"Unleash your hordes onto Middle-Earth."

The Battle for Middle-Earth allows you to take the armies of Middle-Earth and fight either for the freedom or downfall of Middle-Earth. Following the plot line of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, EA Games has transformed the world of Middle-Earth into a highly addicting and fun PC game that will please many Lord of the Rings and RTS fans.

Gameplay: The gameplay is easy to learn and easy to remember. When controlling an army going into battle, you start out with a castle to form your base in the current location. You build structures that produces resources so you may buy the buildings to train your troops and produce armor and weaponry. Your objective is to destroy your enemy's camp and citadel, removing them from the battle and giving your army victory.

Battle for Middle-Earth offers your 3 ways to fight: relive (or change) the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the campaign, fight in skirmish mode, and battle online. Campaign allows you to relive the movie moments, and can even allow you to change them (such as a hero falling in the movie, but you make it so that his life continues). Skirmish allows you to take your preferred army and play against up to seven computer controlled races. Finally, Multiplayer allows you to take you skills and tactics and use them on players from around the world online.

My only complaint about the gameplay is that there is no army manager or battle manager. Without these, you may be scouting with a calvary force in one area of the map, while your opponent leads a sieging force to your castle gates. You must constantly view the map to see if any battle will take place or enemies are on the move and be watchful of your own forces in combat to see if they won or were decimated.

Gameplay: 9/10

Graphics: The graphics are breathtaking if you can get a good enough PC that can meet the game's graphics requirement. The character models are great, especially during the cut scenes, mainly with the Fellowship when they are traveling or are preparing before a fight. There is always something moving, be horses running freely around the plains, to laborers collecting supplies.

Graphics: 10/10

Sound: The sound is great, with character voices overs, to soldiers giving orders to their units, to the Lord of the Rings music played. The character's in the film have their voices included here for an authentic voice for each character, while there is a person leading a battalion of troops asking what your orders are. They will alert you if enemies are closing in on their position, so you can react before that happens, be it retreating to your castle for a better defended position or charging into the enemy ranks. The music comes from the movies and gives you the feel that you are in the movies with your troops, ready to fight whatever comes.

Sound: 9/10

Replayability: With 2 Campaigns to play through, plus being able to play against either computer or human opponents, it will take a while before the game loses it luster. You can not approach the same race twice, so a tactic that may work extremely well with one race will lead you to your death with another race. Plus, no battle is ever really the same, as tactics can be changed, maps will be different, and the races may be switched so a player that played Gondor may play Isengard so strategies will be changed. This is a game that you will come back to many times.

Replay Value: 10/10

Overall: This is a great game to play. Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned RTS veteran, Battle for Middle-Earth is an easy game to learn and a great game to play, whether alone, against a computer or other players

Overall: 10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/03/05