Customer Reviews

The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth

5 star:		(88)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

The game has incredible graphics, I'll definitely give it that. EA had to write some new music to match the game better, but it blends seamlessly with the existing movie soundtracks. Loading times aren't too bad either, and are usually accompanied by a small introction to your upcoming mission.

Gameplay itself is very fun. At first when I heard about the minimized interface, I got a little nervous because I was worried about not having enough control over the units. To some extent this is true, but I've found it doesn't actually get in the way as much as I thought it would. For the most part it serves the purpose I believe EA intended - the player spends less time staring at the bottom of the screen and more time focusing on the battles.

The forces are fairly balanced for the most part. For example, a batallion of Rohan cavalry can be a serious force to reckon with against archers or infantry, but if they come across some Isengard pikemen they'll have met their match. Mumakil can do all kinds of damage, but aren't so strong against archers armed with the flame arrow upgrade. A lot of people say that Mordor is a little bit weaker than the other forces, and I'd have to agree to some extent. However, some good strategy can make up for it. Likewise, Gandalf can be a little too powerful once he reaches the higher levels of veterancy, but there are counters against him as well.

The one thing that really bugs me about the game is the population cap. In the movies, the armies are huge. By having a limit of 200 or 300, you can only have 20 to 30 batallions. That's really not so much, and definitely not enough to recreate to any degree the enormous battles of the movies. Fortunately, there are ways that more advanced users can raise the population cap, but it's still a very annoying thing to have to deal with.

Overall, this is a wonderful game. I would recommend it to anyone, even for the rather high price. Nevertheless, don't expect this game to completely give you large-scale feel of the battles in any of the movies.

EDIT**: I've been playing the game for several days now, and I can say that it has lived up to all of my expectations (see preview below). While you can't control as mnay troops as in Rome:Total War (we may need to look for a LOTR mod in the future), BFME has its own little niche, and it's a very nice one at that. Inevitably the comparison to RTW will be made, but these are two very different games. In RTW, you can control thousands of low-poly troops, but in BFME, you control hundreds of very high poly soldiers, each with very detailed animations and emotions. Yes, the emotions are a nice part of the game.

The graphics are beautiful- they really bring the Middle Earth world to life, especially with the settings maxed out. Howard Shore's score also adds a great side to the game, with some additional remixing that sounded quite good. Voice acting was also pretty good, although you can tell in some parts that they didn't really use Viggo for Aragorn.

Gameplay; I like the new use of veterancy, which puts a crimp on players who rush to build every single building possible, and just pump out units. Cavalry in the game is very powerful, so you'll need to group your men into the right formation. Formations do give some help in BFME, although flank attacks and tactical maneuvers are unheard of, unlike RTW. All the battles are faithfully recreated, including a mission to defend the fellowship and Lothlorien from marauding Moria orcs (one of the scenes cut from the extended edition of FOTR). The Helms Deep mission is fantastic- it brings all the rigor, stress, and excitement as portrayed in the movie and books.

The heros are a hoot to use; especially Gandalf, who seems a bit overpowered. A pity the completed Sauron model cannot be played, and in general, it seems that the forces of Evil have fewer Heros than the forces of Light.

The single player campaign missions are very delightful; you can basically replay the steps of the Fellowship or of the Dark Lord, but of course with your own little additions. The multiplayer maps are wonderful, with maps taken from all the geographical locations in middle earth.

Conclusion: A very enjoyable RTS game, that fully immerses you into the ME universe. My only gripe is that the Command Points threshold is set too low, but you can mod the particular file to change that. However, the low command points number was probably set at that level to prevent gameplay lag; at the Battle of Care Andros, with several hundred troops on screen (and despite have 1 gb of PC-4200 ram) I experienced some lagging effects. Sprint, don't run to get your copy NOW! What are you doing wasting time reading my review? Get it! :P
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To say that Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth looks amazing would be an understatement; it looks fantastic and unbelievably good! I am highly anticipating its release on November 15th, and based on what the EA team has shown us thus far, it looks like all of their hard work has come to fruition. Based on an upgraded version of the C&C: Generals engine, LOTR:BFME brings you into the Middle Earth universe in glorious 3-D, with the capability to zoom-in onto the battlefield for those intense hand-to-hand melees. Of course, there will be those detractors who suggest that BFME is nothing but Generals ported into Middle Earth; in some ways, that's true. A lot of the great features of Generals are retained in BFME, and then some. The EA team has added unique touches, as well as a greater emphasis on tactics, rather than the massed tank rushes that most RTS players are used to. In addition, there are a multitude of unique features and immersive environments that make BFME really come alive.

