Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II Review

(X360; $59.99; Rated T for Fantasy Violence; ea.com)

(three stars)

The ol’ Ring of Power is causing quite a stir between the forces of Good and Evil in Middle Earth- this time bringing the war to Microsoft’s next-gen system.

The original “Battle for Middle Earth,” released only on the PC, attracted veterans of Real Time Strategy-based games, as well as newcomers, with its relatively simple interface, memorable characters (uh, you get to control a Balrog!), and ability to command legions of troops to their certain death.

Traditionally, Real Time Strategy games (or, RTS) don’t translate well to the home console market. Prior attempts have been poor replicas of their PC counterparts; and since RTS games dictate a certain level of micro-management over huge maps, such control has only been mastered by a mouse-and-keyboard interface.

Unfortunately, “Battle… II” continues the tradition. Despite the developers’ attempt to give as much control to the console player as his/her PC cousin, the detail required in a game like this is far too complex to be whittled down to eight buttons and two joysticks.

The player’s main mode of resource management, building, and spell-casting is handled by the selectable menu called the Palantir. Through the Palantir, players have instant access to building structures in order to train new troops or upgrade weapons, coordinate battle stances for armies, call upon “Heroes” from Tolkien’s trilogy, or to summon spells that have both strategic and beautiful effects.

The Palantir interface works well during the down-time of a mission- i.e., the beginning. Being able to play around with structures, troop stances, and armies’ alignments at a leisurely pace is good when getting accustomed to the game. Once the armies of Sauron (or armies of the Fellowship, depending on your alignment) start swarming around you, strategic use of the Palantir seems to get thrown out the window.

And that’s the shame of this game: rather than have the control to leave your archers back to bombard the enemy as your horsemen ride in to lay waste, or have the Goblin King quietly summon a Balrog into the middle of battle, the Xbox controller doesn’t allow for the same finesse that a traditional mouse-and-keyboard combo does. Consequently, the “strategy” in this Real-Time Strategy game is gone.

Limitations like this may not matter much to those who are not familiar with the armchair command tactics seen on PC RTS titles, but for anyone who has played a pinch of PC RTS games, and enjoyed it, will immediately notice the awkwardness.

The frustrating controls overshadow an otherwise pretty game. Battles truly have an epic feel about them, as hundreds of characters can bee seen on the screen at one time battling against each other. Familiar characters, with designs straight out of Peter Jackson’s films, make for fun battles to watch- unfortunately, not so much fun to control.

Though full online multiplayer is available through Xbox Live, in a game like “Battle…II,” you best know what you are doing before you hang yourself out there in cyberspace; there are some wickedly skilled players who seem to have overcome the control scheme and will not hesitate to decimate and humiliate you.

Trust me, I know.