Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth (1 Viewer)

[Jason Harbaugh]

So has anyone else been playing this RTS? I'm a huge fan of RTS games and as soon as seeing FOTR in theatres just knew that the LOTR universe was perfect for an RTS. Battle for Middle Earth does an excellent job of bringing the epic battles and characters to life.

The basic RTS elements are there with building units, getting resources (although all you need are farms or slaughter houses for the 'darkside') and destroying and taking over an enemies camp. It is very stripped down in comparison to Rise of Nations or Command and Conquer in terms of having to get multiple types of resources and the larger variety of characters and upgrades for units. Instead you get right into the action and start building units. What's nice about it is that you can build up units that carry over to other maps (if they survive) so you can have a batallions that continue to get stats. Also good to take on some of the easier maps and then when you build your army up you can take on the bigger maps like Minas Tirith.

All of the fellowship and major characters are also there and follow their respective paths. They also have their own special powers. You gain experience points throughout the game that you can use to purchase special upgrades that will be available in most maps, such as a button to call in the Army of the Dead or a group of Elvish archers, and best of all the Balrog.

What I really like most of all of this game is how well it recreates those major battles as shown in the movies. The battle at Helms Deep and Minas Tirith are done so well. The anticipation of the army coming while you are trying to get everyone into their positions. The arrival of reinforcements precisely when you need them. It all comes together so well. The battles can last for a couple hours as well. In Minas Tirith I was down to one single survivor hiding up on the upper levels as the armies started swarming the lower levels and I thought it was over, and then just who you were hoping would come, comes.

I've only been doing the good campaign so far and next up is the march onto the Black Gate, after I do some of the misc battles to build my armies back up. You can also do the evil campaign which I'll do next. There's also the typical online multiplayer or instant battles that you can setup and customize. And being and EA LOTR game, all of the characters are voiced by the actual actors.

A must have for anyone that is a LOTR fan and likes RTS games.

 

[Holadem]

Sounds interesting. I have stayed away from all the LOTR games so far, but this one seems to finally be worth it.

I'll check it out... when it drops to $20

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H

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

I've seen mixed reviews on this one - nice to see something really positive.

 

[Kraig Lang]

As a huge fan of Rise of Nations and Age of Empires, I was a little skeptical about this one, but as a huge fan of LOTR (), I had to give it a try.

I was pleasantly surprised. The game itself is not as deep as RoN or AoE, but it's engrossing and beautiful. Very faithful to the movies.

I particularly liked the Helms Deep mission, which as stated before, was hectic and entertaining. It took me about 5 tries to just get past it.

I highly recommend it if you want a little pleasure gaming and don't need a lot of micro-management.

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

Yeah Helms Deep was a bitch. After the second try and still getting my ass handed to me I found the secret:

Screw saving the wall and lower level. Lock the gates and get everyone up in the Keep. Put the archers on the walls up there and let them take out any groups that try to make it up. Gather some horsemen and every once in a while run out and trample those groups that are coming up the ramp. When I did that, it was a piece of cake.

I'll add, the attack on Isengard was also quite fun with controlling all of the ents.