First, the maps and general gameplay. Gone is the traditional style of RTS with big menus that take up the lower half of your screen. In its place is a context-driven menu, which takes up far less space, and allows the player to bask in the beauty of the BFME engine. It looks extremely intuitive; by clicking on a building, 6-7 options will form in a circle around your cursor, allowing you to just move the mouse slightly to select an option. Base building appears to consist of 6-7 buildings built on pre-fabbed sites inside a protective wall, with additional buildings being allowed to be built outside of the wall. Each of the buildings is true to the movie, and conceived in enormous detail that really lends to the atmosphere. For instance, the Orc slaughterhouse, Orc pits, Warg ranges, and Gondorian archery range. Zooming into the slaughterhouse, you can see the orc butcher cackle with glee and rub his hands together as he whistles for a cow to come up the ramp. He kills it, and carries the steak to hang on a rack outside. Or in the pits, you can see the head Orc prodding the mud with his rod, bringing up a `baby' Orc/Uruk-Hai that slides down the ramp and gets a sword and trudges out. Or at the Warg range, you see an orc clamber onto a Warg, and walk out of a corral. At the Gondorian archery range, the splendid architecture of the once Numenorians is visible in the smallest bricks. You can actually see Gondorian longbow men practicing inside the courtyard, shooting at targets and such. You can play as Rohan or Gondor or Mordor or Isengard; not sure about the Easterlings though.

Second, the units are true to the movie and fashioned in great detail. Buildings can be upgraded with earned points to achieve veterancy and thus pump out more advanced units. The Gondorian archery range can produce regular longbow men, but as the building is upgraded, it can produce say Faramir's rangers (which are a bit like the American pathfinders in C&C: Generals), and what look like upgraded rangers with stealth ability. The Gondorian barracks can produce regular footsoldiers on level 1, but when upgraded to level 2 and above, can procure the more elite Fountain guards. The forces of evil are generally like the Chinese in Generals; infantry is either really cheap, or free, and orcs are continually coming out of the pits with no extra help from the player. There are of course, hero units as well! Units seen so far include Gandalf, Eomer, Theoden, Faramir, and Aragorn. No word yet on evil heroes.

Third, the EA team has decided to add a bit more of a tactical element than was present in Generals. While a group of Gondorian infantry can easily defeat a horde of orcs, (and when they do win, they break out into cheers, thus giving a +1 to their attack), they run away or quake in their boots at the mere sight of a mountain troll picking up a tree to smash them into the ground. That fear subtracts a -1 from their attack. Even the elite Fountain guards with their pikes are no match for the mountain troll and his ad hoc tree-club. But you can group your men into having the archers stand on the inside, while surrounded by Fountain Guards, and thus easily take down a troll. It also looks like you can fully recreate the sieges at Helms Deep and Minas Tirith, and play on the Fields of Pelennor.

Fourth, one item that is a nice carry-over from Generals is what appears to be Generals points. If playing as Mordor, and you kill 100 Gondor soldiers, your catapaults can fire the heads of those unfortunate men at your enemies for an added attack bonus. Or, you can call in Eagles or Nazgul to pick up hapless infantry and dash them into the ground. Probably the most interesting Generals unit is the Balrog, which looks extremely powerful at the moment. Not only can he stomp around and crush the peons, but he can crush a unit into ashes, shoot fireballs from his mouth, and with his very appearance, burn everything around him to a crisp.

If you're a fan of the movies and RTS games, this is definitely one game that you do NOT want to miss! Place your pre-order today! And no, I'm not a plant, just an overly excited fan with too much time on his hands.

