The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth Review

The evil campaign resembles the good one, as the goals and the principles are the same. You start off with Saruman who tries to defend Isengard from the Ents and the Rohirrim, helping him build an army bigger, scarier and uglier than sin (and, of course, "worthy of Mordor"). As expected, the forces of good and evil differ when buildings and units are concerned. I leave it to you to discover all the distinctions, so I'll only mention that in the game you are allowed to lead not only common units, but heroes as well. Every hero has a set of different special powers that can be used in the battle. While some are passive (like Eomer's leadership), some need to be clicked on in order to have some effect. The example for this may be Gandalf's ability to draw his flaming sword and send a shockwave through his enemies. Powers take time to recharge, so you'll have to bear that in mind when the going gets tough. Apart from having special powers, heroes can be trained, so the more they kill, the more experience they gain. As they gain levels, they will also gain new special powers that can come in handy during combat. The common units can level as well, so you'll want to keep as many of them alive as possible. After the completion of a mission, all the units you've trained are carried over to the next mission, which is a nice feature. What isn't so nice is the battle, which is sometimes headless and rather confusing, so it isn't always easy to see what's going on. Now if there is something I hate, it's confusing and messy battles. I hate it when I'm not able to do what I want in the very second I envisage it. (Play turn-based strategies or better yet, Rise of Nations. - Ed) Fortunately, the battle system is very simple, so at least it won't take you long to get proficient at commanding your units.

Someone's watching us, I can tell...

*whack* *smash* *boom* *hit* *miss*

Another thing that I feel I should mention are the two principle powers - the One Ring and the Evenstar. These powers are cumulative and with time they give you the ability to spend a certain amount of points on some special abilities which are useful in battle or in "everyday life." Of course, the more special an ability is, the more points it costs.

On the visual side, LotR: Battle for Middle-Earth looks really great. The environments and the buildings are very detailed, perfectly colored and sharp-looking, whereas every section of Middle-Earth has a distinct look which differentiates it from other parts of the land. It really felt like stepping into the movie and gazing around in wonder. As for the units, they are also all very distinctive-looking and rendered with a lot of detail and their animation is simply fantastic. I kept zooming in all the time in order to have a better view of my Rohirrim trampling down the miserable Orcs, admiring the way their sharp spears ended in the Orc warriors' backs. The battles are a sight to behold. They are visceral and spectacular in every way.

As for the sound, it is THX certified so that should clue you in as to its quality. The battle and ambient sounds are relatively varied, and the voices are superb, which is no surprise, as they belong to the stars of the trilogy. Naturally the same can be said about the game's (or should I say the trilogy's) superb soundtrack.

I know that you are now waiting for my final judgment on this game, but sadly, I may not have the answer for you. My fan girl-ness aside, let's examine the facts for a second: The Battle for Middle-Earth plays more like an interactive movie than a proper RTS game. It features fabulous graphics and a lot of original material from the movie. While it offers some interesting missions, it also features some which are no fun to play at all, so let's just say that the mission design is inconsistent. The building and battle system are intuitive and easy to manage, but I sometimes got the impression they were too simplified. On the other hand, the game rewards your performance, giving you certain bonuses depending on how well you've played. If you care enough to finish the game, you will definitely profit from it if you are a die-hard LotR fan. Sometimes the game feels exciting, and sometimes it is difficult to find the motivation as there is virtually no plot in there to unravel. What's even worse, there are some inconsistencies that I couldn't find any explanation for: Many people commented on the subject of heroes' death, which is handled as gracefully as the Elves' immortality (don't ask). When I first played the Moria mission, the stupid Balrog killed Gandalf and the game was over, but in some other instances I managed to kill heroes in battle only to find out I could revive them at a citadel. This brings more controversy than the matter of celibacy in the Christian church, so I'll keep my mouth shut about it and wonder in silence. *Wondering in silence.*

I'd better not ask myself if I would have liked this game if it hadn't been LotR-based. As it is, I liked this game in spite of all its downsides and inconsistencies and the absurd lack of a properly implemented story-driven single-player campaign. The missions force you to take care of your units as they will be carried over to the next one, but they are tied together rather loosely. Still, the game does feel exciting, and it is also quite long, so you'll spend a lot of hours battling for Middle-Earth and mutilating innumerable Orc battalions.

If you don't get enough in the single-player missions, there is also a skirmish mode where you can pick an army and a map and find yourself a new conflict to occupy your time with. Although in the battles I have played, it is a bit frustrating. Each side has a command cap that limits the number of units you can have under your command. Also, your bases have limited number of build points, so you have to decide which buildings you REALLY want because you can't build them all. This means you are forced to move outside your city walls to conquer other build points if you want access to all the units and upgrades. And since you have a unit build limit, it's a delicate balancing act keeping your settlements properly defended while moving into enemy territory to secure new ground. This makes for very slow progression across the map and long games unless you exploit the AI by building archers, upgrading their armor and flaming arrows and then just stand back and turn the advancing enemy into hedgehogs.

I see a lot of effort has been put into this title and most of that effort has been repaid. While this is a game worth playing, it definitely has some downsides that mar the otherwise interesting, but sometimes sloppy conception. The hurried lack of the story could have made those downsides less visible or more tolerable. But this is not the case.