Product Details
 | The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle Earth II: Rise of the Witch King |
| Price: | $33.98 |
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Product Description
Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-Earth II: The Rise of the Witch-King expands the universe Tolkiem created. This expansion pack to the fan favorite game series lets you command the rise of evil in Middle-earth while experiencing the epic battles that took place before the films. Become the leader of an evil faction and lead an invasion of the peaceful kingdom of Arnor, home of Aragorn's ancestors. To fully experience the evil side of Middle-earth, gamers can now play as the all new Angmar faction in skirmish, multiplayer, and War of the Ring modes.Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #4037 in Video Games
- Brand: Electronic Arts
- Model: 15304
- Published on: 2007
- Released on: 2006-11-28
- ESRB Rating: Teen
- Platform: Windows XP
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 1.25" h x 5.25" w x 7.75" l,
Features
- Innovative new units will help to tell the story of the evil Witch-King's rise to power, domination of Angmar, and invasion of the great kingdom of Arnor
- Upgraded Create-A-Hero features - The new roll class boasts additional weapons and armor, for more customization
- War of the Ring, the risk-style meta-game, offers upgraded army persistence, a new siege dynamic on the Living World Map, and unified territories that serve as major control points
- Includes all-new content from Tolkien's original stories, delving deeper than ever into the story behind the award-winning movie trilogy
Customer Reviews
Rogash hurt!
Since the conclusion of the
magnificant Lord of the rings film trilogy, those of us who are fans of
this fictional world have to turn to whatever sources we can to enjoy
it. Well, there's the books and movies of course, but we do crave other
things, such as high quality video games. EA, who has had a stellar
record with creating great video games based on this universe, now
brings us thier latest adventure, (takes deep breath) The lord of the
rings: The battle for middle earth II expansion pack: The rise of the
witch king (whew!).
Rather then replaying the classic adventure
from the books, EA takes us way back in time for this expansion back,
back to the time period just after Sauron was defeated by the last
alliance. His most trusted servant, the witch king, has managed to flee
destruction and now hides in the North of Middle earth, with only his
trusty horse (who is never given a name), his big sword, and his small,
three pronged scepter. Now dark lord-less, the Witch king does what any
most trusted servant of evil would do...build up his own kingdom! And
so, for the next 500 years (not really mentioned in game), everyone's
favorite nazgul will attempt to destroy the kingdom of Arnor in the
north and claim it for his own.
With the stage set, the game
begins. You control the Witch king, his various allies, and the new game
faction, Agmar. Your goal is to conquer the kingdom of Arnor by any
means necessary, including standing on graves, gathering crystals, and
destroying magical eleven trees, among other things. Oh yes, you'll be
doing a lot of fighting. Because TLOTRTBFME2EPTROTWK takes place
approximatly one thousand sixty years or so before Sauron began
rebuilding Barad-dur, the player gets a nice backstory on some of the
history of middle earth, including finding out what what the witch king
was doing before the events in the films, what happend in the collapse
of Arnor, and learn the backstory behind Glorfindel's famous line, "Do
not pursue him! He will not return to these lands. Far off yet is his
doom, and not by the hand of man will he fall." The new faction of Agmar
is introduced, which is a big mix of foot troops, mounted troops, and
the new class of sorcerers (but from my experience, they are pretty much
useless). In addition, we get to see some famous locations in thier
heyday, such as the Barrow downs (before they were corrupted and had
nasty wraith things), and we even get to see Aman-sul before it was
turned into rubble.
Furthermore, this expansion pack features a
respectable amount of new content. We have the new faction, Agmar, a new
campaign, a revised war of the ring mode, and an updated create a hero
mode.
But with all this new content...just exactly how fun is the
game?
