Battle for Middle Earth!

**Bob the Insane** · 11-25-2004, 18:17

Yikes, read the PC Gamer (UK) review last night...

They where a little unimpressed to say the least and were particularly harsh about the AI in the game and some of the balancing... An average RTS that does not deserve the license....

Mind you they still gave it 74%...

**econ21** · 11-30-2004, 23:19

Yes, I skimmed the PC Gamer review in a shop - seems very telling, given that I might have expected the magazine to be charitable in view of the game's hype. The unfavourable comparison to Dawn of War was particularly worrying. I found Dawn of War ultimately unsatisfying because in the end it was an old school Command and Conquer type RTS. But PC Gamer rightly praise it for loving its source material (as a Warhammer player, I really liked the little touches taken from the original tabletop game). If BME is significantly worse than DoW, it will be - as PC Gamer concludes - a major disappointment.

**doc_bean** · 12-01-2004, 17:50

A local magazine (PC Gameplay) also had a review, they gave it a 91, I didn't read the review because I needed my shopping done today :-)

I'll await a demo to make my opinion then, if they won't have a demo, they can certainly forget about my money.

**CrackedAxe** · 12-13-2004, 17:31

Build and rush, build and rush (yawn). I would sooner wait for the Middle-Earth mod for RTW.

**jeffreyLebowski** · 12-13-2004, 20:14

what's the general hostility towards the RTS genre on these boards? i mean, i love the total war series and all, but i think you're missing out if you sit in your room playing campaign after campaign of MTW/RTW. there's tons of other strategy games out there that might not require a degree in military tactics but are still damn fun.

honestly, the total war series can be distilled and beaten using 2 or 3 simple strategies most of the time, especially thanks to the god awful AI... and this is coming from someone who loves the TW series. the TW series does a nice job of intergrating tactics and morale into gaming, but it's not rocket science by a long shot. some people seem to think they're brilliant strategists becuase they play RTW instead of starcraft of something along those lines... i've got news for you: playing either one of those games doesn't take a great deal of thought. at the end of the day, they're still GAMES, to be enjoyed.

i've been playing BFME for a couple days now and it does a pretty good job of capturing the feel of the films. it's not the game of the year or anything, but it's certainly fun. despite the previous poster's insinuation, there really isn't much to the rush in BFME. the game itself plays at a slow speed, especially compared to other RTS's. the immediate availability of defensive castles/camps/etc pretty much prevent any of that stuff. if you like the lord of the rings universe, you'll definetely enjoy it... if you're not into middle earth, then it's nothing special.

**The Wizard** · 12-18-2004, 14:06

Originally Posted by jeffreyLebowski

what's the general hostility towards the RTS genre on these boards? i mean, i love the total war series and all, but i think you're missing out if you sit in your room playing campaign after campaign of MTW/RTW. there's tons of other strategy games out there that might not require a degree in military tactics but are still damn fun.

honestly, the total war series can be distilled and beaten using 2 or 3 simple strategies most of the time, especially thanks to the god awful AI... and this is coming from someone who loves the TW series. the TW series does a nice job of intergrating tactics and morale into gaming, but it's not rocket science by a long shot. some people seem to think they're brilliant strategists becuase they play RTW instead of starcraft of something along those lines... i've got news for you: playing either one of those games doesn't take a great deal of thought. at the end of the day, they're still GAMES, to be enjoyed.

i've been playing BFME for a couple days now and it does a pretty good job of capturing the feel of the films. it's not the game of the year or anything, but it's certainly fun. despite the previous poster's insinuation, there really isn't much to the rush in BFME. the game itself plays at a slow speed, especially compared to other RTS's. the immediate availability of defensive castles/camps/etc pretty much prevent any of that stuff. if you like the lord of the rings universe, you'll definetely enjoy it... if you're not into middle earth, then it's nothing special.

The hostility, to me at least, is not for RTS games in general, but the boring, generic monstrosity that is the CnC franchise and its spinoffs (i.e. games made with its engine).

I have never, ever seen a more milked out franchise than the CnC franchise. CnC 1 was good, in its day, but every other member of its family (including games made with its engine, like BFME) is just a rip-off of the original, with tankrushing as the main stragetic aim in an average online game. In BFME, it's troll-rush, I'd imagine...

Sigh. I should have never expected anything special from a game by Westwood with the CnC engine...

~Wiz

**BDC** · 12-19-2004, 00:53

EA Games lack soul. They are polished but are like prime-time 'comedy', aren't real art like a lot of very good other games (like RTW to an extent, and even more so, Sid Meier's Pirates).