Before receiving Battle For Middle Earth this Christmas Eve (gotta love that darling girlfriend), I had read quite a few dismal reviews for it. In case you've read the same BS, I'm going to attempt to clear some things up for you so the nay-sayers don't bump you away from a great game. So.... The biggest complaints people have had about BFME are:

1. Not enough unit types
2. No strategy

Heh. Wrong and wrong. ---- First off: There are plenty of units spread out between the four playable races in Battle For Middle Earth. If people have a problem with exactly how many units are in the game, they should take it up with Tolkien Enterprises and not the game's developers. EA was only allowed to play off of characters that were in the movies. And I'd say they did a damn good job mustering all they could with a limited rights license. // Mordor and Isengard are crawling with different units, but low on heroes. Gondor and Rohan may not be the most well rounded when it comes to troop variations, but let me tell ya: Gondor has Gandalf (his powers are truly awesome to behold in this game ) and then Rohan is chock full of heroes. They have Theoden, Eowyn, Merry, Eomer, Gimli, Aragorn, and Legolas. So it all evens out. I don't care who says what about 'shortage of units'. - They're all there. There are plenty of formations and combinations to try when it comes to the troop equation.

The second blundering re re misconception that some reviewers have had, is the whole "Yeah it looks cool, but it's light on strategy" tripe. Dear reader, please listen: This game has every bit as much strategy as Rome: Total War, Age of Mythology, or the beloved Warcraft III. These three aforementioned titles are the games that people keep comparing BFME to when complaining about what they deem to be "lack of strategy." In BFME, you need to use the same kind of strategies that you would use in R:TW, Warcraft, or Age Of etc. - You need to strategically choose which troops to attack which sortie with, you need to choose where and when to use magical abilities, you need to balance your base between fortification and upgrades, you need to decide when to launch severe assaults and when to buckle down and build up, you need to put your troops in different formations for different attacks, and you need to decide when and how to expand throughout the map and take various outposts in order to attain more resources etc. I don't know about you but I'm seeing plenty of strategy here. I`ve even heard several geniuses say, "Yeah, well in R:TW you can flank, but in BFME you can't." **Attention** Just because Battle For Middle Earth doesn't have a fancy 'Flank Button,' doesn't mean that you don't use the technique of flanking. God forbid if everything isn't pre-programmed for these people. Its called Move your troops around your enemy with queued mouse clicks, and then hit them from the side or behind. Not exactly rocket science. And, I'm sorry, but what the hell is so strategic about Warcraft 3? - You fight using large forces of troops supplemented with magical abilities... gee, that sounds familiar... It's the formula for just about every RTS game that's ever been made. BFME follows this formula too and it's a lot of fun. And BFME is also the first RTS game I've ever seen to successfully employ a fun siege feature. In BFME, you'll find yourself holing up in your base with an opening and closing gate while the enemy tries to scale the walls and knock in the doors with battering rams etc. You need to place defenses on your walls, man it with archers, and choose when to open up and bring the fight to your foes. Now I have to say, on EA's part, they did some damn fine designing there. And most importantly: they made it FUN.

The game's graphics, as I'm sure you've heard, are great. The only thing you need to worry about there is updating your drivers, getting the patch that's coming out in January, and not cranking your settings too high. This game is a resource hog. I'm playing it on a Pentium 4, 3.0ghz cpu with 512mb 2700 ram and a geforce fx5200 card. I have it on 1024 resolution with the detail set to medium. It looks great and it runs great. Even though my computer meets and exceeds the requirements, the frame rate gets demolished in the bigger battles if your settings are too high. So that's something to keep in mind. But even so, on medium setting, there is nothing to complain about. Gorgeous and fun effects. Gee, there's that word fun again.

The sound/music is great too. Top notch. The din of battle is great in this game. Clanging, thudding, explosions, cheering and screaming etc. They really did a great job of capturing that chaotic clamor of the movie battles. - And the music is pulled straight from the films as well, so you know it's awesome. Remember in The Two Towers when Gandalf arrives with Eomer at Helm's Deep and they charge down the hill into the waiting sea of Uruks? Well the really beautiful and bittersweet sounding song that's played at that part in the film is called Forth Eorlingas. What's cool, is that in BFME, you'll be charging into battle and that song will come on... you know - the long drawn out and eerily beautiful vocals? Yeah, well, that song will sometimes start to play as you charge towards the enemy ranks throughout the game. It is rather chuff and inspiring, if I may say. This game is fun and oddly moving in a way. Especially if you're big into the films. Nicely done.

