playable. The main problems with it were the limited build options, small maps, and the pretty unbalanced teams (although these are perhaps to be expected in a game based on outside material), so it wasn't really multiplayer material. It would be interesting to see if they've improved on these.

[FatherJack]

I rather like the books, but have yet to be convinced by the games. However I do want to like the games, if you see what I mean.

I heard a few bad things about the first game, and was hoping the second was better received - what I've seen and heard so far seems good, at least.

The purist in me would be horrified at Gollum getting killed and his ring being nicked, as (story-wise) that would miss out about 80% of the books, but the point of games is that they're simply set in the same 'universe' as the books and the 'story' is up to you.

I suppose it's rather like a lot of these 'themed' games, whether they be Star Trek, Star Wars, Dungeon and Dragons, popular animé series or even Harry Potter - they're only likely to appeal to fans of the original material, but not die-hard fans who will exclaim "That's not in the book!"

Noticed the D&D online MMONG is out now, interested to know if any beards had picked it up. I'm almost done with Dragonshard, which wasn't reviewed very well - however I rather enjoyed it.

[Lateralus]

I'm with Jack here, in that I'd like to like the games, but am yet to be convinced. My main problem with the first one was that there wasn't enough progression throughout the game, and it quickly got to be repetitive and slightly boring.

[Bob47]

well i think the first one tried to follow the books but the second one dosent. And you only kill Gollum in a skirmish (i think i pointed that out but sorry if i didnt)

[Joose]

Well, you should e pleased to hear that its like they have taken the original BFME, fixed all the bits that people complained about, and then stuck in some more stuff. Specifically:

FIXES

The maps can be bigger
The building system is more "traditional", giving you more options.
The armies are better balanced, plus theres now something like 6 factions.

ADDITIONS:

More factions to choose from, like i said. Theres now a dwarf army, an elf army, etc.
More hero units
More powers
A great big Risk style campain map, kind of like the Total War games.
probably some other things my caffiene addled mind is currently forgetting

[Bob47]

Well, you should e pleased to hear that its like they have taken the original BFME, fixed all the bits that people complained about, and then stuck in some more stuff. Specifically:

FIXES

The maps can be bigger
The building system is more "traditional", giving you more options.
The armies are better balanced, plus theres now something like 6 factions.

ADDITIONS:

More factions to choose from, like i said. Theres now a dwarf army, an elf army, etc.
More hero units
More powers
A great big Risk style campain map, kind of like the Total War games.
probably some other things my caffiene addled mind is currently forgetting

i pointed the risk style campain out in the review but ya there is more but i donno what

[Joose]

hehe, sorry, as I said, I wasnt exactly thinking straight when i posted that. Caffiene+stress.

im now de-stressed and decaffinated.