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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
At least 48 hours of gaming satisfaction guarantied!!!, 17 Aug 2006
The Lord Of The Rings:The Battle For Middle Earth 2 is the sequel to the it's popular predecessor BFME 1. It's release was highly anticipated and for a good reason. The graphics are spectacular and the gameplay is explosive and it is for this reason that you need a special type of computor to run this product. Thousands of people have complained that the game simply won't run on their machines, even if they meet the minimum system specs you need.
The producers of the game, EA games have said that they cannot be held responsible for compatability problems and simply tune out their "valued" customers comments and complaints. If you have your heart set on this game, i recommend a computer made around december 2005 or later to maximise your chances of running this game.
On a jollier note however, this newer version boasts a variety of new features such as an improved AI system that can challenge even the most hardened of players with a more strategic system. It also boasts a new mode of play called "the war of the ring mode" where you can not only relive, but experiance some of the greatest battles in the lord of the rings trilogy as new and old factions. while you can choose to playing as men, isengard and mordor, you also get to choose from some new factions such as the dwarves, goblins and elves who each have their own weapons and technology to suit their culture and history.
Choose to play a skirmish in helm's Deep, the ettenmores and even the firery domain of mount doom as well as a bundle of new landscapes not seen in the movies!
One great new feature even allows you to create your own hero or villian and send he or she directly into the middle of the action. choose your heroe's weapon, armor, powers and attributes to craft your own middle earth legend. However, there arn't any options to change your heroes facial apperiance or build ect, so if you were looking to put a spitting image of yourself into a battle, that won't happen. unless you look like a troll or an uruk that is!
All-in-all this is a great and highly addictive game and the only reason i gave it 4 stars is because of the compatability problem, not the game play. And for just £17.99, its a real bargain! buy it!!
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27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
A pretty good game., 21 May 2006
Fun:
I have to say this is a good game. There's no doubt about it. The graphics are superb and there is so much to do it will take a while to get tired of it. However to get those superb graphics you do need some kind of super computer. I thought I had a good computer, and I can only run it on Very low perfectly or low with some choppiness. However you can't ignore the fact that many improvements have been made since the last installment and it is a great game. However if you wish to buy it please read the system requirements before you do, otherwise it could be 30 quid down the drain. I know a lot of people have experienced some difficulties with it especially if you have a Geforce 4 MX graphics card. Just check out the requirements and enjoy the latest installment of EA's fantastic Battle for Middle Earth series.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
Definately worth it, 10 Mar 2007
Fun:
Unlike all the other lord of the rings games-whatever console they're for-I've noticed they all follow the same events-the journey of Frodo and aragorn down south or around that area. I love this game because it gets away from this and (in the campaign-either baddies or goodies) concentrates on the fights between dwarves and elves with sauron in the north, (In skirmishes though you can still play with whoever you want anywhere so don't let this put you back).
You start off fighting in rivendell and slowly travel around fighting in different places against different heroes and races.
All heroes in campaign or skirmishes devastate with great attacks and dominate the battlefield. I also love the fact that you can actually put walls round your base (even though uruks easily come and poke them down).
All unit factions have advantages and disadvantages and you can place them in battle lines or hide them in trees and finally you can increase the number of units you can have up to virtually 4000 making for giant epic battles or just little fights.
Only problems with the game. When finished the campaign and done a few skirmishes it starts getting a bit tedious (even with the war of the ring different play style i'm hopind the add on pack will increase things to do). Also, if you don't have 5.5GB or a decent video card it won't work (which lots of people have had trouble with) but check your computer for the right requirements, get the game and enjoy a fabulous gaming experience with the most amazing graphics.