While the previous two games in the battle for middle
earth franchise have been fun with a respectable level of challenge, the
new campaign in TLOTRTBFME2EPTROTWK is without a doubt, the hardest yet
in the series. The difficulty level here is high, so high that, with
the exception of the first and last missions, it's pretty much
gauranteed that you're going to have to re-try each mission at least
once. On some, five or six times. For me, this is the biggest flaw of
TLOTRTBFME2EPTROTWK. It's just way too hard. I played through the
campgain on easy difficulty, and on some of the later missions I was
having my rear end kicked and punched non-stop. Several times my teeth
were gritting and grinding against each other in frustration. And at one
mission (the second Barrow downs), at one point I was howling and
screaming like a banshee in sheer frustration and anger (on the fifth
retry no less). Why? Very commonnly, you're going up against very well
armed and armored troops during the missions. And not only are they
fully upgraded, they frequently outnumber you, sometimes coming out of
nowhere on the maps, overwhelming you and making you re-play the mission
all over again. Why did it take the witch king 500 years to conquer
Arnor? I think it was because he kept pressing the "Restart mission"
button over and over again. And keep in mind that I was playing the game
on easy. I triple dog dare anyone to play this game on hard difficulty.
If you manage to keep from smashing your moniter and taking a
sledgehammer to the CD, then you have the nerves of a god.
The
best way I can sum up my feelings about the new campaign is that it
feels more like a chore to play it, rather then an experience to be
enjoyed. Rather then looking forward to each new mission, I found myself
slightly dreading each one, only to find my fears confirmed as I was
faced with seemenly impossible mission objectives, overwhelming numbers
of vastly superior troops, or moments of "How the hell am I going to do
that?!" By the time the climactic siege of the campaign comes by (which
took me an hour and twenty two minutes to complete) , I was more burned
out then anything else, and simply wanted to get it over with so I could
see how the game ended. Rather then the exciting siege of Dol Guldor,
or the battle of the black gates from the previous two games, the end of
TLOTRTBFME2EPTROTWK is a slight burnout. The final mission, which I
won't reveal here, does bring back some of the simple enjoyment of the
previous two games, but overall, the new campaign is, for me, too hard,
too irritating and most of all, just not very fun. That's not to say
however, that it isn't all bad. The first Barrow Downs mission is an
absoloutly chaotic "King of the hill" mission that, while hard, is
exciting to watch as you desperatly try to keep control of a hill while
being assaulted again and again.
With the campaign out of the
way, what else does TLOTRTBFME2EPTROTWK offer? Skirmish and multiplayer
return, but since I cannot play online, I can only comment on skirmish.
For this mode we get several new maps, including ones that were
previously only avaliable on the collectors edition of the battle for
middle earth two, such as the argonath, amon sul, a perfectly balanced
snow map to see who truly is the better duelist, and even the paths of
the dead.
All the factions in the game, with the exception of
Agmar, get various tweaks and upgardes. Men for example, get rohan
spearmen and mounted knights. Elves get noldorin warriors (the elven
warriors seen at the last alliance), Dwarves get prince Bard of Dale as a
new hero, so on and so forth. New berserker units are introduced in
this expansion, who are basically very powerful units that can cause a
lot of destruction to anything or anyone they come across. In a nice
touch however, each faction can have only a few of these units on the
field at any given time to help balance things out, so that Isengard
can't overrun the field with an army of uruk-hai death bringers (who are
armed with gigantic swords). My favorite tweaking is with mordor (who
now gets Gothmag the orc as a hero), where instead of individual nazgul,
you now get to control eight of them as a single unit, meaning that
there are eight black horsies and thier riders galloping across the
field (but I do wonder why you recruit the fearsome nine from the seige
works? That doesn't make much sense). Tolkien fans will also appreciate
how one of the nine is now named as Khamûl.
War of the ring, a
risk/boardgame style strategy game, gets various tweaks and upgrades
too. more territories have been added, meaning that players can finally
cover all of middle earth for the first time (with the exception of the
mysterious, cloud covered lands to the very far north and east, of which
we know nothing). Buildings, units, and heroes no longer take a few
turns to complete, all being finished in one turn, which is a very nice
touch. In addition, units can move across two friendly territories in
one turn (which, according to the game, allows you to re-create
Theoden's frantic charge towards Minas Tirith!), but in a minor gripe,
create-a-hero's cannot move as normal hero units, which is odd
considering that they are, you know, supposed to be heroes. They have to
be attatched to other heroes in order to invade new territories, which
is a gripe, as I'd like to see my hero forging out on his own, rather
then tagging along with other heroes. As a final note, the AI has gotten
tweaked as well, meaning that they will retreat when they cannot win a
battle (which saves a LOT of time during turns), and you can, at last,
keep all the units trained during the battles, and they no longer vanish
when you return to the world map. Overall, War of the ring is now
definitly nicer with these upgrades.
