The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth (Windows)

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Description

The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth is a real-time strategy game set in the Lord of the Rings universe and makes use licensed elements from Peter Jackson's film trilogy.

The game features four factions: Gondor, Rohan, Isengard, and Mordor. Bases are comprised of a fortress structure, a limited number of nodes upon which other buildings can be constructed, and surrounding walls with gates. Farm-type structures bring a constant income and raise the population cap. Further nodes can be found on the map to create more structures, either new fortresses or just farms. Unit production structures can level up with usage in order to gain access to more powerful or specialized unit types and upgrades.

Regular units (with the exception of artillery) are trained in squads, and much like in WarCraft III, heroes can be trained. Heroes can gain up to 10 levels through experience in combat, and as they level up, they get new abilities and spells to cast. The player can also gain experience points in combat, much like in this game's immediate technological predecessor, Command & Conquer: Generals, which can be spent to unlock support powers from the Palantir, which in turn form a special tech tree as they act as prerequisites for each other.

The game has two singleplayer campaigns, one for the Good factions and one for the Evil ones. Both are played on a meta-map, as the player chooses which area to take control of next, and each area bringing a different bonus for future skirmishes. The storyline follows the events of the Lord of the Rings films, and some key moments feature clips from the films themselves in the control interface.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Trailer

Alternate Titles

• "魔戒：中土戰爭" -- Traditional Chinese spelling
• "指环王: 中土战争" -- Simplified Chinese spelling
• "Властелин колец: Битва за Средиземье" -- Russian spelling
• "Zhihuan Wang: Zhongtu Zhangzhen" -- Chinese title
• "Władca Pierścieni: Bitwa o Sródziemie" -- Polish title
• "Slaget om Midgård: Härskarringen" -- Swedish title
• "Ringenes Herre: Kampen om Midgard" -- Norwegian title
• "Pán Prstenů: Bitva o Středozem" -- Czech title
• "O Senhor dos Anéis: A Batalha Pela Terra Média" -- Portuguese title
• "Le Seigneur des Anneaux: La Bataille pour la Terre du Milieu" -- French title
• "Il Signore degli Anelli: La Battaglia per la Terra di Mezzo" -- Italian title
• "El Señor de los Anillos: Batalla por la Tierra Media" -- Spanish title
• "Der Herr der Ringe: Die Schlacht um Mittelerde" -- German title
• "BFME1" -- Common abbreviation
• "A Gyűrűk Ura: Harc Középföldéért" -- Hungarian title
• "เดอะลอร์ดออฟเดอะริงส์: แบทเทิลฟอร์มิดเดิลเอิร์ธ" -- Thai spelling

Part of the Following Groups

• 3D Engine: SAGE
• EA Classics releases
• EA Most Wanted releases
• Fantasy Creatures: Dwarves
• Fantasy Creatures: Elves
• Fantasy Creatures: Orcs
• Fantasy Creatures: Trolls
• Gameplay feature: Recordable replays
• Games that include map/level editor
• Games with game altering copy protection
• Inspiration: Author - J. R. R. Tolkien
• Inspiration: Movies
• Sound engine: AIL/Miles Sound System
• The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth series

User Reviews

Brilliant RTS game by the makers of Dune 2 and C&C	Lukas Mariman (7)
Great RTS true to the movie-license	Cadorna (222)
A throwback to an ancient era...	James Kirk (168)	unrated

Critic Reviews

Game Vortex	Jan 03, 2005	90 out of 100	90
GameSpot	Dec 07, 2004	8.4 out of 10	84
4Players.de	Dec 07, 2004	83 out of 100	83
Gamesmania.de	Nov 25, 2004	81 out of 100	81
Eurogamer.net (UK)	Dec 22, 2004	8 out of 10	80
Jeuxvideo.com	Dec 09, 2004	16 out of 20	80
Games TM	Dec 30, 2004	8 out of 10	80
Computer Gaming World (CGW)	Feb, 2005		80
ActionTrip	Dec 15, 2004	76 out of 100	76
Game Revolution	Dec 01, 2004	B	75

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Trivia

Online Servers

Electronic Arts closed the game's online servers on 31st December 2010.

Awards

• Computer Gaming World
  • March 2005 (Issue #249) – Best Use of a License of the Year