The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II

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EA really know how to flog a license for all its worth, and, in a way you can't blame them when it's something as lucrative and inspiring as The Lord of the Rings. It's timelessness in popularity means that despite the epic film trilogy's completion, there's still a lot of scope (i.e. profitability) in releasing further themed games based on Tolkien's classic tale. The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II is a sequel to 2004's original which pretty much covered all the necessary gameplay angles at the time. Nevertheless, this latest version of a Command and Conquer-esque real-time strategy outing arrives as a well rounded experience for both previous players and newcomers alike.

The single player campaign in TLotR: TBFME II is split into two distinct sections - one the battle for 'good' and the other for 'evil'. Both set you gradually more difficult missions to complete, typical of the structure that's been done and done again in similar games of the past. After a comprehensive tutorial to get you going, each level is pretty much a straightforward case of building your base and its defenses, constructing a sizeable army and then battering the opposition senseless in a ruthless battle for supremacy. Many of your men will fall, but that won't matter if at least one of your team is standing at the end, probably blinded in one eye and whimpering something about wanting to go home. That said, the AI never rarely wait around to get beaten up, they too often implement their own tactical approaches. So sometimes you'll notice them go all out in attack, whilst other times they'll be more cautious and snide, picking out any weaknesses in your field of battlers' formation and capitalising on it.

Your army comprises of two sections, a hero and their company units. Your hero is the leader of your troops, shouting orders and generally bossing everyone about. It's not all they do, though, as they're also very capable fighters, with the power of several ordinary men. Famous characters from TLotR are available to buy as you acquire bonuses through successful play, and each ranges in ability. There's also a create-a-hero mode, though it's a pretty shallow inclusion with very little room for detailed creativity. The rest of your army is formed in brigades of archers, soldiers and cavalry who organise themselves into neat groups, making it easier for you to select them and direct them toward the advancing enemy. Both 'good' and 'evil' modes include recognisable characters and locations from the films as well as more obscure lands, which you might not know of unless you've braved the task of reading Tolkien's lengthy books.

Much more impressive than the rather generic missions is the War of the Rings mode, which gives you the opportunity to engage in a campaign to conquer all of Middle-Earth. Choosing a race, ( let's say Elves for argument's sake), your forward planning, bravery and wit come into play as the changing balance of power unfolds on a map of the world in front of you. The decisions you must make aren't overly complicated, really it's just a case of pointing where you want your army to head to next and where you think would be best to set up base for optimum productivity for mining and farming etc. You can then choose whether to automatically generate the result of any wars or fight them yourself. Though War of the Rings is not without its faults, including illogical destruction of your bases when army's invade and issues with mysteriously disappearing groups of fighters, it's way of letting you command from the top in such a way is one of the most rewarding elements of the whole game, and, thankfully, seemingly open to much more instability and variety than the other single player mode. Conquering each region with Roman-style precision really gives you, the player, a sense of power, like raising a Dr. Marten boot over a helpless ant shrouded in your dirty, great shadow, before slamming it down and cackling like the evil genius that you are.

The War of the Rings mode is also available to play online, but will most certainly turn out to be a lengthy encounter due to its very nature, so best make sure you're up to that and that your opposition is available for long periods, too. For those with more things to do than play online games, the traditional (and much less time consuming) one-on-one skirmishes are also an online option. The latter provides more than the odd tense encounter, since human players are, no surprise, a lot more intelligent than some of the game's A.I. Best get in some serious training before unleashing your wrath online, methinks.

When you've built up a successful army, taking joy in watching them wiping the floor with the opposition, you'll then have the time to admire some of lovely little visual effects that EA have sneaked into this sequel. Most impressive are the highly reflective water effects, and the inclusion of shadowing effects that help to add depth and believability to Middle-Earth's landscapes. Your hero and troops' movements are each very distinctive in style and fluid in motion, although individuals do have a tendency to get stuck behind scenery if not carefully kept under instruction. They don't ever hold back in battle either, so ready yourselves with your home-made 'Go Orcs!' flags as you prepare to cheer your side on in genuinely painful-looking encounters. Complementing each gameplay mode is a soundtrack of suitably epic proportions, whilst the cries and cheers of your army resonate with convincing levels of passion, whether they're celebrating victory or popping their clogs.

Whilst The Lord of the Rings: Battle For Middle-Earth II does not provide much in the way of a drastic improvement over its predecessor, it is nevertheless a more than competent and enjoyable real-time strategy experience. If your idea of videogame serenity is taking control of some of the most famous characters from the equally famous fictional trilogy and a bit of fighting to boot, then you can't go far wrong. The mission mode is a disappointment, but The War of the Rings mode and the limitlessness of online play should see you fit until EA decide upon releasing the next The Lord of the Rings sequel, probably something they've made up themselves and fobbed off as the real thing. 'Found it buried next to Tolkien, we did. It's all true, honestly.'

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By Andrew Macarthy