The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth

The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth is a real-time strategy game from EA Los Angeles , which takes place in the world of The Lord of the Rings . It was released in 2004 for Windows . In March 2006 the second part The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth 2 was released , to which an add-on followed in November 2006 .

action

In the strategy game The Battle of Middle-earth (SuM) you play the plot of the three The Lord of the Rings films . In the two single player campaigns you either play the good side ( Rohan and Gondor ) or the bad side ( Mordor and Isengart ).

In both campaigns, you can re-enact all of the major battles from the film trilogy. Optionally, you can also liberate all areas of Middle-earth. These do not necessarily have to be exempted, but it does bring in experience points and other bonuses. In addition to the two solo campaigns, there is also a multiplayer part in which you can choose to play against human opponents on the Internet or against the computer and a mode in which you fight against computer opponents on a selected map. However, on December 31, 2010, the official EA servers were shut down.

Gameplay

The campaigns are divided into two parts. On a map of Middle-earth, the player can select the army to attack and the region to attack. Each occupied region brings the player bonuses in the form of higher raw materials, command points or points for special skills. As soon as a region is attacked, the game switches to combat mode.

The fight mode

In The Battle for Middle-earth , each player has a fortress, camp or outpost available at the beginning of the game. At the beginning these consist of a main building and, in the case of the good factions, a wall. In addition, depending on the size of the warehouse, there are between three and twelve building sites available. These construction sites can be upgraded with barracks, defense systems or with buildings that collect raw materials. Most of the time there are still free camps on the maps, which the player can take and build on.

Parallel to the fortification expansion, it is a matter of creating an army and wiping out the enemy. Each faction has different units. Mordor, for example, only leads weak orcs into battle at the beginning , but after a few upgrades they have the most powerful individual units in the game (Olifanten, Mountain Trolls, Haradrim).

Command points

An essential part of the gameplay are the command points, which limit the number of own units. This is to prevent the player from building a huge army and simply overrun the enemy. A battalion of Rohirrim warriors, which consists of five units, consumes z. B. 20 command points. The command points can be increased through bonuses for won battles; 300 for the good faction and 600 for the bad faction.

This great contrast is balanced out in the game by the fact that the good faction not only has the average stronger units, but also has numerous heroes. Heroes are overpowering units that are known from the books (e.g. Legolas, Gandalf, Faramir or Frodo). Although the evil faction also owns some heroes, usually only one hero appears at the same time, while with Gondor four heroes can be controlled at the same time towards the end of the game. In the game, heroes can learn numerous special attacks that cause devastating damage, but are only available at certain time intervals. These attacks are learned through RPG-like level advancement:

Experience

Every hero, unit and almost every building gains experience. For heroes and units this happens through combat, for producing buildings by creating units and for farm buildings by producing raw materials. A number of advantages are gained by climbing a level. B. Level 2 rebuilds deceased units over time, a Level 2 “Gondor Forge” can develop weapon upgrades, and a Level 2 “Gondor Shooting Range” can equip archers with fire arrows. In addition, units get better attack values, buildings better defense and production values. The player may take the units that are still alive at the end of one mission into the next. In this way it is possible to continuously increase the level of your own units throughout the game.

Special skills

A second important aspect is the powerful spells that are available to the player. You can buy these with experience points, which you get by winning missions.

reception

At the Game Critics Awards 2004 the game was awarded in the category "Best Strategy Game ".

On March 2, 2006, Electronic Arts published the sequel The Lord of the Rings: The Battle of Middle-earth 2 , which deals with the battlefields away from the novel, in the region of the northern Fog Mountains and the Mirk Forest. In July 2006, the game was also ported to the Xbox 360 and in November 2006 the add-on The Rise of the Witch King was released, which has the fall of the northern human kingdom as its theme and predates the events of the War of the Ring.

Web links

Battle for Middle-earth at MobyGames (English)

Individual evidence

↑ News on Gamereplays.org of December 2, 2010
↑ Mick Schnelle: Bombastic real-time battles with a film license . In: GameStar . December 8, 2004.
↑ Heinrich Lenhardt : The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth . In: PC Games . May 24, 2004.
↑ The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth PC . In: Metacritic .
↑ International average rating by SuM . In: GameRankings .

[1] News on Gamereplays.org of December 2, 2010

[2] Mick Schnelle: Bombastic real-time battles with a film license . In: GameStar . December 8, 2004.

[3] Heinrich Lenhardt : The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth . In: PC Games . May 24, 2004.

[4] The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth PC . In: Metacritic .

[5] International average rating by SuM . In: GameRankings .