As for the actual gameplay: You traverse the storyline from the side of good or evil and follow the events of the movies. But the cool thing here is, you get to play ancillary (secondary or extra) battles where you get to build up armies and villages and fight skirmishes. The storyline from the film is played out in full, but interspersed with all sorts of fun additional battles along the way. BFME is a long game. There is at least 20-30 hours of gameplay here with the storyline alone. And after you complete the story modes, you get to go back and fight skirmishes with the AI and also with other LOTR geeks like myself, online.

BFME is a fun ride. You get to relive 3 great movies through some great RTS action/gameplay. Plenty of strategy and plenty of fun. Lots and lots of fun. Once again EA proves to us that it's possible to take a massive movie license and make a great game out of it. Anyways, take my word for it: This game does not disappoint. Order this bad boy and go have yourself a bloody-guts good time in Middle Earth.

Beware: should you decide to sit down in front of this one, you may not be seen for a while! It is that easy to get lost in this game. Everything is wonderful with it...well, almost.

The graphics are fantastic. Gandalf fights using the same manuvers as he did in the movies. Rocks thrown by the Hobbits arc as they near their targets. Orcs run with a limp. It's amazing. The opening scene of the game is remarkable in the way it copies the opening battle of LOTR:FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING. I read in another review that you can actually see orcs butcher cattle in the Mordor slaughterhouse, though I haven't seen it myself (of course, my computer is outdated by a few years).

The game interface is well done. Controls are point and click. The instruction manual accompanying the game is well written and the game also offers a tutorial.

The campaign mode is the hidden treat. I have not completed the Mordor/evil campaign, but it does allow a look at an alternate ending to the events of LOTR. The 'Good' campaign is a blast. Each character from the movie is featured (well, kind of. Worm-tongue and Bilbo are absent, as is Lord Elrond) and can be utilized. Characters are allowed to gain special abilities as they increase in rank. The game does allow a little too much towards the abilities of Gandalf and Aragorn; Gandalf gains the ability to use 'Word Power' at level 10 (essentially the language of Mordor's effects, as seen in the extended LOTR:FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING) and Aragorn can summon up the army of the undead at will once he reaches level 10 (unlike the movie, where he got one shot at it). There are other liberalizations made with characters abilities, but all are done in the name of game play.

The Battle/skirmish mode is more like a fantasy version of Age of Empires or Cossacks. Start with a base, gather resources and kill all who are not your allies. fun, but gets reptitive. It's not quite the mad-rush from AoE or Age of Kings, but it's on that level. A plus is that the heroes from the campaign modes can be 'purchased' using resources. Gandalf, Sauramon, Aragorn, Gimli...even Gollum and the Nazgul are available.

Spells/powers are gained in both the skirmish and campaign modes through victory in combat. Each respective discipline (good or evil) has their own set of powers/spells that can be obtained this way, starting with basic abilities and working up to interventions by allies (Rohan, Elves, Eagles, Ents, and the Army of the Undead for the 'good' guys; basically the Balrog is your only ally for the forces of Evil and he is VEEEEERRRRRRYYY expensive, though worth it). One bummer is that pwers must be purchased in sequence. You can't just save up your points and get a Balrog without first getting the lesser powers (same with the good team. You can't just get the Army of the undead without jumping through the other hoops first).

I have read that some have been unable to run this program on their computers. I'm using a circa 2001 Compaq Pressario with a Pentium4 1.5 gig, 384 MB SyncDram, and an ATI Radeon 9600 video card and have had no problems to date (although it takes a few minutes for my computer to 'dump' this game before I can check e-mail or use the internet after playing).

The price is finally coming down on it, so save your gas money: stay home and play this instead!

For the record, I do own this game. I purchased it this afternoon, the first day it was available in stores. Just to let you know that I'm not copying a publisher's review from EA's Web site like some people seem to be doing....

Anyways, you're here to read a review of the game, so here is mine. The Battle for Middle Earth seems to be the first successful project to bring Command & Conquer/Age of Empires-esque style gameplay to the Realm of Tolkien. Personally I wasn't very impressed with War of the Ring. It seemed to have been put together in a relatively short period of time and I don't believe it lived up to many people's expectations. However, BFME promises to be the LoTR RTS game that we all expected it to be.

