Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth 2

Long name, short review.
Besides Return of the King, pretty much all the LOtR games sucked. But, wait, what's this? Battle for Middle Earth 2?!?!? Hazaa!
Yes, the first Battle for Middle Earth was actually good. But the second was is better! Yay!

Battle for Middle Earth 2 takes place in the enchanted region of northern Middle Earth. This pretty much means it has nothing to do with the movies, as they take place in southern Middle Earth. This also means there are new stories in the game.

As in the first BFME game, you can play as either the Good or Evil sides. The good entails use of Dwarves, Elves, and some Humans, while the evil is pretty much all Goblins and Orcs. The storyline is pretty samey. Kill this. Defend that. Rescue them. Where have we seen it all before? Well, lets see. Maybe THE FIRST BATTLE FOR MIDDLE EARTH GAME? Basically, the story is a bit tired.

Next the gameplay. Let's put it this way. It's very. very simple. Not that thats bad, it actually makes the game a lot more fun. It's easy to enjoy the stunning scenery and variety of unique characters. Another good thing is that it is packed with lots of gameplay for on- and off-line gamers. And if your like me (still paying off your 360 and can't afford XBox Live) then its a great thing.

As i said, the game is packed with lots of new units and heroes. If your wondering what the hell i'm talking about, the game's combat is like Command and Conquer: build units and buildings then attack everything. Only in this game, one unit is actually 6-20 guys. It makes things a lot easier. Trust me. Some units, like giants, trolls and heroes are singular, but they are very powerful. Now your'e asking me "WTF is a hero?" Its a unit that has storyline importance, special powers, and really whoops ass. Examples of heroes are Elrond and Eowyn. There are also new heroes like Glorfindel and Gloin that are not in the movies.

After that, what could be wrong with the game? Nothing really, everything else is pretty average. But there is one thing. There are a few control problems, like the ease of unit tracking. I mean, the mini-map is about the size of a half-dollar on my 60 inch widescreen TV. And the microscopic dots that represent a unit are truly invisible to the naked eye. If you don't have an HDTV, its pretty much not even there. Doing a level, i thought i saw a red dot on my minimap, but when i looked it was just a tree. And when i thought i saw a tree, it turned out it was on of my heroes. Also, the camera doesn't zoom out nearly enough to select all your units at once. It gets annoying when a man-eating dragon is attacking your base and you have to move your units back a few at a time. By the time your back at full strength, your base is nothing but burnt chicken.

Overall, the game is awesome, although a bit buggy. If your a fan of the first Battle for Middle Earth, this is a definite buy, especially if you have XBox Live. If not, it's a rent. 7.5 out of 10.