As most gamers know, real-time strategy games have always been one of those genres that PC gamers can say that they owned. And it's not like developers haven't tried on previous consoles to try and make it work. There is just no replacing the mouse and keyboard combination that makes this genre of game so much easier to play. And while EA has made a game that takes some great strides to making this genre playable on the consoles, "Lord Of The Rings: Battle For Middle Earth II" (longest......title.......ever), is nowhere near as good as the best PC real-time strategy games. That's not to say this isn't a great game that I hope future developers take and build upon for more upcoming RTS titles.
If EA knows how to do one thing, it's milk the hell out of the Lord Of The Rings license. After the future MMORPG comes out, we will have a Lord Of The Rings game that pretty much covers every genre that it could. Thankfully, most of these games are pretty good. The storyline of this game tells the story of what happens in the northern part of middle earth while the Fellowship is busy on their quest. The bulk of the storyline revolves around the elves and dwarves battling evil and visa versa. I thought it was a real nice touch to let the player play as the evil side, as well as the usual 'good' side. I can't even begin to tell you how fun it was to destroy the shire with a huge army of goblins. Even if it made me feel just 'wrong' while I was doing it.
From a gameplay standpoint, this is typical real-time strategy. If you have ever played a game like this on your PC, then you should know what to expect here. You start off as one of three races on each side, build your base, recruit units, research upgrades, etc., etc. I have always loved this kind of game so this type of gameplay was a plus for me. The problem is that there isn't much difference between the races. And it's not necessarily the races themselves. It's more a problem with the controls.
You see, EA has done an admirable job making this game as playable as it is with a standard console gamepad. You basically control everything with the two thumbsticks, two triggers and the 'A' button. It's a very handy way to play and it is fun. The problem is when you try to micro-manage your units or do something that takes the precision of a mouse to accomplish, the game gets frustrating. So every battle turns into a race to build up the biggest & most powerful army you can and then mad-rush the enemy in some Braveheart-style battle. Of course, that is obviously fun for it's own reasons. Problems occur when you are attempting to use a more strategic approach. Even the most simple thing in a PC RTS is made much more complex because of the controls.
The problem with the controls is not as much EA's fault as it's just impossible to replicate the precision of a mouse/keyboard combo on the consoles. Thankfully, the game is still really fun and you get used to the controls after playing through the tutorial missions (which are a must-play if you want to learn everything quickly). What it essentially comes down to is you will have to give up some strategic elements for the fun of playing this game on your Xbox 360. It's still a blast to build up a huge base and rush your opponent with hundreds of units while dropping spells on them. Any game where you can summon in a Balrog to battle along side you is a good game in my book.
The storyline that goes along with the single-player game is pretty good, but nowhere near as good as the movies. You will come across many of the same characters from the films as well as the books. Each side has three different races that you end up using during the single-player campaign. On the side of good you have the Elves, Dwarves, and Men. On the evil side you have the Goblins, Orcs, and Sauron's army. I found that playing as the different races was fun, but it definately could have been better. The elves are way overpowered, especially when you have purchased their upgraded arrows. The other five races really don't play that much differently from each other and that is disappointing.
Of course, along with your normal units you can recruit heroes to fight by your side. During the single-player campaign, many of the heroes automatically join you at some point. This is where playing as the evil side is much more enjoyable. It was very cool to play as Sauron, the Nazguls, The Witch King, Balrog, The Goblin King, and summoned dragons. I guess all of this is just a matter of taste depending on the player, but I found playing as the badguys was more fulfilling.
The single-player game will keep you busy for awhile if you want to play both sides and complete the whole campaign. Multiplayer wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. The siege units are WAY too powerful and since most of your structures can be destroyed with just a few hits, this makes it extremely frustrating trying to keep your base built. There are several different modes to get into, though, so if playing over Xbox Live is your thing, then this will also keep you playing for awhile. For some reason, EA decided to only make about 700 achievement points available. They are split about half-and-half between the single and multi-player games.
My biggest problem with the game comes from the visuals. The game is certainly not terrible looking, but it doesn't look "next-gen" either. I am aware that this game would look WAY better on a monitor and does look way better in HD. But like the controls, the nature of the RTS genre makes this a tough game to play on a normal TV. The main problem with the graphics, however, is the massive amounts of slowdown. In times of large battles (which is most of the game), the framerate PLUMMETS to an almost unplayable state. It's so bad in some places that I am shocked EA let this game out the door in this condition. Then there are the load-times. While there aren't any load screens during the gameplay, I have never seen a game take so long just to load the 'Save Menu' screen. It literally takes a couple minutes just to save your game, which is obivously ridiculous.
One of the best parts about this game is the sound. The music is outstanding and so is the voice acting. You will hear some familiar voices while playing (Ian McKellen & Christopher Lee, for example), and listening to what your units blurt out is hilarious sometimes. Like I said before, if you actually play through both of the single-player campaigns and get into the Xbox Live gameplay, you will have a long game here. There is also a skirmish mode that you can play against the computer, as well as over Xbox Live. So even though the story mode isn't the longest, there is a lot of game here if you want it.
I really wasn't expecting much when I booted this game up. I had read mixed reviews for this game and I am a huge fan of the RTS genre, so I was thinking that this wasn't going to work. To my surprise, EA has made a game that I hope other developers take as a cue to get more RTS games onto the consoles. If you are a fan of the genre, you should definately at least give this game a rental.
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