Anyone playing Battle for Middle-Earth?

[The diplomat]

Yesterday, I went out and purchased the LOrd of the Rings game called "Battle of Middle-Earth"?

I am really enjoying it. The graphics are nice. The game really feels like the movie, as it uses the same music, the same voices and famous locations.

I also like the fact that it's not a click fest like most RTS games.

Overall, the game is just a lot of fun.

Anyone else playing it? Opinions?

[Sava]

never heard of it...

website?

screenshots?

[The diplomat]

Originally posted by Sava
never heard of it...

website?

screenshots?

http://www.eagames.com/official/lordoftherings/thebattleformiddleearth/us/home.jsp

Go here for actual in-game screenshots:

http://www.eagames.com/official/lordoftherings/thebattleformiddleearth/us/screenshots.jsp

[Jamski]

Its just another EA games RTS clone, right?

[DrSpike]

I've heard of it. Didn't play it as it seems quite widely acknowledged as ordinary.

[Sava]

I'm not sure what to make of this game.

Diplomat: Is it possible for you to post screenshots from in-game action? The EA screens look like pre-rendered shots. I want to see what the ingame action looks like.

meh

if I have to wait longer for NHL2006 maybe I'll give this game a chance...

are there any "awesome" things in the game?

what I mean by awesome is... well like... in Rome Total War... you can nail guys with huge catapult balls of fire and kill like 30 guys in one shot ROFL ZOMFGPWNED!

And in Stronghold, you can dump BURNING HOT OIL on guys trying to get in your castle...

anything SUPER AWESOME like that in this game?

[Jon Miller]

it is sort of cool, and might ahve been interesting MP

unfortunately, none of my freinds bought the game, so I can't talk about the MP (which is what I prefer for RTS games)

JM

[Sava]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
it is sort of cool, and might ahve been interesting MP

unfortunately, none of my freinds bought the game, so I can't talk about the MP (which is what I prefer for RTS games)

JM

I prefer destroying hordes of AI...

[The diplomat]

Originally posted by Sava
I'm not sure what to make of this game.

Diplomat: Is it possible for you to post screenshots from in-game action? The EA screens look like pre-rendered shots. I want to see what the ingame action looks like.

meh

if I have to wait longer for NHL2006 maybe I'll give this game a chance...

are there any "awesome" things in the game?

what I mean by awesome is... well like... in Rome Total War... you can nail guys with huge catapult balls of fire and kill like 30 guys in one shot ROFL ZOMFGPWNED!

And in Stronghold, you can dump BURNING HOT OIL on guys trying to get in your castle...

anything SUPER AWESOME like that in this game?

First, let me talk a bit about how the game works. There are 4 playable races, Gondor and Rohan for the forces of Good and Mordor and Isengard for the Forces of Evil. Resource collection works by constructing certain buildings. So, you don't need to manage peasants to collect resources. Simply build a farm building and it automatically collects food for you. Also, resources don't run out. So, you don't have to worry about constructing new buildings to keep getting resources. Obviously, the more farm buildings you have to more resources you will collect. For the forces of Evil, they have the slaughterhouse and the lumbermill buildings to collect resource. Again, you simply construct the building to get a steady flow of resources. The game pools all resource into just one generic resource that you use to building everything. So you don't have to worry about getting different resources. There are caves of ogres or wargs on the map that if a player defeats, they will get bonus resources. Mordor can also accumulate extra resources by sacrificing orcs.

The other key feature in the game is how buildings work. You can't construct buildings anywhere you want. You can only build them on certain special spots. Your home base will have a certain number of spots that you can construct buildings on, as well as special spots to construct defensive structures like towers. Players can also find outposts or settlements on the map which can build into additional buildings.

Both sides, Good and Evil have a set of special powers which can they use. The way it works, is that everytime one of your units kills an enemy unit, you accumulate points. You can then spend those points to get a power. Once you purchase a power, you can use it whenever you want but there is recharge time between uses.

