The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth 2

The story of Battle for Middle-earth coincides with the third film The Return of the King , but differs from the plot and the locations of the film. Instead, the battle for Middle- earth 2 (SuM 2) takes place mainly in the northern part of Middle-earth. The story highlights some of the book's lesser-known facts; as EA had a license from the Tolkien company as well as the films, they used the battles in the north as a focus, which are only briefly hinted at in the special extended edition of the film and are only noted in the appendixes to the novels. The primary thing is that the entire War of the Ring was not only fought in Rohan and Gondor . There are two campaigns, one for the good and one for the bad.

For the Good Campaign, the story begins in Rivendell, where the orcs are set up by the Misty Mountains to attack while the community of the ring travels south. For the evil campaign, she begins with the siege of Lórien by the orcs and the ringwraiths.

Gameplay

The game principle has remained the same, but there are some new features. The number of playable races has increased to six (seven including the add-on The Rise of the Witch King ). New additions are the elves , the dwarves and the wild orcs ; To this end, Rohan and Gondor have joined forces to form one faction, the people.

Each of these peoples has its own style. The dwarves, for example, rely on ostentatious fortresses, powerful melee units and particularly destructive catapults. The exact opposite of this are the wild orcs. They rely on fast and cheap units with which they can quickly go on the offensive in order to weaken the enemy until they can move up with their strong soldiers and heroes. Another innovation in the game is the "hero creation" function. In addition to 38 ready-made heroes, you can create your own hero from the categories human, elf, wizard, dwarf, orc, Uruk-hai, Easterling, Haradrim and troll. The most important innovation has been in the basic structure. Unlike in the predecessor, you are no longer bound to given building sites, but a so-called 'master builder' builds the building.

A lot has happened in the game modes as well. For one, there is the War of the Ring mode. This is about subjugating Middle-earth. Here you control the whole map of Middle-earth, which is divided into different areas, e.g. B. Ithilien, swamps or iron mountains is divided. Normal real-time mode only occurs when two parties meet in one area. The winner can then occupy this and use the building sites there. A second innovation is the better multiplayer mode than in the first part. For example there is the function "The One Ring". If this function is active, Gollum hides on the map with his ring. Once the ring is recovered, Galadriel (good) or Sauron (evil) can be summoned.

reception

International average rating:
- Game ratings : 83.6% (PC)
- Game ratings: 78.2% (Rise of the Witch King)
- Game ratings: 80.1% (Xbox 360)
PC Games : 91%
GameStar : 82%

Battle for Middle Earth 2 was in 2012 in the exhibition The Art of Video Games of the Smithsonian American Art Museum presented by public vote as an outstanding example of tactics games on the Xbox 360 console.

The Rise of the Witch King (add-on)

The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth 2 - The Rise of the Witch King

Erstveröffent-
lichung

November 28, 2006

Game mode

Single player , multiplayer

control

Mouse and keyboard

medium

1 DVD-ROM , download

language

Audio: German
Subtitles: German

Current version

2.01 (add-on)

Age rating

USK

PEGI

The Rise of the Witch King (Engl. Rise of the Witch-king , in short ROTWK) is an add-on to Battle for Middle Earth 2 , which was published on 28 November 2006 around the world, as opposed to the main program but only for Windows. In terms of content, it takes place before the War of the Ring, a few years after Isildur lost the One Ring , and forms a transition to the HDR epic. The Witch King starts a campaign of destruction against the northern human kingdom Arnor (Rhudaur, then Cardolan (Amon-Súl) and finally Arthedain (Fornost)). In the single-player campaign, the player first helps the Witch King to found Angmar and destroy Arnor, before helping the narrator and hero Glorfindel in the epilogue, together with Elrond and a human hero, to smash this realm again, but without destroying the Witch King destroy.

Game plot

Arnor wages civil wars and the country is weakened as a result. Meanwhile, the Witch King is planning his conquest against Arnor. Sauron fell into the shadows, but the One Ring lingers on, so the Ringwraiths may continue to exist. The Witch King moves with his servant Morgomir from Mordor to Angmar. There he meets the troll warrior Rogash. He promised him the gold and blood of men if he would serve him. And so Rogash makes his troll army available. With this army, the Witch King and his companions Morgomir and Rogash travel through the land of Angmar and fight against the black Númenor, the true rulers of Angmar. He built four fortresses and his power grew. The black Númenor unite with the Witch King. In addition, the legendary taskmasters Angmars pull the Gundabadorks on their side. And so the Witch King has everything he needs to destroy Arnor. He attacks Rhudaur. In Rhudaur lives Hwaldar, leader of the hill people who rule there. He fights against the people of Arthedain who claim Rhudaur. And so he is captured by them. The Witch King frees him, however, and Hwaldar joins the Witch King with all his hill people. Angmar attacks with the Gundabadorks and the hill people Rhudaur and destroys the southern and northern fortresses built by the people of Arthedain. And now Rhudaur Angmar belongs.

