The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth 2 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)(I deduct one "overall" star because the game's launch had a lot of multiplayer tournament problems.Those appear to have been resolved in the recent v1.02 patch which you will download automatically the first time you sign on.)

Gameplay:
BFME2 is what I would call a "true real-time strategy game".In most RTS games (e.g. Starcraft, Age of Empires) you are really playing a "real-time tactical game".You must focus a lot of effort on directing your troops at a micromanagement level, telling them who, exactly, they are supposed to shoot at, one guy at a time.

The BFME series has simplified this by creating "batallions".Instead of building archers 1 at a time, you'll build them 15 at a time and they come out as an organized batallion.You cannot tell your 15 archers to focus fire on 1 enemy unit, you can only tell them to fire on another batallion.The details of how they direct their fire is up to them.The time you aren't spending directing fire can now be spent on executing a bigger plan.

Consequently, BFME2 is one of the very few RTS games that rewards multi-pronged attacks and flanking.Units get a flanking bonus for attacking enemies from behind and the fact that you don't need to babysit every single fight means you can leave one battle to go start up a second front somewhere else and not worry so much about the fight you aren't watching.

BFME2 also introduces a new resource model which greatly rewards map ownership.Rather than fighting over piles of resources and ignoring the other 90% of the map like most RTS games, BFME2 has resource collection spread across the entire map.The more you control, the more money you get.Factions have been completely re-balanced to accomodate this -- in BFME1, the human teams could not match Mordor in an open land war but in BFME2, they can.They need to, if they want any money!Singleplayer:
BFME2 covers portions of the war that were not covered by the movies.The first mission of the Good Campaign has you fighting off Goblins around Rivendell, for example.

Single player has 4 options:
- Skirmish, the usual you-vs-computer battle mode.
- Good Campaign.
- Evil Campaign.
- War of the Ring.This is a new and improved version of the "living world map" they had in the first game.They fleshed it out and now it's more like a free-form game of LOTR Risk.You and the other players start off in various sections of middle earth and conquer the map any way you choose.Battles can be resolved RTS style or automatically (Civilization style) and this mode also has multiplayer support (one War of the Ring game could take a very long time if you resolve every battle in RTS mode!)Playable sides:
- Dwarves.Dwarven units tend to be slow but tough.They aren't big on cavalry but their infantry is very good.They gather resources with mines and they can also use these mines for travelling -- enter one mine and pop out at any other mine, anywhere on the map!This gives dwarves a good ability to hold ground once they've taken it.

- Goblins.Similar to dwarves in that they can build mines and use them for travel.Goblins are a "spamarific" species, though, with a lot of large batallions of inexpensive but brittle troops.They do, however, have some very, very fast units and are excellent for hit-and-runs.

- Mordor.Not entirely unlike the Mordor from BFME1, but minus the free troops.Mordor has poor defenses and plays best as a very aggressive team.As Mordor, you need to push your opponet early and keep pushing while you upgrade to better units and work on more resources.Mordor lacks the mobility of the goblins and dwarves and lacks the speed of the elves but they do have a great ability to flood the map with orcs.

- Isengard.Similar to the Isengard from the first game, you rely more on strong infantry with strong upgrades.Similar to Mordor, this is a good team for someone who likes to take a strong offensive.Warg Riders give Isengard some good cavalry but it's usually the Uruks that form the real destructive force of any army.

- Elves.Elves are fast on their feet with especially good archers.They can be played offensively or defensively with pretty good effectiveness.Try to use your fast feet to keep the enemy pinned in while you build up for the kill, or play defensive and work on leveling up some of your powerful archer heroes.

- Men of the West.This team is basically Gondor + Rohan from the original game.Human infantry is pretty strong, especially in shield-wall mode and they can do a good job of soaking up damage while your archers do the real hurting.Humans also have pretty much the best cavalry in the game, making them quite lethal at either hit-and-runs, or for backing up a strong infantry army.Other new stuff:
This game adds "stances" and some new unit powers.Stances allow all units in the game to decide if they want extra damage at the expense of lower armor, or higher armor at the expense of lower damage, or a balance.Human Swordsmen in the defensive stance with shield wall activated are extremely tough.If an enemy is banging on your buildings and ignoring your units, set your units to aggressive stance and teach them a lesson.Conclusion:
All of this adds up to become what is, I suggest, possibly the best RTS game ever made and I've played a lot of them.

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Product Description:
Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II gives you a chance to experience all that Middle-Earth was meant to be. Delve deeper than ever before into the fictional world of Tolkien, as you wage war in the North. Assume command of the most storied civilizations in all of Middle-earth history, the Elven and Dwarven armies -- or if you prefer, fight on the side of Evil to aid Sauron in his conquest. Fight with or against heroes and creatures that have never been seen in The Lord of the Rings films! Control battles with all-new enemy AI, melee combat, and unprecedented tactical fidelity Build anywhere brings creativity and strategy to base building and battlefield dominance Control the entire war with a high level Risk style meta-game Larger-than-life naval battles

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