So what about the final
feature, create a hero? Sadly, this is a bit of a dissapointment.
Players are supposed to be given even more freedom in creating thier
hereos then ever before, but that is only true to a very slight degree.
You still get the same default, non-changable voices as before, you
can't alter faces, and there is only one real new category (a new type
of troll), but because I don't care for trolls, that does not affect me.
You do get a few new items and pieces of clothing, but it's usually
only two things per category. For example, the man of the west gets two
new helmets, two new shoulder pads, a new outfit (chain-mail), and a few
arm and leg pads, but that's it. No new swords, no new shields. Wizards
get two new staffs (Gandalf the white and Saruman's), a face with a
very long beard, and that's pretty much it. This pattern is repeated for
all the other hero categories. You get one or two new additions in some
of the apperance categories, but that's it. While I do appreciate the
ability to create a digital version of myself, the possibilities here
just seem, in concept, limitless. Why not add capes? Capes make people
look even more bad-a**. Why not add outfits from the common soliders
from each faction? Why not add spears? I know that a lot of people would
love the ability to modify and tweak body height, weight, and most of
all, faces. Seeing your actual face on a create a hero would be
absoloutly fantastic. In terms of modifications to hero options and
apperances, TLOTRTBFME2EPTROTWK is a sad dissapointment.
However,
there is one nifty feature that is nice. The powers system in create a
hero has been adjusted so that the cost of your hero in skirmish and war
of the ring is relevant to the hero's powers and abilities. Previously,
every hero, no matter how powerful or weak they were, cost only 2000
resources. Here, the cost of your hero depends on the skills he (or she,
or it) posesses. For example, you can create a man of the west hero who
can ride a horse and has a leadership ability, but nothing else. With
those two skills, he costs only about 800 resources, meaning that you
can bring him into play very early. If you make him very heavily armored
and powerful (in terms of stats), this can very very useful. You could
also create a very powerful wizard armed with sonic blast, fireball,
lighting, teleportation, and the awe-inspiring word of power shockwave,
but doing so will make him cost a whopping 5000 resources. I like this
idea, as it makes you seriously think about how your hero is powered.
Will you create a early game hero, or one who comes into play late to
wipe the enemy out? Overall, this is an upgrade that gets a solid thumbs
up from me.
So, in the end, we come to the big question. Should
you buy this game? I think it really depends on if you're a lord of the
rings fan, and if you don't mind spending a good amount of money (I
payed thirty dollars) for a good amount of new features. Overall for me,
the new campgain is a hard dissapointment (I have no plans to ever play
it again), the skirmish mode is as fun as ever, War of the ring has
been nicely upgraded, and there is a clever price system for create a
hero, but with dissapointingly few updates to apperance options. If
you're a die hard lord of the rings fan as I am, then you can probably
overlook the flaws and have a good time. But if you're only a casual fan
who does not have the patientce to slug through a very hard campaign
(well, very hard in my opinion) with the same, modified game as before,
you're probably better off not buying this.
In conclusion, if
you're a big fan of this literary saga and of this game franchise in
general, and you have a high tolerance level for frustation, I would say
you'd probably enjoy this. It's still fun to wreak havoc in skirmish,
watch the new, three story tall wolf (avaliable only to Agmar) dash
across the battlefield, and generally have fun with the mythology of
this fictional world. Oh yeah, and controlling Sauron himself NEVER gets
old. EA has created another very pretty (the graphics are GORGEOUS),
very good sounding, somewhat frustrating game that, despite it's major
flaw of difficulty, still has great fun buried beneath it.
Good expansion for a classic game
This is an expansion pack
that does what all expansions should do: it improves upon the original
game and adds new content. While RotWK does not revolutionize the basic
gameplay of BFME2, it is a worthwhile addition.
Gameplay: The
expansion simply adds more to the intense, visually stunning RTS that is
BFME2. The single-player campaign introduces the story of the
Witch-king's rise to power and allows you to play the bad guys, which is
fun in this instance. There are 8 mission, plus an epilogue that allows
you to play the kingdom of Arnor (a carbon copy of Men of the West).
The campaign, at least on normal difficulty, can be quite hard in
places, and you might be surprised to find yourself repeating a few of
the missions. Overall, it is an adequate diversion, which will take
about 5-6 hours to complete.