The Witch King now intends to occupy Cardolan. However, many attacks are repulsed as King Arveleg can foresee all of the Witch King's lists thanks to his Palantíri. Arveleg lives in Amon Sul, the great tower. It is not one of the largest fortresses in Middle-earth, but this fortress is difficult to take because the power of the palantir is bundled with Elvish mallorn trees. Every single mallorn tree has a special gift. And so the Witch King has all Mallorn trees destroyed for the time being before he conquers Amon Sul. The tower is finally destroyed with catapults, but Arveleg is able to flee with some brave Dúnedain as he uses the power of the palantir. This infuriates the Witch King and orders Morgomir to fetch the Palantir. His troops also succeed in killing King Arveleg, but before his death he had thrown the Palantir on the ground and splintered it into several pieces. These parts were scattered widely across the site. The troops of Morgomir managed to salvage the splinters from the Dúnedain. These splinters had enormous power. Morgomir recognized this and commissioned the warlocks of Angmar to be called to be the witch-king.

Rhudaur was now completely destroyed and was now under Angmar. Amon Sul was destroyed. Nothing stands in the way between the Witch King and Cardolan. He had a sinister plan. He made sure that Hwaldar climbed the barrows of the Dúnedain and desecrated their sites there. The residents of Cardolan did not tolerate this and attacked him. Hwaldar had few soldiers with him because the Witch King wanted the King of Cardolan to go into battle as well. And this plan worked. Hwaldar had few warriors around him, but some warlocks who use their dark powers and magically weakened Cardolan's warriors and turned them into grave fiends, for example. After the King of Cardolan arrived, the Witch King came and Rogash and the Witch King himself killed the King of Cardolan. After the death of the king and all of Cardolan's military forces, the land of the barrows was now under the command of the Witch King. Arnor had only one land left under the Dúnedain: Arthedain with the great fortress of Fornost, the fortress where the descendants of Isildur lived.

The Witch King did not yet believe he was able to destroy Fornost. He wanted to use the Elves to go to war with him, just as Sauron once did. And so he attacked the fortresses of the Elves. The attacks were repulsed each time. Glorfindel and Elrond, two high elven lords, intended to destroy Angmar forever. And so they attacked the great fortress Carn Dûm with a force of the Elves, consisting of lancers from Rivendell, archers from Harlindon and swordsmen from Lorien. The Witch King lit beacons and made sure that Rogash rushed up with his warriors and defended Carn Dûm. The fortress suffered severe damage, but some Elves, led by Glorfindel and Elrond, were able to return to their homes. The Witch King knew that this blow could give the Dúnedain a chance to regain their strength and destroy Angmar. As a result, the witch king dragged Fornost and thus broke the power of the formerly great kingdom of Arnor, which no longer existed. A short time later, an army of elves and humans succeeded in destroying the witch king on the hills outside Fornost, so that Angmar in turn was destroyed and the witch's kingdom ended.

The dark lord fled back to his master Sauron and waited for his return to power.

Innovations

There are heroes and units that do not appear in the film or in the book, as well as a new army: Angmar (taskmaster with Rhudaur spear throwers & ax throwers, wolf riders and Gundabad warriors, black Númenor & black rangers, hill & snow trolls, the sorcerers, Morgomir, the Witch King, Karsh - the "Whisperer", the Troll of the North - Rogash, Hwaldar Hilltop "The Brigant"). Also new heroes and units for the other armies. In "own hero" mode the player has new weapons, clothing etc. and two new types of trolls, in war of the ring mode and skirmish Angmar is available as a new party.

Trivia

According to the Guinness Book of Records Gamer's Edition, the game originally named The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-king has the longest name of any computer game expansion.

Web links

Battle for Middle-earth 2 at MobyGames (English)
Official site for the Edain-Mod
Official page Unofficial Patch 2.02, source code on Google Code

Individual evidence

↑ International average rating of SuM 2 (PC)
↑ International average ranking of Rise of the Witch King
↑ International average rating of SuM II (Xbox360)
↑ Gamers Enter History's Hall of Fame Thanks to Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2008
↑ The longest game names of all time - Yes, they're all longer than Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix by Brett Elston on January 15, 2009 at gamesradar.com (English)

[1] International average rating of SuM 2 (PC)

[2] International average ranking of Rise of the Witch King

[3] International average rating of SuM II (Xbox360)

[4] Gamers Enter History's Hall of Fame Thanks to Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2008

[5] The longest game names of all time - Yes, they're all longer than Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix by Brett Elston on January 15, 2009 at gamesradar.com (English)