The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II

"A great game but, get's old very fast"

In 2004 we were given the original LOTR battle for middle earth. It provided us with an adventure we wouldn't soon forget. Well, this is far from the same. This is a very good game (and an extremely good RTS) but, it has one major flaw: IT GETS BORING VERY QUICK. This is my review of Lord of the rings: Battle for middle earth 2:

Graphics- 7/10
BFME2 lacks heavily in the field of graphics. The cut scenes in between levels are actually pretty good but, don't really unleash the full potential of the Xbox 360. The in game graphics that are seen while playing are ridiculous. They don't even get close to showing the 360's true graphics.

Sound- 6/10
Most of the time the sounds remain the same. The same exact words coming from the mouths of your elven troops. Alot of RTS' fall victim to this but, few are as bad as this. Every single time you order for a certain building, the builders say the same thing. It get's annoying really quick. Eventually, I muted my TV and began listening to my ipod while playing this game. However, much like the graphics, the sound quality is unleashed in the cut scenes.

Gameplay- 8/10
This is one of the better aspects of the game. LOTR:BFME2 offers classic RTS gameplay. The result: the exact same gameplay of the average RTS but, with an LOTR license. It does deliver with great online play via Xbox live which allows you to go online and challenge other players in different ways.

storyline- 4/10
The storyline behind this game is extremely weak and unsupported throughout the game. In between levels, you'll view a 3 minute cutscene that reveals a fraction of the storyline for the time being. Eventually, you'll lose track of it.
If you do manage to keep up with the story, you'll be dissapointed to find that it's very dull.

Replay value- None
I finished the game in a week and then played online for a little while afterwards and I honestly didn't want to play it. I sold it almost a month after buying it.

Rent, buy, or neither?
Rent. It's a very good game but, it gets old and annoying very quick. A week's worth of time is plenty for this game. I don't want to be a nag but, this is just a boring game. You wouldn't buy a boring game and expect to have alot fun playing it for a very long time would you? Rent the game and if you absolutely love it, buy it.

~ Golden Arc

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/07