"You really can't make a game like this any better; only thing you can do is add."

It was inevitable from the beginning that Lord of the Rings would have been treated to an RTS game. Which to no surprise is being developed by EA, but what is surprising is how awesome it is. EA has been known to develop standard games with amazing licenses, but there are a few exceptions. One of them is Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth, one of the most addictive RTS's this generation that delves into a pot of uniqueness that its exclusive gameplay alone should be a reason to own this game.

I'm not a very big fan of single player campaigns when it comes to strategy games, but the single player mode was actually pretty rewarding to play. You start off within the Mines of Moria, leading the entire Fellowship through the uneasy caves, battling against goblings and trolls. Like in the movies, the group also splits up, where you'll simulatinously control a different set of heroes at different times, while building an army for each hero to command. This is the main treat of BFME; unlike in other RTS games, you'll actually travel along with the army that you left off in the previous level to the next. Your heroes, as well as units, will also gain experience as they progress through the campaigns. But if one of your units dies, it's impossible to revive him, so you'll have to be careful with your more higher leveled warriors.

The single player campaign, taking both good and evil campaigns into consideration, can last up to 40 hours, which leaves a lot of room for repetition. When entering each level with already supped up soldiers, it's rather boring seeing your army sweep the entire map without actually having to build anything. And since your army should be leveled up, it shouldn't be hard conquoring your enemies. The good thing is that you don't have play through every level; some are merely optional for leveling up your army for the next difficult scenario, such as The Black Gate or Helms Deep. The evil campaign is much harder than the good campaign, which doesn't feel as repetitive, but sometimes can still be. Even after completing both campaigns, it's really fun to play it over again in the harder difficulties.

Though there is always multiplayer, or the less preferred fights against the computer. Multiplayer is like single player, except you start off directly from sratch with only a couple warriors and a base. What's interesting about BFME is that there are no workers or builders, save for orc woodchoppers that don't serve any of the above purposes. So how exactly are you suppose to build? In each base there is a limited amount of icons, and when you click on one, a list of buildings will be provided, and you get to pick which structure you want to pick. There are different types of bases; a settlement, outpost, camp, and castle. A settlement will only construct food generating buildings. Outposts provide you with 3 build icons, camps with 6, and castle a large amount depending on which civilization you've chose to pick. This set up does a good job of limiting your base, because one major nuisance in past strategy games was how players build actual cities, consuming half the map. You'll be able to generate using food processing buildings, which replaces the use of workers who were primarily used to build bases and garner food. This puts BFME in a very interesting position because there is no need to worry over economy.

It would have been a pain if you had to concentrate on both your workers and main army anyways. There are many units in BFME that have secondary attacks. Take the troll for example; he's able to throw rocks, eat orcs to regain health, and even use a near by tree as a weapon! There are many other examples which really require much of your attention, which is exactly why I think negating concentration on economy was a very brilliant plan on EA's part. Though they also didn't want to put too much pressure on microtasking, so what they did was have battallions rather than have lone warriors. For example, when you spawn a group of orcs, instead of creating 1 orc, out comes 10. However, it's not like it's a 1 for 10 deal; those 10 orcs act as one unit, so commanding one orc to move will simply have the entire 10 orcs move as well. This was also another brilliant idea because losses in BFME can be huge. The devastating Mumak is able to trample on those it can step on, resulting in a 1 hit KO. Though one loss here in BFME isn't that big of a deal. Though there are units that come out with only one unit, such as the Mumak and troll, and their loss alone could be devastating to you. Heroes also come in singles, which can only be created at the citadel in each base.

The last thing I've expected from BFME was great gameplay, because I've mainly bought this game for how realistic and dynamic it was. In the Orc's slaughterhouse, if you see up close, you'll be able to observe an orc process one of the animals. Using the troll as an example again, when you command him to grab a tree as a weapon, the tree doesn't automatically appear in his hand; he actually walks towards the near by tree, grabs it, and shakes off any remaining leaves. Though the realistic factor doesn't only create one of the most interactive games out there; it also contributes to gameplay. Like in the movies, you can mount archers onto the Mumakil's back. But if any opposing archers are equipped with the upgrade fire, which the Mumaks are vulnerable to, not only will it die faster, but it'll go on a rampage, blindingly charging randomly, and in the process might knock down those same archers from its sudden carelessness. This can also apply to the tree like species Ents, who will not only die faster, but charge as well. EA has definitely created one of the most interactive atmospheres this generation.

What's quite disappointing about BFME is the lack of modes, civilizations and units. There are only two real modes in BFME; its campaigns, and build and destroy against computers or humans. After about a month of playing online, I found it quite boring. You wish EA would have added more diverse scenarios, such as RPG maps. Though that's not the main reason for it loosing it's touch after a month; the lack of races and units hurt it quite a bit. While you can mix and match different combinations of units, there aren't that many to think of, and it's really not that fun to keep on using over and over again. BFME is unique, but its uniqueness is also its biggest downfall. Nevertheless, EA's latest offering to the RTS genre is a strong achievement in presentation and gameplay, and should be recommended to every strategy fan. The single player is by far one of the most compelling single player modes in any strategy game, and its multiplayer should last you a while.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/18/05