Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth
Overview
Battle for Middle-Earth is EA Games' first real-time strategy installment of the Lord of the Rings series. If you’ve read the books or watched the movies, you’ll find it’s all there: from the beginning of “The Fellowship of the Ring,” to then end of “The Return of the King.” In the game, you’ll go through all the battles of Middle-Earth as well as from the treacherous caves of Moria, to the blistering flames of Mount Doom. The only difference: you’ll be living them.
Gameplay
In BFME, there are two single-player game modes and one multiplayer mode. In single player, you can play in scenario mode, which lets you choose your faction, map, and fights battles, or you can play in campaign mode. Campaign mode allows you to complete the main plot lines of each of the three movies.
You’ll be able to play as either the Good Forces (The Fellowship, humans, etc) or Evil (Sauron, orcs, etc.) The game includes all the chief heroes from the books and movies and you’ll be able to use certain ones in battles. In campaign mode, the game has extreme boundaries, as you can only select certain armies to fight certain battles; however, there are times when you can choose to complete different battles.
In multiplayer mode, you’ll find another one of the games main attractions: you’ll be able to interact with other players through and online connection and battle your armies in ultimate combat. To sum it all up, the gameplay is comparable to games of the tactical-war genre, such as Age of Empires or Rise of Nations. If you’re a fan of this genre and games, this game is a must.
Graphics
Unlike other games of this genre, BFME is not known for its superior graphics, but they’re not complete crap, either. It makes up for it’s decent visuals with great gameplay. With not many high-end graphics, this is good news for all those with a low-end PC; you don’t need the latest video card or 2GB of RAM to play it.
Audio
As expected, this game contains all the epic musicals you would expect from something bearing the name "Lord of the Rings." Aside from that, the battles have good sound effects, but can get very repetitive. You’ll feel like shooting the enemy after countless times of hearing they’ve been spotted.
Overall
This game is pretty good, and even if you’re not a LOTR junkie, you’ll find you’re going to lose a couple hours out of your life after starting to play. Graphics and audio could be better, but they’re not comparable to the gameplay.
Written by Varik |
