Should or Shouldn't I Battle For Middle Earth??

[BEANFro Elite]

Tempted by lots of screenshots about this game.

The Lord Of The Ring: Battle For Middle Earth is the game in question, but the question that will decide wether i buy this game this instant, or wether it will a game i'll buy in two years time for a tenner is...

...Does it play like Warcraft III / Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War or does it play like Medieval / Rome Total war??

I like all of the above mentioned games, but I'm in the mood for playing a game that plays like Rome: Total War i.e. masses of troops, a campaign map (not that important) and lovely graphics.


P.S. I can't seem to find a playable demo of this game anywhere, so can someone please post a link to the playable demo.

Thanks in advance for any assistance...

[myth]

I too would like to know about this game!

[skuzgib]

It's most comparable to C&C (it uses the the sage engine like generals). I really like it.

You build units instead of single men, and can build characters who have special abilities. In place of the super weapons, you have spells and powers such as "heal".

If you like LOTR and/or C&C, you can't go wrong really.

[Aaron]

Yeah, the C&C comparison holds for me too. It's a bit like C&C Generals in that it's very polished and graphically pretty but it's nothing special and the AI isn't very advanced. A very typical EA game.

My main concern with the game is that you keep your army from map to map. This is especially a problem with the good guys since a fully-upgraded army of elves will walk over anything in short order. You don't even have to bother building a base with them and it all gets a bit too easy.

If you're a fan of the books/films then it's definately worth a play though. It's more like Warcaft 3/C&C than Rome: Total War though.

[myth]

Wow! This game is great! I just got it and it rocks!!!

[Devilman]

Indeed it is a very good game.

Its also good that you can choose which side to play on, however that said, once you have completed the campaigns (for both good and evil) it has very little replay value (at least, in my opinion anyway).

If you can get it cheap, its worth it, but if its gonna set you back £30, its a tough call.

[TheBuZZard]

Its a good game at first but gets very dull pretty quickly, VERY repetitive after a short time. Also the combat makes little sense at times, main thing I really hated was cavalry vs pike men, if you pike man attack your cavalry head on your horsemen die very fast, which is fair enough BUT when you chrage the REAR of pikemen your horses still die!! This is the same with all units the engine is clearly design NOT to be used for this sort of battle and only really works with tanks etc in C&C.

[Dooms]

If you want realism like that play the totalwar games - like generals this game just goes for the "this unit beats this unit" none of the advantages and disadvantades of position or where you are flanking from.

I really should dig this up again, tho i did think some aspects of war of the ring were better.

[Auron]

I loved it, and actually I havent played it for ages, might just re-install it, brilliant game

[myth]

Its a good game at first but gets very dull pretty quickly, VERY repetitive after a short time. Also the combat makes little sense at times, main thing I really hated was cavalry vs pike men, if you pike man attack your cavalry head on your horsemen die very fast, which is fair enough BUT when you chrage the REAR of pikemen your horses still die!! This is the same with all units the engine is clearly design NOT to be used for this sort of battle and only really works with tanks etc in C&C.

my horse men are at rank 7 and they slaughter pikemen! Did you get the hevey armor upgrade? How about the forged blades??

[TheBuZZard]

Yeh I did all that. The combat is just very basic when you have played the total war games which have similar weapons. Its just a cash in with no proper effort made with the gameplay also the missions are VERY VERY repetitive.