The create-a-hero system is much
improved. Now, you can create your own in-game avatar using a
power-purchasing system that makes sense and will allow for some
diversity in the game. You can make a "cheap" hero, who can be afforded
during the early game, or make an expensive one that will almost rival
Sauron. A few new powers have been added, along with a troll class and
some more clothing/armor options. Truthfully, the new power-purchasing
system should have been added with a patch, so that people with the
original game could receive this fix. In any event, the new system here
is much welcomed and makes player-made heroes more balanced and
interesting.
The best improvement of the original gameplay comes
with the changes to the War of the Ring (WotR) mode. Now, the armies
that you create in the RTS skirmishes carry over to the strategic map
and can be moved around with your 4 heroes. There is an upkeep cost that
keeps this army persistence feature from getting out of hand. Also, you
can build more things from the strategic map, such as siege maps and
unit upgrades. Finally, the AI plays a bit smarter. For example, it will
retreat when it is losing a fight. Also, AI opponents put up a better
fight than before and will build walls occasionally. The WotR mode also
has about 10 new territories added to it.
The major addition to
the game is the new Angmar faction, led by the Witch-king. It is a
mixture of fallen men, trolls, and sorcerers. It's distinctive enough to
be truly considered a separate race. The most fun unit is the
thrallmaster, who can summon a squad of units on the fly to fit most any
situation. The sorcerers are interesting too, but fragile and require
some close micromanagement. Angmar's heroes are decent, with the
Witch-king and Rogash (a powerful troll) being the best ones. Each of
the existing races get a couple new units, including an elite
"mini-hero" horde, which is not always worth the high cost (compared to
just recruiting a new hero from the fortress).
Graphics:
Basically the same as BFME2, which is to say that they are quite good.
On a good computer, you'll be able to enjoy some beautiful textures,
convincing unit animations, weather effects, and other nice graphics.
Sound:
The music is based on the movie soundtrack, which is great. Voice
acting is pretty decent. As with BFME2, the ambient sounds, unit
acknowledgements, and combat audio are well done.
Stability/technical
issues: The game has been quite stable on my machine. I used to get a
crash or two on the WotR strategic map, but no more. The manual does a
decent job explaining the new faction and improvements to gameplay.
Replayability/Value:
With the improved create-a-hero system, more persistent armies in the
War of the Ring Mode, new units for existing races, and the new Angmar
faction, this expansion gives the original game even more longevity. The
single-player campaign, though a challenge, is largely forgettable.
However, it's the skirmishes and the WotR strategic game (finally
fixed!) that will keep you coming back to this great game.
Astonishing level of detail given to terrain, story
line, and characters makes this game a winner
The level of detail that went
into the planning of this game is extraordinary.
I haven't
played the War of the Ring, so can't comment on that. Frankly, for *me*,
it's too massive and time consuming, and I just don't have the
requisite time/energy/desire to take it on. But anyone can see from the
reviews posted here that it's a remarkable feature of the game. (Which
just makes the game seem that much more incredible to me.)
What I
can comment on is the Campaign, and the Skirmishes, and how true to
Tolkien's Middle-earth the game is.
The Campaign is that of the
Witch-King's successful attempt to destroy the realm of Andor, a
northern kingdom in Middle-earth. One of the lead reviews posted here
mentioned that even on the "easy" setting, the Campaign was extremely
difficult. I'd have to agree with that. I slowly made it through on the
easy setting, and I won't be going back for more. It was interesting,
but not quite interesting enough to do what I would think of as
torture--try and try again to beat a game that will always beat me.
The
Campaign is interesting in that it presents a new faction: Angmar, and
the Witch-King is a major character in many of the tasks that comprise
the Campaign, although he seems to be (in the Campaign and the
Skirmishes) a bit on the weak side. More so as a hero in Mordor, where
he rides the winged beast (he has the option of dismounting), than in
Angmar, where he sits a horse. All of the new additions are carefully
thought out, and while they all don't follow the canon of LOTR, the
direction of the Witch-King's assault on the kingdom of Andor does, and
that in itself is impressive. In the Angmar faction, the "heroes" are
not canon, with the Witch-king's notable exception. The others have
clever backgrounds, that do reflect canon, but they're
fictional-fictional creations. 
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