It’s a well known fact that games based on movies(and vice versa) have a tendency to suck something vicious, and usually only serve as cash cows intent on milking the license for everything it’s worth. J.R.R Tolkien’s “Lord Of The Rings” has certainly seen it’s fair share of products designed with this in mind, and EA has left no genre untouched in it’s bid to cash in on the success of the both the movies and book(s). Their latest offering is the long awaited (and much hyped) real time strategy game “Battle For Middle Earth”. So how does this entry fare in the battle to secure more revenue for EA? Is it a masterpiece, or a master flop? Read on to discover this reviewer’s opinion.

The game is divided into two rather long campaigns, both centered around (surprisingly enough) the battle for Middle Earth. You can choose to play as either the good guys(the soldiers of Gondor and the riders of Rohan), or the bad guys(the Uruk-Hai of Isengard and the orcs of Mordor), which makes for a total of four factions with their own unique units, powers and strategies. The campaigns themselves are also divided into two sections, the world map and the tactical map. The world map is where you select(or have selected for you by the game) which region you will conquer next. It also shows you the current location of any heroes and large concentrations of troops. The regions themselves each bestow a certain bonus to your side either in the form of extra power points, increased command limit or increased resource gathering. This makes it a bit more important to plan which regions to attack, since some regions have better bonuses and may only become available after seizing one of it’s neighbours. I say “a bit more important”, because as mentioned above the game will frequently interrupt your little crusade by forcing you to attack or defend certain regions(usually this takes the form of a reenactment of one of the battles from the movies), or because the region simply won’t be unlocked until a certain act in the campaign. The campaign map itself is gorgeous, with every major location depicted, as well as quite a bit of animation in the form of smoke pouring out of Mount Doom, fell beasts circling the skies and waves lapping against the shores.

The tactical map is where you’ll be spending most of your time however, and it hasn’t been neglected either. BFME is hands down one of the best looking RTS games on the market. Everything is perfectly rendered from the movies, right down to the shape of the Uruk-Hai helmets and the cloaks of Rohirrim. You shouldn’t have any trouble distinguishing one unit type from another, or a unit which you’ve purchased upgrades for versus one without, since each will have a distinct look to it. And if you do have trouble telling them apart, you can always zoom in to have a closer look. Watch as units stand at attention when you select them, taunt nearby enemy units, cheer when they are victorious, or clutch arrow wounds before finally keeling over. As mentioned earlier, the tactical map itself hasn’t been neglected. Trees sway, rivers run and the local wild life goes about it’s business, atleast until some foul orcs decide to cut down the trees, a pack of smelly wargs riders run across the river and some hungry Uruks chase the wild life away. In short, the maps are anything but static, and this goes double for buildings. From the orcs luring cattle into the slaughterhouse and gleefully rubbing their hands before commencing the slaughter, to the soldiers of Gondor patrolling the parapets of their barracks, the camps are alive with activity and a far cry from the normally static buildings that dominate most RTS games.

But graphics isn’t the only area where BFME shines. The sound and music is top notch, taken straight from the movies. From the guttural voices of the Uruks to the melodramatic heroism of the soldiers of Gondor, everything sounds spot on. Each faction also has their own unique selection of musical themes, which means you’ll get music that is appropriate for that faction’s style, and not just whatever happens to be on the playlist. People with a 5.1(or better) audio system are in for a treat though. Gather up enough troops and send them into a major battle and you’ll practically FEEL the violence unfolding on the screen. There is nothing quite like hearing a battalion of Rohirrim thundering across the plains and charging right into a swarm of Uruks. The ensuing cacophony of armor plates being smashed, horses dying and Uruks howling is a joy to hear whether you win or lose. Angry neighbours aside, it doesn’t get any better than this.