Although the game's appearance at first glance calms the devout RTS player, the game does introduce new (haven't yet decided whether they're better or not) gameplay functions and strategies. The first and most glaring difference is the fact that there are no builders. Instead, there are a small number of construction sides located around your central citadel upon which you may construct your buildings. This can become annoying because of the limited space, and somewhat forces the player into either an economic or militaristic mode very quickly. I was somewhat relieved when I discovered that you can capture new citadel points around which you can build another castle with yet more building plots, but you still have much less freedom than you're probably used to.

I have also failed to run across or build the massive armies that the game description boasts of. Because of the limited building plots, it is difficult to gather enough resources while training a decent-sized army. I believe the campaign battles are going to be the biggest battlefields you will find, because the armies have been pre-assembled, and there is no need to attempt to balance military and economy.

Both of these characteristics seem to be contributors to EA's attempt at altering the face of RTS games. Indeed, the game's design does make it difficult to hoard, mass, and attack, like we're all used to by now, and instead puts more emphasis on strategy, careful unit/structure production, and defense.

Many people are probably looking at this game mostly for the single-player campaigns which are based off of the movies. My impression of the campaigns was not as favorable as I had expected. The initial feeling of excitement when seeing digital Middle Earth for the first time quickly wears off after breezing through the first few scenarios. Each of the heroes you control has at least one special power, and it is very difficult to make use of them when you have 9 in the same room. Nevertheless, the heroes (especially in the Fellowship) are so strong that it really doesn't make a difference, you still slaughter the enemy. Even the Moria Balrog doesn't seem to be able to kill Gandalf. Also, you are given very little freedom to explore in places like Moria. You are given a set path to follow and the camera only follows that path, which I found quite disappointing. It felt like EA tried to turn it into a FPS leading me around like they did.

My last point of contention is the fact that the unit graphics seem rough and unfinished compared to the environment. All the trees, water, grass, etc, is wonderfully rendered and animated, but the units still look like unrendered polygons. It's not a big deal, but I would have expected them to spend a little more time with the units.

Pros:
*A great RTS-style LoTR game, what more can you ask for?
*Environment graphics really immerse you in Middle Earth
*Combines the core RTS gametype of C&C/AOE with the heroes, unit levels, and spells/powers of Warcraft III

Cons:
*Strategy can be difficult for experienced RTS players to figure out
*There aren't that many different units
*No Elven civilization


Overall, great game, I am impressed with what EA was able to turn out and believe it will meet or exceed most people's expectations.

BUT I HAVE!!! I was at Comic-Con 2k4 (San Diego, CA) last month and I got a chance to play the alpha version of Battle for Middle Earth!!! Suffice to say, the alpha version was enough to give this game 5 stars.

The game is beatiful, from the "living world" map of Middle Earth where you select your campaign, to the siege ladders flying up the walls to Helm's Deep. The circle interface is interesting, where you click on a build site and a ring of icons pops up, enabling you to select a building quickly.

The graphics are amazing for this game, as many have seen from the trailers and downloads. Watching a Nazgul rider swoop down and smash Gondor catapults and hurl pesky Gondorian archers will easily distract you from the economic portions of gameplay. No wonder EA tried to make as much of the screen show the fun battles and less of the old boring micromanagement interface.

Besides the fun and amazing units, the buildings are just as much fun! At slaughterhouses, you watch an orc lug hunks of meat (quickly) out of a now dead cow. At your orc-making buildings, you select whether you want archers or footsoldiers, then watch the free orcs walk right out of the big spawning pit.

At the siege of Osgiliath, one of the two playable levels, my trolls kicked away Gondorian footmen and my orc footsoldiers swarmed over knights and archers. Annoying defensive towers were quickly dispatched by masses of catapults and flaming stones.

At Helms Deep, I watched my troops get slowly beat down by masses upon masses of Uruk-Hai. It was a relief when the timer got to 0:00 and Gandalf charged in and turned the tides.

Despite all the "goodness" of this game, I did have a few gripes about it. Firstly, you aren't told the HP of your orcs, probably because your supply of orcs never drops below 400 or 500. Secondly, the unit management interface is very difficult to use becuase right clicking on enemy soldiers will not cause your men to attack right away. Thirdly, the unit emotion block was not installed yet, but I did hear Gondorian footmen jeering at my catapults (big mistake). Fourthly, I couldn't really utilize the "living world" innovation where trolls pick up trees and more. Lastly, having so many troops makes it pretty difficult to pull off massive troop advancements. In the siege of Osgiliath, when I tried slam 700 orcs and trolls past the main bridge, they got bogged down and could barely move. I later figured out, that I had to utilize all three bridges (which were heavily guarded by pesky little archers) to pull off the big "push."

