The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth (2004)

Middle Earth isn't a strategy game for hardcore fans, but it's a well-thought-out, well-designed, well-animated entry. And the atmosphere, visuals and sounds from the movie trilogy definitely make that simplicity both welcome and worthwhile.

With its ease of accessibility, it will appeal to most fans of the film with the exception perhaps, of only the hardcore strategists out there.

It's fun, fast, and simple without being dumbed-down. [Jan 2005, p.134]

While perhaps lacking in real variety, base and resource management are at least handled in a way that prevents dragging the game down into tedium.

Would be an impressive game even if it weren't based on Lord of the Rings. It's a clever and well-constructed strategy title with plenty of innovation of its own, and a genuinely great use of the franchise. Easily the best of the Lord of the Rings games to date.

A thoroughly enjoyable game, but it’s not going to turn the RTS genre on its ear.

Faithful to the movie where it counts, but it's also fun and accessbile, even for non-RTS fans.

oyunun multiplayer kısmını çocukluğumda çok oynamış biri olarak söyleyebilirim ki benim için tarihin en iyi oyunudur. hala daha iyi bir strateji oyunu gelmediğini düşünüyorum.

The Lord of the Rings The Battle for Middle-Earth – это максимально грамотное сплетение красивой и пестрой картинки, всем известного бренда, классической истории с невероятной вселенной, а также радующей слух музыки. Итогом совокупности всех этих аспектов стала по-настоящему качественная реализация саги Властелина Колец на поприще игровой индустрии. Эта игра во многом отличается от большинства реал-тайм стратегий. Всему виной идея цитаделей, смысл которой заключается в строительстве зданий вокруг конкретных точек, что избавляет игрока от вопроса выбора местности для развития базы.

Most enjoyable strategy game of its time. It already playable now. Graphics4/10 Sounds: 8/10 Gameplay: 9/10 Story: 10/10

There was a time when I used to consider this as a great game. I had played only 2-3 stages about 15 years ago. And loved it then. Now when I play I completed around 10 stages. It felt easy but very repetitive. Every level is exactly the same. You get exactly 1 base. The same characters. You can create only archers initially but later keep only stable archers or rohinners. So basically only 2 units are possible. And with those 2 units you go about destroying everything. The upgrades are also quite clumsy. You need to individually select a unit in order to upgrade (after researching the upgrade in the armory). Another aspect of the game was giving orders to stay at a particular location. The units simply refuse to listen. If you're battling elsewhere your units at base can be far away because they got lost while battling enemy hordes. There's no easy way to locate them again. You need to click around the whole map at various places to spot them. The game got annoying later on as the enemy spreads out acoss the map. Then you need to fight simultaneous battles in different places. The problem with that is that your units need to be micromanaged. The archers will typically be very far away and after the first row of enemies are done with, the archers will basically be standing doing nothing. You need to constantly get them right next to the enemy in order to let them fight on their own. Another annoying thing that I found was that towers are pretty weak and useless. There's no sense in building towers except that it gives something to the enemy to destroy which can buy you a little time. The missions where you don't control any base are very iffy. They should have put some way to recharge your men other than standing and wasting time healing. I don't get a lot of time to game in a week so I would rather play something else than spend my time on this one. In short: It's repetitive. You make only 2 characters. You need to micromanage a little while starting a battle. You definitely need to micromanage while destroying any bases. Upgrades are clumsy. The game is still somewhat fun but it could have been a whole lot better. The maps didn't feel that different (for the stages that involve the bases).

Yes, sure a deep strategic game haha. Maybe these guys are employed by EA or just children. The dumb gameplay is the biggest problem with BMFE, there are not many strategic choice, you cant build buildings freely, there is a unit cap, there are not many units, not many researches. Just the power tree is a bit interesting. Instead of being strategic this game is much more tactical and fast -.- It is like a game for teenies. The Interface and controling is bad, because you need too many clicks to give the command. You should control the heroes with a shortcut I think, for example with F1-12. If you know the movie, you know the story, so you can say, great I am playing the movie, but on the other side, there is no surprise. The design of the main missions are great, but the axillary missionsa are all the same and boring. Technically the game is :/. The graphics is ok for a 2004 game, unfortunately the game doesnt provide AA and the engine cant handle more datas, so there are not many mods to improve the graphics. AI is stupid.