"The battle for Helm's Deep is over; the battle for Middle-earth is about to begin"

Ever since I watched the first Lord of The Rings movies directed by Peter Jackson, I was not only overly impressed with the storyline and cast of characters brought to life from Tolkien's work, but also of the famous battles that were shown on screen in such detail. I always hoped that a gaming company would take the armies of Middle Earth and put it into a "Total War" type of gameplay on a large scale. Battle For Middle Earth 2 does that and more than what I could have possibly expected.

Gameplay (9/10): Unlike most other typical RTS games of where you build a base for resource gathering, Battle For Middle Earth 2 focuses more on the concept of building armies and battling it out on the open field. Resource gathering is strictly simply in a number of ways. Each side has their own style of gathering resources. Men of the West, Dwarves, and Elves, uses Farms while Isengard, Goblins, and Mordor, use lumber mills and slaughterhouses. Each placement of these buildings has a percentage that shows how efficient your resources would be gathered at. Not only does this give you a steady amount of resources, but it also increases your command points. Command Points allow recruitment of forces that you can control during any one time. However, for whatever reason, it is made somewhat difficult to field a larger force near the thousands during a regular match because of constant production of resource buildings. Unit recruitment is also extremely simple and uses a liner tech tree of upgrades and bonuses for each side. From Guardians, Lancers, Gondor Soldiers, to Uruk-hai, Berserker's, Warg Riders, and even the massive, Mumakils, unit diversity is extremely selectable and plentiful for each faction. Unit morale can also play an important role of which troops rout due to heavy fighting or being completely outnumbered, it's a nice feature within the Middle Earth universe. Grouping units and ordering them into battle is easy and effective. Formation use also plays a huge factor against various enemies. Uruk-hai, for example, are able to form a shield of spikes against enemy calvary units, and prevent them from being outflanked. Finally, the ability to recruit various hero's include those that have not been seen in the movies and are only in Tolkien's work . Some add bonuses for fighting abilities while others actually do the opposite against enemies while boosting allied units at the same time. The ability to create a new hero from scratch is nicely detailed and thought out though it is usually one of those features that you really like messing around in. Unlike in Battle For Middle Earth, building placement can be placed anywhere during a game. Naval Combat ships are available on both sides to duel it out on the seas of Middle Earth and remain of my favorite features within this game. The only drawback of the gameplay is the ability to produce thousands of units on screen at once. Command cap is more of a restriction of how many units you can have because the developers were worried about massive lag online or off, though if you want to have thousands of units, it can be obtained through basic editing of the game itself...

Campaign (8/10): The storyline of both good and evil actual take place within the Northern areas of Middle Earth and some missions are depicted within the novel that might be unfamiliar for gamers. While starting the Good Campaign, you deal with the threat of Goblin and other enemy forces from the Misty Mountains while the Fellowship travels south. As for the Evil Campaign, it begins with the siege of Lorien in Dol Guldur. Faction hero's can be recruited within the campaign and are the bread and butter of your forces during battle. The only drawback is that the campaign can be a bit confusing when it uses material from the book, or remain difficult in terms of objectives. Otherwise, it can last you a few hours and has a nice replay value considering how you can play on both sides, but the shortcoming remains of the campaign length itself. War of the Ring makes it return in this game and is more of a "Risk" type of gameplay than what you would expect. General gameplay consists of you massing troops in various leaders and moving into territory in the Middle Earth universe. You can play on both good and evil, which is a nice change of pace so that you could literally play to save or destroy Middle Earth with the one ring. Similar to the Total War series, you can play a battle and control troops manual or allow it to become auto resolved based on yours and the AI's troop experience, heroes, and territory held at the time. Overall, War of the Ring is an excellent style of Risk gameplay though there can be a bit of repetitive or generic at times. Movement on the map seems somewhat difficult for even beginners and veterans alike.

Graphic (10/10): Wow, that's almost of what I can say while playing various skirmishes on both sides. Spells, unit attacks, and combat in general, is the high point of this game. You can zoom in as close as possible and see how detailed each unit is right down to their clothing or weaponry. Watching units clash during battle is greatly detailed and amazing to just sit back and watch. Environmental surroundings are beautifully detailed to leaves rusting or the gentle lap of water hitting the shores. Or Calvary smashing into enemy ranks and completely decimating them. One of my favorite animations is taking the Witch King of Angmar and attacking large groups of infantry during gameplay. The Witch King literally smashes into infantry to the detailed point of grabbing a few of them and releasing them onto the ground below. Sauron's attacks of whacking infantry and calvary units alike within the gameplay is so detailed, it'll remind you of the intro of the Battle of the Last Alliance in Lord of The Rings. There really is no complaints that I had in terms of overall graphics. Everything from destructible environments, to general battle combat, is top notch.

Sound (9/10): What can I honestly say about the sound in Battle For Middle Earth 2? It's practically flawless. Units chatter like their respectable counterparts in the movies and are top notch. Hero's are also held in high praised from an talent cast of actors and actresses. I felt that nothing felt generic or repetitive in terms during gameplay. Interesting enough is the sense of realism added within units during gameplay. For example, when a group of infantry soldiers are attacked by attack trolls, they literally scream out words of fright or commands to rally their men. Some even say, "Watch out! or Take it Down, Men!". Another example include when you use the Witch King of Angmar or the Ringwraiths, infantry cower in fright or scream realistically, "It's the Nazgul, take cover!". It honestly feels realistic to see and hear during gameplay. Finally, a narration inbetween missions within campaign are well voiced and documented.

Replay and Closing Comments: There is a nice multi player mode online that you can battle against other players. In terms of an actual replay value itself, I believe that the skirmishes and campaign are enough to play over and over again. Battle For Middle Earth 2 surpasses the original by leaps and bounds. Fans of the movies and novels should obtain this game and experience the Middle Earth universe through a large scale warfare between good and evil.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/03/08

Game Release: The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II (US, 03/02/06)