Despite the big hunk of grumbles about the game, I'm sure much of it will be fixed for the delivery package. I pre-ordered this game as soon as I got back home from the exceptionally crowded Comic-Con (good thing it was Friday and not Saturday, or I'd never have been able to play this game :D). I can't wait for November 15th, but I did wait out my hour to sit like a mindless comp zombie in front of a computer (I was planted there for over two and a half hours so the booth runner guy asked if I would stop playin' so others could have a chance :). I was nice about it and he gave me a really tight BFME T-shirt with a nice picture of a troll carrying a tree on the front and the game logo on the back).

I was very excited to get Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth, as this was the game I had dreamed about for years. Being a fan of both the Lord of the Rings books and movies, as well as being an avid strategy gamer set my standard high. Fortunately, Battle for Middle-Earth met and exceeded my expectations.
Battle for Middle-Earth makes excellent use of its license. The creatures and locations of Middle Earth are brought to life with beautiful graphics and unit emotions. Unit emotions are something rarely seen in RTS (Real Time Strategy) games, but Battle for Middle-Earth does them excellently. Your soldiers will cheer after winning a fight and cower when facing a huge monster. This is very cool and really helps to bring the world to life. The heroes of Middle Earth are constantly present, leading your troops and shouting lines from the movies. As you progress in the game, powerful monsters like Balrogs and the Army of the Dead enter the fray. The sound is the best part of the game; I am constantly turning the volume up, just so I can get the full effect. Battle for Middle-Earth truly deserves the Best Sound of the Year award it received from IGN.com.
Battle for Middle-Earth has multiple game modes including: campaign, skirmish, and online multiplayer. One interesting feature of the campaigns is that you can play as good or evil. Yes, you can play Sauron and command orc legions to pillage Middle Earth. This may be offensive to some, but the game does not force you to play evil and on the flip side playing the good campaign is exactly the opposite morality wise. The most offensive thing I encountered was that on one map, playing as evil, one of the bonus objectives was to hunt down and kill all the refugees. Yet being consistent with the good-vs.-evil world of Middle Earth, on one of the maps playing as a good faction, one of the bonus objectives was to rescue all the refugees. All in all, the game provides a very clear view of good and evil and their respective results.
The campaign is a mixture of plot battles and freeform play. You can pick a territory of Middle-Earth to conquer or defend, and then fight a battle in that location.. No matter which side you play, you will have to play several scripted battles from the Lord of the Rings storyline. But the game doesn't explain the plot so it helps a lot to know the story.
Skirmish games are only one map and can be played using any of the four factions in the game: Gondor, Rohan, Isengard, or Mordor. All four factions play very differently, and none have an advantage. User created maps can be used in skirmish or multi-player games. One skirmish takes about 30 min. to an hour. A campaign may take well over 20 hours.
Battle for Middle-Earth is very beginner friendly. It eliminates many complex features that confuse beginner RTS players, without removing from the gameplay. Like most RTS games Battle for Middle-Earth is based on battles. There is no blood, and it is very rare to have human vs. human combat. Yet due to the violent nature of battles it might be better to keep young children away from this game. Although, this is the least offensive RTS game I have ever played.
Over all I find Battle for Middle-Earth to be an excellent game. It has huge potential for reply, and a quick learning curve. It's a must for any Lord of the Rings fan.

This game is probably the best of the Lord of the Rings series so far.
It has many selections on what to do, including missions for Evil or Good (your choice) and a normal game if you don't want to use the storyline.
Most make you finish everything, so you must fight for you life.
This game is very complete with the storyline and has a couple additional enemies, which is great.
You need to think hard and play hard to beat this game.
It is great for RTS beginners too. Compared to games like Warcraft, this comes easy.
The problems I have are that you can only have at max 300 soldiers (which is enough considering you must control them), but in the movies, there were 10,000 and 300 is nothing compared to that.
Also, some missions require you to live for a certain amount of time, which is far too easy.
The game may seem too short once you finish one whole storyline (6-8 hours), but just use the other side (Good or Evil) and you will have a harder time because of adjusting and completely new strategies, which is nice.
This game is very fun and I recommend it to anyone.

