LOTR: Battle for Middle Earth 2 review

You wait ages for a big-franchise strategy game then two come along at once. If you read my review of Star Wars: Empire at War yesterday you’ll know my major criticism of that game was that it lacked a sense of the epic, the grand vision. It was a criticism I’d levelled at the first Battle for Middle Earth game. If you’d seen the trailers for BFME you’d have expected a game with large battles on the scale of the Total War franchise, the finished game was far from that. The conflicts in the game felt small and unimportant.

This isn’t a criticism that could be levelled at this sequel, which pushes all the right buttons where the sense of the epic is concerned. No it’s not up to Total War scales – but frankly what is – but EA seems to have tried pretty hard with this game to provide more than a mere cash in on the Tolkien fantasy series. Now armed with the license to create games based on the books in addition to Peter Jackson’s movie trilogy, we’re presented with a much grander view of the War of the Ring.

The Two Towers

In a similar manner to Empire at War, the starting point for most gamers will be the two single-player campaigns. Unlike the Star Wars game though, both campaigns offer instant appeal because the good guys in LOTR have plenty of cool toys too. Choosing either campaign results in an interesting and increasingly epic tale told against the background of the plot of the Lord of the Rings books.

Before this though it’s probably worth playing the tutorial missions, alas in the version of the game I played and at the time of writing, there was a bug in the game that made it impossible to finish the basic tutorial. I was told to build a farm at a certain location but the game wouldn’t let me. No biggie, let’s just move on.

Grand Strategy

The other main option instead of the campaigns is the War of the Ring mode. Here you have a grand strategic map in addition to fighting the regular tactical battles. This mode of the game is strange in that it adds some odd complications yet at the same time is rather simplistic. WotR mode isn’t just a dumb exercise in shuffling units around a board, some thought is required. You can’t build as many structures as you like on the strategic map – meaning you have to plan more carefully. The best approach I found was to build resource gathering structures in the lands far from the frontline, meanwhile the cutting edge of the conflict would be where troops and forts would be constructed. It’s a thin line approach though and if the enemy breaks through he can wreak havoc.

The War of the Ring mode is spoiled by some odd choices in the way it works. I don’t have too much trouble with the dual types of armies. Those led by a hero can invade enemy squares, whereas garrison armies can be moved around your own provinces to defend them. My main beef is the way the units on the tactical battlefield in each region don’t bare resemblance to what you have on the strategic map. It’s very confusing to build up and use units in the actual battles and then not have them show up on the strategic map. I suppose it’s the problem of letting you construct units in two separate spheres but there really should have been a better solution to this issue.

Half a League Onward

What of the battles themselves? I’m happy to report they a whole order of magnitude more interesting that those in Empire at War. You can partly put this down to a greater variety in weaponry and weaponry created for a tactical reason rather than to look cool in a George Lucas movie. The other issue is that units are familiar, if you’ve played a few strategy games you’ll know how to use archers, pikemen, cavalry and variations on these themes in an intelligent manner. And here in BFME2 they do work how you expect, flanking does give an attack bonus, unlike the first game. Crashing a cavalry unit through the enemy’s ranks is impressive and convincing.

The magical and special abilities return from the first game. I found no problems with these, the recharge time is long enough that the more powerful ones aren’t overused. I did find something of a fatal flaw with BFME2 though and one I hope does get patched. Open warfare works fine in the game but the whole thing seems an utter waste of time when you get to siege battles. Defending a fortress really should give the player an advantage, but not in this game thanks to walls and defence towers that are seemingly made out of balsa wood.

Paper Castles

You can build large trebuchets in the game but there really isn’t much point when a few pikemen and a troll can easily batter their way through even the largest stone wall. This is definitely an issue that needs to be patched if EA wants this game to become a popular multiplayer choice, as it stands the weakness of fortifications ruin this aspect of the game. Without this issue we’d be looking at a genuinely great game here, because despite a few problems with the odd choices in the War of the Ring mode this really is a classy piece of software. Please EA, fix this issue ASAP.

While I’m bitching I may as well mention the sea battles. They are great and the water effects are super. But Middle Earth is largely landlocked and there just aren’t many opportunities to use the ships. You can see the love put into this aspect of the game but it’s sadly underused. Talking of the love put into the game, damn it’s pretty. The production values of BFME2 knock Empire at War into a cocked hat. This is one of the prettiest strategy games you’ll play. And thanks to the larger units sizes and bigger maps it captures an epic flavour missing from the Star Wars game. The sound production is equally strong, with good voice acting and Howard Shore’s memorable haunting score from the movies.

Fix It

What we have in The Battle For Middle Earth 2 is a good title, very good at times, that could become rather great with some patching. If EA tackles the issue of the poor wall and tower defences with a patch that makes them worthwhile, then we could have a game that will capture the multiplayer strategy marking for quite some time. Can I recommend the game. I certainly can. I’ve had a lot of fun playing the game and I will continue to do so – but just be warned about those flaws and hope they get patched. Perhaps it’s worth waiting to see if the weak defences are fixed, if they are, add a point to the overall score below and go buy the game.