The big strategy differences both sides is that the Forces of Good (Gondor and Rohan) get late game advantages whereas the Forces of Evil (Mordor and Isengard) get early game advantages. Gondor and Rohan get a castle as their home base which has walls and a gate that can be closed. In addition, the player can build defensive towers at certain locations on the wall that shoot arrows at enemy units. So, Gondor and Rohan get a good defensive position that allows them to build up their forces before attacking. Of course, Mordor and Isengard do get various siege weapons to counter this. Mordor and Isengard get early game offensive advantages. Their home base is not walled so they are vulnerable. However, they can build up armies very quickly. For example, Mordor can build orc units. They are somewhat weak units and do require time to build but they cost no resources. So, you can build a lot of them very fast. Also Mordor and Isengard get twice as many command points as Gondor or Rohan. So, the Forces of Evil can build larger armies than the Forces of Good.

In addition to regular military units, the player can recruit hero units like Gandalf, Eowin or the Witch-King. These units are more powerful than regular units and have their special abilities that enhance their combat strength or the combat strength of adjacent friendlies.

To answer your question, yes, there are "super awesome" things like that in this game. Mordor can recruit the cave ogre which can toss units around with its bare hands. You can also make the ogre pick up a rock and toss it at buildings or units or it can use a tree trunk like a baseball bat against infantry units. It's pretty cool to see the ogre flinging a tree trunk at infantry units that get tossed away like they were paper figures.

One of my favorite powers in the game is the "Summon Rohan allies" which grants the player a bunch of free Riders of Rohirim units. These cavalry units are very strong especially when they charge enemy infantry units. It's cool to see the cavalry just trample and toss infantry units around when they charge them.

Another cool special power is the one Gandalf gets. Gandalf is a hero unit that Gondor or Rohan can recruit. Gandalf gets the light of evenstar (I think that is what it is called). A light flashes from his staff completely wiping out a bunch of enemy units simultaneously.

[The diplomat]

Let's see if I can post some screenshots. Keep in mind that these are taken with detail level at medium.

The first screenshot shows the ogre in action.


The second screnshot shows my orcs crossing a bridge


This last screenshot shows my infantry of Gondor battling it out with Isengard crossbowmen.

[Sava]

first one says "FILED DOESN'T EXIST" when I click on it

and the next two want to open in WinRar.

save them as jpeg and post them individually

[The diplomat]

Originally posted by Sava


first one says "FILED DOESN'T EXIST" when I click on it

and the next two want to open in WinRar.

save them as jpeg and post them individually

try again. It should work now. I had to delete the files and re-upload them because they were too big.

[Kuciwalker]

First, let me talk a bit about how the game works. There are 4 playable races, Gondor and Rohan for the forces of Good and Mordor and Isengard for the Forces of Evil. Resource collection works by constructing certain buildings. So, you don't need to manage peasants to collect resources. Simply build a farm building and it automatically collects food for you. Also, resources don't run out. So, you don't have to worry about constructing new buildings to keep getting resources. Obviously, the more farm buildings you have to more resources you will collect. For the forces of Evil, they have the slaughterhouse and the lumbermill buildings to collect resource. Again, you simply construct the building to get a steady flow of resources. The game pools all resource into just one generic resource that you use to building everything. So you don't have to worry about getting different resources. There are caves of ogres or wargs on the map that if a player defeats, they will get bonus resources. Mordor can also accumulate extra resources by sacrificing orcs.

The other key feature in the game is how buildings work. You can't construct buildings anywhere you want. You can only build them on certain special spots. Your home base will have a certain number of spots that you can construct buildings on, as well as special spots to construct defensive structures like towers. Players can also find outposts or settlements on the map which can build into additional buildings.

Both sides, Good and Evil have a set of special powers which can they use. The way it works, is that everytime one of your units kills an enemy unit, you accumulate points. You can then spend those points to get a power. Once you purchase a power, you can use it whenever you want but there is recharge time between uses.

All done before.

The big strategy differences both sides is that the Forces of Good (Gondor and Rohan) get late game advantages whereas the Forces of Evil (Mordor and Isengard) get early game advantages.

Can you say ZERG RUSH KEKEKEKEKE

In addition to regular military units, the player can recruit hero units like Gandalf, Eowin or the Witch-King. These units are more powerful than regular units and have their special abilities that enhance their combat strength or the combat strength of adjacent friendlies.

Done before.

[The diplomat]

Let's see if this works. Here's a JPEG of the Eye of Sauron special power which reveals hidden units and grants your units extra armor and combat experience.

[Spaced Cowboy]

I got this for XMas, but exchanged it for KOTOR2...before I opened it.