Buy 'LOTR: Battle for Middle-Earth': PC

Let me begin by saying the unspeakable: I think that J.R.R. Tolkein's "Lord of the Rings" saga is perhaps the single most overrated literary accomplishment in printed history so when the film treatments came out, I waited in line to not see them. As a matter of fact, I didn't see any one of them at least four times. On the other hand, my lovely wife has been known to watch all three of the "Director's Cut" versions in a single sitting. That's almost 13 hours of watching Elijah Wood act out one of the three emotions in his acting bag of tricks (joy, confusion and terror), and don't even get me started on that little pudgeball Sean Astin. So it came as quite a shock when I discovered that this massive RTS, Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth, has moved to a high place of honor on my gaming shelf.

I believe the last time I reviewed an RTS, I was lambasted for naming Warcraft as the grandfather of the genre, when in fact, it was Dune, but there isn't any Real Time Strategy History 101 going on here. Let's get down to cases.

As far as sticking to the plotlines of both the novels and films, The Battle for Middle Earth encompasses all three chapters, from the humble beginnings of "The Fellowship of the Ring" through the all-out carnage that was "The Return of the King." All of your favorite characters are yours to command, as well as legions (and I do mean legions) of troops; seldom have so many units been on a battlefield at one time. Your heroes are imbued with individual special abilities/spells/powers that can either aid your side or cause confusion and damage to thine enemy.

The campaign can be played as the armies of Rohan, Gondor, Isengard and Mordor, each path offering very different strategies and resources. It's very nice to see a distinct operational difference between factions, as opposed to just a cosmetic difference. The resources each faction needs to build are markedly different from each other. No more tedious building peasants (grunts/workers/peons, etc.) to go out and cut wood, mine gold and harvest food en masse. Yes, resource gathering is a part of the plan to success, but not everyone needs everything. As an example, you may never need to forage for food when playing the armies of Isengard.

If you've ever played a real-time strategy game (and let's face it, if you're reading this review, you probably have), the build system will at once be familiar, but refreshingly different. Instead of placing your buildings wherever you please, you are limited by the proximity of homesteads; a circular "build area" surrounds each of these bases, and the exact location of buildings is pre-ordained. The choice of what to build, however, is entirely up to you. Multiple bases become available after some exploration, making it possible to compartmentalize your holdings. You can make one pretty much a fighter factory, another may be dedicated to resource gathering, or you can choose to make each base a city unto itself with variations of buildings and units.

If the building of your armies is the cake, wait until you see the icing! The battle system here is quite impressive, and it looks absolutely AMAZING! When I initially fired up the game, I played as the evil army of Isengard, and my task was to find and kill Treebeard, the leader of a huge (in stature as well as numbers) tribe of walking, talking, fighting trees. Okay, no sweat.

I built my first little homestead, began churning out archers (who can be upgraded to firing flaming arrows, you see where I am going with this?), and foot soldiers, and began my onslaught. After battling a few renegade Elvin warriors, I finally found my prey. I moved my archers to high ground (terrain elevation is a factor here) and positioned my ground troops to charge, thus creating a barrier to keep the Ents from getting to my archers too quickly. Pretty standard tactics for a "superior numbers vs. superior firepower" engagement, right? Bzzzt, wrong! As soon as the Ents got close enough, huge limbs swept through my well-planned ground force, sending at least 20 of them flying backwards in a wave of destruction. The effect was jaw-dropping!

Usually in these cases, the superior firepower will concentrate on a small number of units, killing them in a few shots. In this case, most of my units were damaged, thrown back, but not dead. I regrouped, and tried to flank the Oaken Army. Again, bzzzt, nope! They pivoted, and once again, my precioussssss (chuckle) ground army found itself temporarily airborne until gravity had done its work, and the kicker is that my archers were still out of range.

This is the AI you will encounter in your quest to unite the realms of Middle Earth. Nothing is as straightforward as you may be used to in this type of game, and frankly, the AI routines are the best I have seen since C&C: Generals. I'd rather have an army of Treefolk than a squadron of Missile Buggies.

All this, and I haven't even mentioned the hero powers!

On the Rohan side, Theoden increases the experience rate of his entourage, as well as providing armor and damage bonuses. Eomer boosts all surrounding mounted troops, and can really kick ASCII with his spear, and the lovely Eowyn is no spear slouch either, as she is especially useful against the dark armies of Isengard and Mordor.

From the Fellowship, those annoying little hobbits can vanish at will by use of either their Elvin cloaks, or in Frodo's case, by using the One Ring. Gandalf is one bad hand-to-hand fighter, and his Istari Light attack is particularly effective against buildings and the Nazgul. As I said before, all of your favorite characters are here: Gimli, Legolas, Boromir, Aragorn, Faramir and Treebeard each bring with them special abilities and bonuses to those who fight alongside them, and that's just the good guys.

Don't worry, you lurkers out there dying to try your hand at evil domination, Saruman and Lurtz are there for your consideration, as are Nazgul riding on Fellbeasts, not to mention Witch-Kings.

If that weren't enough, there are global powers for good and evil, connected to the One Ring and the Evenstar. Everything from arming your peasants, to summoning groups of mercenary fighters to your aid, to clearing the dreaded "fog of war" are available for you to exploit, thus crushing your enemy and bringing it to its knees.

The graphics are positively stellar, the sound is movie-quality, the AI is intense, and the options many … holy Mordor! I can't even complain about the online element, as the multiplayer maps are spacious and overflowing with opportunities for your exploitation. Choke points offer a good place to set up an ambush, there are many elevations and depressions in the landscape, and the rest is up to your own cunning and imagination. Be warned, however: the guys and gals who play BFME online are crafty, smart gamers, so be prepared to lose your shirt the first few times you play.

In the final analysis, EA Games' The Battle for Middle Earth is perhaps the best RTS I have ever played, despite the fact that the source material bores me to tears. The only reason this game did not receive a perfect score is that I don't believe in absolute perfection in anything, including video games. I believe in near-perfection, however, and trust me, this game is about the best you will find.

Score: 9.5/10