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I bought the original Battle for Middle Earth within a week of its release and fairly enjoyed the game. However, the game experiance felt limited both by graphics and gameplay options. I wanted to be able to build anywhere I wanted, more units and sides available and a better graphics engine. When Battle for Middle Earth 2 arrived, it felt as if my wishes were granted. Even though the game could have still used a bit of improvements and at times felt a tad shallow, it entertained me for several hours. This game is also very fun to play online with surprising strategies available. I would like to give this game a 4.5/5, but there is none and this isn't by far the "Best Strategy Game Out There" so a 4 must do. I still highly recommend that if you are a strategy [RTS] game lover and a Lord of the Rings fan that you definately check this game out. My opinion is that it was well worth $40-$50, if you can find it for cheaper, go for it!Read full review
I have yet to play all the game modes but I have to say that this game is very good. The battles are just like your good old RTS, with resource gathering and base building. Something that RTS's seem to be moving away from, I think its great. Next is The War of the Ring mode, this is great. It is a mix between Total War's campaign map and the RTS game play, all set in Middle Earth. The map it self is awesome. So, with the campaign map you get to take land, this give give you X bonus, and on that land you can make X amount of buildings that will help you over all. This will mean moving your army's around and if you move into land were there is an enemy army then you can go into the RTS battle. You also have hero's and special abilities, much like WarCraft and Age of Mythology. You can even make your own hero, but I would have liked to see more options, many for the looks of your hero's. All your units can also level up that adds a nice mix to the game. I have only played for a few hours and am going to play some more right now, but so far this game is well worth getting. The only thing that bugs me is the camera view, can't zoom out as far as I would like, but that's nothing to get upset about :PRead full review
This is a very challenging and fun game. It has bigger battalion sizes and more room for customization than its predecessor, BFME 1, and the Create-a-Hero option makes for even more exciting gameplay. The build anywhere feature is also nice, allowing you to build wells, towers, and unit production structures right next to the enemy's base. I really liked the way it has Gondor and Rohan fused into a single faction. You can expand your command point limit without modding the game, so you can get enough troops to swarm the enemy and defend your base at the same time. There are features that let you select your entire army across the map and have it form up automatically in the most sensible arrangement. Furthermore, all the archers have a "bombard" feature, which allows them to shower arrows continuously on a specific location. However, there are no prebuilt walls, meaning the enemies can just rush you and destroy your buildings before you even have a couple of battalions of infantry. Also, the resource-generating structures need a HUGE area of free space around them to generate resources at 100%, so money doesn't add up fast enough to build up defenses before the enemy starts swarming you. You can build walls for some factions, but they're frightfully expensive and until you download the patches, enemy swordsmen can take them down. The game also lacks the charm of its predecessor, and with the new units and structures not based on the movies it seems less like Lord of the Rings and more like some other fantasy, with the Goblin and Dwarvish factions being particularly cheesy. Some people may not mind this, but being a die-hard LOTR fan I do. I still gave the game a rating of "good", though, because of its strategic features, the fact that the technical aspects which I didn't like can be fixed, and the fact that the game can be modified heavily. In fact I would have given it an "excellent" were it not for the game's departure from the story. Using an editor for .big files, you can edit the ini.big file to change things like health, cost, damage, and command point consumption of units and srtuctures. Reducing the FARM_MONEY_RANGE to 5 from 300 allows the farms to be built close together and still produce resources at 100%, and reducing the wall cost to 0 and the battle tower cost to 150 makes the game much more playable. After these changes and after boosting the damage, health and range of the heroes and archers, gameplay becomes infinitely better and more fun, much more fun than in BFME 1. So all in all I give this game a "good" rating and I recommend it. BFME 1 is really better for the "feel" of Lord of the Rings and for reliving the battles of the movies (in fact you can only play the Fellowship's journey from Moria to Mordor in BFME 1). But as for versatility, strategic options, challenge, and battle size, BFME 2 comes out on top.Read full review
Return to Middle-Earth with The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II for PC. In this sequel to the critically acclaimed The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth, the focus shifts to the North. With 3 new factions –- Elves, Dwarves, and Goblins -- players lead their armies to victory, with the aid of new heroes, weapons. Based on battles that were hinted at in the Tolkien books and film adaptations, this jam-packed sequel offers 16 new campaigns and 40 skirmish maps, guaranteeing months of exciting gameplay. Protect the Elven city of Rivendell from an invading Goblin army. Make those meddling Hobbits pay and destroy the Shire. Pros: I've read many forums giving this game praise. I can't stress enough, if you're an avid RTS gamer or have played them in the past, You need to pick up this game. It won't let you down! Even the single player is fun, as it takes stuff from the books that parallel what you see in the movies. This game is remarkably fun. I had my doubts at first, but the control scheme was setup very well and it hasn't lost my interest yet. Cons: Yes, the performance is a slow at times, but it's a very complex game, both visually and gameplay-wise... the fun factor far outweighs the performance slowdowns.Read full review
I love the graphics and immersion into the world of Middle Earth. It's a very enjoyable Real Time Strategy Game. The skirmish feature is great and allows up to 8 people to play. Cons: The game's campaigns are very short. There are only 8 missions per side, so it goes by fast. The "War of the Ring" part of the game doesn't allow more than 2 teams, so in multi-player only 2 human players are allowed. Overall it's a great game, but limited by the War of the Ring feature, which has huge potential that has never been given the chance, by the designers to be tapped.