So the sound is great and the graphics are great, but what about the actual game? Is there anything here to actually sink your teeth into? Well, that depends. The first thing you need to realize is the BFME isn’t your average RTS game. It deviates in a number of very important (and radical) ways from what’s considered the norm. Veterans of C&C, Starcraft and Warcraft will find that the tactics they’ve developed in those games are as good as worthless in BFME. Very few troops in BFME come as single units, most are part of a larger squad which means you cannot micromanage the actions of each individual unit, for good or worse. BFME has also decided to be more true to the movies in terms of casualties. In other RTS games, most units can sustain a fair amount of damage before being killed, even more so if the game allows units to level up. In BFME even veteran squads can be torn to shreds in a matter of seconds if they run into the wrong type of unit on the battlefield. For example, a squad of sword wielding Uruks are virtually helpless against the initial charge of the Rohan horse riders, but can be quite effective once the charge runs out of steam, and moreso if the charge ran smack into a group of Uruk pikemen first. As a result, every unit is useful and requires you to put together a well balanced force in order to win. In this way, BFME avoids both the all encompassing uber unit problem and the tiresome rocks, paper, scissor balance that plague many RTS games.

Another area where BFME deviates from the norm is the way it handles the construction of advanced units and upgrades. Units aren’t the only ones that can gain levels. Buildings also gain levels, either based on the amount of time they’ve been in existence, or based on how many units they’ve created. As a result, you cannot simply take the “turtle” approach, by building heavy defenses and sitting in your base until your army is complete(well, technically Mordor and Isengard can, but i’ll leave that for the strategy guide.... ;) ). If you do, you’ll run out of command points right around the time you get access to the advanced units, which means you cannot construct many (if any) of the new units. On the other hand, if you throw units at the enemy simply to get rid of them in order to make room for the advanced units, you’ll be giving your opponent an excellent opportunity to level up his units, something which could very well come back to haunt you at a critical battle, moreso if he uses your “cannon fodder” to level his heroes up. In short, there is a lot to keep track of in BFME, and seemingly innocent decisions made early in the game can become the tie breakers later on.

To add another element of strategy to BFME, buildings and bases can only be constructed in certain predetermined locations. Some areas will allow you to build a single resource gathering structure of your choice. Once built these structures will automatically gather resources for you, leaving you free to concentrate on battlefield tactics, and not what your peons are up to. Bases fall into the category of outposts(which allow you to construct three structures of your choice), camps(which feature more structure “slots” as well as rudimentary walls and towers), and finally castles(which feature the most structure “slots”, large towers and walls that are impervious to anything except siege weapons and super units). Taking down a castle requires quite a bit of planning since the towers and any ranged units placed on top of the walls can cause quite a bit of grief for any approaching siege units. This is where those siege towers, battering rams and Ents come into play. As mentioned earlier, every unit is useful, and in BFME siege units are not just glorified building trashers or long range attack units, but the only way of bringing down the walls of a castle.

All of this could make BFME seem like a very slow paced game where every action needs to be weighed carefully. Nothing could be further from the truth. The pace of the game is quite frantic. Whether playing against the AI or a human opponent, you can expect to be involved in either a skirmish or a full fledged siege about 10 minutes after a game starts, and will likely alternate between those two situations until one of you makes a mistake and loses. The AI in the game is quite customizable in terms of difficulty, ranging from the almost passive easy opponent to the rabid hard opponent. Although it never makes full use of the terrain, it will compensate for its lack of tactical finesse with an inhuman ability to juggle resources and units to maximum effect. It should be enough to keep the single players happy, and serve as an effective training tool for those intending to take the battle online.

The online part of the game is a mixed bag at the moment. Given that BFME deviates in so many ways from other RTS games, people are still experimenting with what works. There are a few unit and faction imbalances but nothing that breaks the game. There is a large selection of official maps to choose from, and the inclusion of the BFME world builder allows players to develop their own maps to keep things fresh. All in all, it’s a solid package that should only get better with time.

Lord Of The Rings: The Battle For Middle Earth is an entertaining game that should be in every LOTR fans collection. Other RTS gamers might want to give it a look provided they are able to get over the fact that it’s not <insert favorite RTS game here>, and that they will need to start from scratch when it comes to developing strategies that work. Although it may seem like a simplistic click fest disguised with a lot of eye candy at first, there is a surprising amount of depth awaiting those willing to invest the time required to learn its nuances.

Graphics: 9.0
Sound: 10
Gameplay: 7.5
Multiplayer: 7
Overall: 8.3

Similar games: Command&Conquer: Generals, Kohan 2: Kings Of War and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War.

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How do you know the world has gone mad?
It's when the world's best golfer is black, the world's best rapper is white, the French accuse the Americans of being snobbish, and Germany refuses to go to war.