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23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
Its almost like they read my last one...., 17 Mar 2006
Lets start with what this isn't: This isn't anything we haven't seen before. It is the original BFME with some add-ons. As such, if you don't get to indulge in on-line gaming, don't touch with a bargepole - you won't get the same joy out of it - the campaign length is woefully short, and with the exception of the last level, woefully easy. But what do you get: Firstly, they've sorted out the unit access thing - you now have access to all 4 unit types off the bat. You no longer need to build units to upgrade your buildings, you pay for the upgrade which normally gives a faster build speed and upgrades. So - hurrah for sorting that out - previously Gondor infantry died before Warg riders... Now you can have Tower Guards at the same time! Next - they've merged the Gondor/Rohan factions to be a hell of a lot more balanced. There's the new factions - Elves, Dwarves and Goblins. Goblins are very much attack orientated, Dwarves are the ultimate in turtling forces but with some very nasty attack options. I've not played with elves in skirmish yet, but lets see.... They've expanded the unit cap to 1000, and made hero's count as part of that. So, you can have all of the 9 ringwraiths, or ooodles of orcs. They have also fixed the options so now you can have ringwraiths on horseback or on fell beasts. Finally, there's the war of the rings game and hero creation. Hero creation can create combat monsters who can topple Sauron - also known as sick. The war of the rings game has yet to impress me. Overall - if you fancy it for the online gaming, get it. If you want something new in the way of RTS, or you don't do a lot of online gaming- just leave well alone. Its an improvement on the previous, but its hardly excellent.
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38 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
Not bad . . . Not Bad at all, 12 Sep 2006
Fun:
So, i loaded this game up - started it, thought aha! plenty of graphics options, so i customised it, tweaked it some more ( i like the get the balance just right, acceptable FPS v Graphics, yes, slightly nerdy but hey, i play computer games .. . ) and played a skirmish, then another, and another, marvelled at how the witch king gracefully tore through battalions at a time, how my Half Trolls tore through cavalry of the rohirrim, how drogoth effortlessly torched entire bases, and most of all, how Souron effortlessly destroyed an entire army. All this power, so little time. And here comes my one main complaint really, the AI is really very pants. Pants. Paaaaaants. Just to emphasise it some more - PAAAAANTS! Once you've played it a few times you've played it all. Don't get me wrong, its still a lot of fun, i mean a lot of fun, but it could do with tweaking somewhat, to make it less brain dead.
My other couple of complaints - Walls. Walls did not crumble when an uruk hai poked them with his eyebrow tweasers, did they? Well, in this game, walls serve only one purpose - to slow the enemy down so you can move troops to counter the attack.
Another is skinning, some of the skins have not been updated since BFME I, and although they still look good, they could have been polished that little be extra in my opinion, although, i am not a programmer nor a skinner, and this may be a highly arrogant point of view.
My last is realism - when could 1 battalion run through another without being hurt in some way - i.e. a battalion of pikemen are run at my swordsmen, my reaction would be to form a phalanx.
That said, BFME II is a fantastic game - dispite my griping - perfectly capturing the LOTR's Battle Universe, and, while it cannot compete on the scale of something like the Total War series for numbers of units, it is certainly a game worth playing. It is imaginative, creative and a thouroughly enjoyable experience - I reccomend getting this game.
Just some things to note - space requirements - over 5 gig, it also requires a decent graphics card, a fair amount of RAM and a good processor to run well. Although it has done fairly well on my old AGP graphics card, i would like to experience the game at its best.
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53 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
Preview, 10 Jan 2006
At its core, The Battle for Middle-Earth II will remain the same, but the unified license has allowed the focus to shift to the war in the north and Sauron's battle with the Dwarves and the Elves. Only hardcore Tolkien fans know that Sauron sent an army to the north that … er, dwarfed … the massive epic battle at Minas Tirith. This new game hopes to recreate that battleground.The single-player campaign will revolve around these battles that ran roughly parallel to the battles depicted in the Peter Jackson film trilogy. In the "good" campaign, an alliance is formed between the Elves and Dwarves to keep Sauron from destroying their homeland. In the "evil" campaign, the forces of Mordor set out from Dol Gurdur, with the help of Isengard and the goblins. New battlegrounds will include Mirkwood, the Grey Havens, Withered Heath, Goblin cities in the Misty Mountains and key strongholds of the Elves and Dwarves, as well as The Shire. There will be 16 missions, eight for each side. (To add to the immersive nature of the game, EA has recruited actor Hugo Weaving, who played Lord Elrond of the Elves in the Jackson films, to do the voiceover for the game.)