However, the complaints I made may be solved in the newest game:

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

If you are a hardcore Lord of the Rings, pick up this game and don't miss out. The newest game will come out later, so have your fun with this classic!

Hope this helps. =D

I'm not much of a gamer. The sum total of my PC gaming experience is Diablo, Diablo II, South Park, and Lords of the Realm II. In other words, I'm hardly an expert on RTS games, as Lords of the Realm II is Romper's Room compared to this.

If not for my interest in the world of Tolkien, and the terrific reviews this game received (other games based on the movies or books received less than favorable reviews), I probably would never have played a RTS game. My brain, wired as it is, simply doesn't manage a million things at once very well. When I tell my archers to shoot at something, and then swing over to another part of the battle to manage my knights or guards, I expect them to move into position and shoot. Well, silly me, I need to move them into position so that they can shoot - sometimes. Most often they move themselves into position, so I haven't quite figured that out yet.

Anyway, this game exceeded my expectations. The graphics are extraordinary, the images straight out of the movie, and the background music a welcome accompaniment to those who enjoyed it in the films (I did).

This game blends an interesting amount of RPG and RTS together - the RTS being much more predominant, but the fact that there are a few RPG quests thrown in makes for an interesting break in the action, and more than a dose of reality, for the story isn't simply the story of a few battles.

One reviewer said that Gandalf seemed ridiculously powerful in this game, and I have to disagree. Pardon the history lesson: Gandalf and Sauron are both part of the same order, they are Maia. Sauron fell from grace in an age long past, and Gandalf was sent by those higher than he and Sauron to help the people of Middle Earth in their fight against Sauron. For those who don't know this, Saruman was of this order as well, but his lust for power, and the unfortunate placement of one of the Palantir in Isengard "turned him", so to speak. Given that Gandalf and Sauron are relative equals, Gandalf is most certainly not overly powerful here. OK, perhaps it might take more than a shaft of light from his staff to conquer a Nazgul, but as he was "uncloaked", and is now fully revealed on Middle Earth (picture an angel tossing aside a disguise) it's not too far from the truth. Or the truth as Tolkien would know it.

I *immensely* enjoyed using Gandalf's "Istari Light" (kind of a weak name for that power, but an acceptable one) on the Nazgul. In fact, the main reason I lost Minas Tirith the first time around was that I was having too much fun riding Gandalf out to pick off the Nazgul, and chuckling when their steeds tried to pick him and throw him around like they did other knights.

My only complaint is what I consider rather poor documentation. As noted, I'm hardly an experienced gamer, but Lords of the Realm II, which was so much easier, had more than four times the amount of documentation, and suggestions on actions. I was absolutely lost, even after reading the manual, on several points, as I just didn't understand what each thing meant to me. There are also some inconsistencies in the manual (for example, leaving out Gondor's "Keep" structure) that were taken care of on EA's website. Still, even on their website, more information would have been nice. For experienced gamers, this probably wasn't a problem. For me, a first time RTS gamer, it was a bit difficult to puzzle my way around it.

I got this game for Christmas and I have to say that's it's just insanely addictive! It's TONS of fun! It's sort of like Warcraft III, but with the Lord of the Rings characters, so you have about a dozen or so heroes from the story at your disposal as you make your way through Middle Earth and witness the story unfold.

You can play as either Gondor and Rohirim or Isengard and Mordor. The "skirmish" gameplay (solo or multiplayer) is quite fun, but the campaigns....wow. I got about 3 hours of sleep last night because I couldn't put it down. I mean, you get to the battle at Minas Tirith and how do you simply go "ok, time for bed"? I don't think so... By the way, it took me a good 20 hours of gameplay just to GET to the battle at Minas Tirith.

And the detail - watch as your rangers hide in the woods and ambush the enemy, or as the Oliphant (Mumakil) falls and crushes nearby troops, or as the mountain trolls bat at opposing forces and your troops literally just go flying across the screen!

The actual actors voices from the films also makes the game that much more enjoyable. It's sort of like experiencing the movie on your own all over again.

I haven't played a computer game this much fun in years. I highly recommend it.