The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth (DVD-ROM) review:4 stars (A good game, but....) - I really liked this game, but they are several flaws that stop this game from being great.

The single-player missions were fun, especially for the side of good. In the good missions, there was alot more diversity. Not only did you have the big battles, but you also had missions involving the heroes. The missions also followed the movie pretty good.

Also, you don't build buildings like typical RTS games. You capture a plot of land and they give you so many spaces you can build on. So if you capture a castle spot, you can get up to 16 slots or so to build (depending on what faction you are playing).


the basics of the missions were a chance to power up your heores. They all start at level 1, but as you increase to a certain level (10 is the max), you get other special abilities that that hero can use. Aragorn has the power of the sword master, healing units around him, or calling in a small band of the Army of the Dead. Gandelf has a lightning attack, a shock attack, and an even stronger type of shock attack. Gimli and Legolas also have very cool special attacks. Also, each mission you can gain either an increase in resources (you get a percentage increase), command points (the command points you have the more troops you can create), or power points. Power points give you other special powers such as elven archers and rohhirrim horseman for a short time to you use for attacking or defending. There is alot of content in this game and several missions to play.
As for the evil side, you only get 2 heroes and most of the powers you get are for resource production as you win with sheer numbers instead of strength. Saruman's abilities also aren't very good and most of the warriors you can build are either too slow or too weak. But, when you get enough power points, you can summon the Balrog. He is very strong. When he is summoned, he damages any units and/or buildings close by. He can do a short flight which damages anything around him when he lands, use his whip, and has a powerful flame attack which levels buildings in seconds. He also looks cool. For the most part though, I found the battles pretty repetitious on the evil side which got a little boring. As you play, you will see other little things that are annoying.
The graphics were good and the sound (the voices were of those from the movies) was also very good. The cutscenes were ok, but nothing great.
As for skirmish mode against the computer, you have several maps and 4 side to choose from. As you win a battle, you get allocated points. Everytime you increase a level, your starting units change and you get stronger units to begin with until you max out at level 10. You can either play a level 1, 5 , or 10 computer opponent in which they will start with those better units. It keeps track of your wins and loses and how long you played each side. It is pretty challenging so far ( I have only played leveled each side up to level 2 while playing level 5 opponents).
Haven't played on-line yet, but they have had many different tournaments and you can see your rank on the web-site. If you can get ranked high enough, you will be invited to the big tournament.
Overall, I have enjoyed this game alot and plan on playing skirmish mode alot more to see what all happens. But the SP for both side is very long play you have the mp, so lots of gaming for your buck. I definitely reccommend it.
1 stars (A sad sad excuse for an rts) - Oh my what a dissapointment for one thing the max pop is 200 with 2 people playing and and with people playing its 150 i spent the whole game trying to save up for enough reasources trying to make a good army but i cant really breach the enemys castle with 150 guys the game lags in campaign and the charcters in the game dont even sound like they do in the movie why dont all u RTS fanns go to the mall walk past BFME and pick up Empire Earth2 now thats a real RTS and thats max pop is 2000 and its got better graphics4 stars (Great! but....) - I saw all the previews. it showed thousands of units fighting on screen. i thought that u would be able to do this in the game. i was shocked to find out that u could barely reach over a hundred using the "good" forces. even the return of the king DVD show-cased these enormous fights. However this game was fun despite this. The graphics are great! I personally suggest to get War hammer dawn of war over this one
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth (DVD-ROM) Features:
Computer Role Playing Games (Game, rpgs, rpg, crpg, crpgs)
Computer Games
Action
Adventure
Strategy (Strategic)
Fantasy
DVD-Video
Challenge fellow rulers online in massive multiplayer battles
Lead the forces of good or evil by controlling 4 unique groups, from the Riders of Rohan to the forces of Sauron
Forge new heroes and customize their abilities and powers -- lead them into battle where they?ll gain experience and rank in their quest for victory
Be amazed as your army expresses emotion - they'll get angry, fearful or triumphant depending on their surroundings
All-new intuitive, streamlined Interface gives you contextual control of your forces and structures

The Lord of the Rings- The Battle for Middle-Earth (DVD-ROM) is the DVD-ROM version. The full version can be purchased by clicking on the "CLICK HERE TO ORDER" button below for around 38.99USD.