The playable sides have been expanded from four to six. Gondor and Rohan have been combined into the Men of the West, and added to the race of Dwarves and Elves. Isengard and Mordor are still fighting for Sauron, but they have been joined by the race of Goblins. The EALA dev team said they plan on keeping the best of Gondor and Rohan when combining the sides, although our limited play time with the build gave no indication of what those units might be. Each new side will have different things they are good at, with dwarves being master craftsmen and goblins being fast and good at tunneling.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
Highly Enjoyable!, 14 Jul 2006
Fun:
If you enjoyed BfME 1 then you will enjoy 2. There are some differences, the most disapointing was the length of the single player game. It is beautifully constructed but seems half the length of the first game (and left me wanting more).
And more you get, with War of the Ring which is very much constructed like the Total war games; a risk type strategy map followed by the RTS game when an encounter takes place. However, the War of the Ring does not have the storyline that the campaign has, so didn't draw me in as much.
I also used to like the merging of the units (Archers behind Melee) in 1, 2 keeps these apart, although when moving a group a handy auto set up of Archers behind melee(but not merged)takes place. The building of your structures where you want is an excellent improvement, although I really loved the manning of the fortress in 1. The addition of the dwarves is a nice touch and as stated, if you enjoyed BfME 1, I am sure you will enjoy this.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
Enjoyable but too easy, 16 Mar 2006
LOTR 2 is actually more like an expansion pack rather than a whole new game. It actually re-uses samples and 3D models from the first game, yes, including the irritating "we've been waiting on you, archers" and "let your arrows sing" !!! Yuk.Apart from extra units and new maps, what does this game really bring to the table? Don't get me wrong, the game is enjoyable but I don't think it's appeal will last for long outside of the Multiplayer experience. To be honest the game is quite easy, well on the MEDIUM level anyway. How easy? Well I have already completed the Evil Campaign after 2 days on and off playing. There were only 8 maps in the campaign, and the last one (Rivendell) was so easy - the "good" heroes were like lemmings - I thought the game was lulling me into a false sense of victory. I was wrong. I got returned to the title screen PDQ!!! IMHO, the reason the game is over so fast is because the AI does not rebuild it's base, or re-inforce weak points. Yeah, exactly like C&C 10 years ago! You can wage a war of attrition on the enemy using the new "spells" and abilities - the marauders, wyrm and dragon can conquer any opponents you throw them at - and the enemy eventually will crumble. So, would I recommend the game? Well yes - if you have enough mates for multiplayer, nothing can beat the feeling of tramping a dragon over them. But regarding those who enjoy solo play, I'm sorry I don't think it will last you too long. EA should really have released this as an expansion pack, much better value for money then.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
The best LOTR game you will ever had played!, 16 Jun 2006
Fun:
After playing battle for middle earth 1 and hearing a 2nd was coming out i thought to myself how can they improve on such a fantastic, adictive game? Oh what a fool i was! This game is vastly better than the original! The first and best feature of the 2nd is the graphics, when playing on the high or very high details setting the game is incredible with every minor detail so smooth and clear. But beware! I play the game with a GeForce pci 6600 series 256mb which is great but if you have on board graphics cards of any below 128mb you may struggle. Other great features of the game are creating your own heros and the ability to make ships and battle it out at sea.
Buy this game! It is great!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Battle for Middle-Earth ll, 15 Mar 2006
Though BfME2 is consistently entertaining and significantly better than its predecessor, there's a whiff of staleness about it and a lack of flavour that puts me in mind of month-old Tesco lemba bread (find it in the bakery aisle next to the meatloaf). Underneath this game's gorgeous mithril shirt, its finely embroidered elven skirts, is the kind of dogmatically conservative build-and-battle RTS that has benn gracing the PC for over a decade. There is a standard campaign mode, a build up then crush skirmish mode, and of course the map editor tool chucked in for good measure. Hello! All us gamers want something new!, Okay, so there is a hero/villain creator tool and a territory capturing mode (War of the Ring mode), but that is about it. The graphics are brilliant, and the storyline superb, but a bit more novelty would help to sell a bit more. One day, we will see an RTS that sums up Lord of the Rings, but not today.
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