Flip over Tolkien’s trilogy and you’ll find a quote on the back. The world is divided into two, it reads. Those who’ve read the LOTR books and those who’re going to read them.
You could almost say that about the game too, given the lack of decent Xbox 360 titles on our shelves this summer. What’s more than a little odd though is the style of this latest LOTR release. Instead of the usual third person action/ adventure tripe that we’ve come to expect from movie tie ins, this is a much more hard core real time strategy title.
Console gamers generally turn their noses up at anything slightly beardy, so can this work?
They say:
1UP: “There will be frustration, there will be suffering, and there will be a sore trigger finger.”
IGN: “The game is deep with 16 single player missions, and a hefty set of maps in five Xbox Live multiplayer modes should give it online legs. This is the sleeper hit of the summer on Xbox 360.”
GameSpot: “A pretty good introduction to real time strategy for console gamers, and a good way to discover the joys of building up huge armies and using them to crush your opponents.
We say:
In terms of visuals, Battle for Middle Earth firmly shows that the Xbox 360 is more than capable of matching a few thousand pounds worth of hardcore PC hardware. This port of the PC original stands toe to toe with its cousin, and packs as mean a punch as its fellow hobbit bashing chum.
Each character on the field of battle is not only lavishly detailed, but moves without any hint of unrealistic bends or contortions of the body. Things can get more than a little hectic when the screen is crammed full of individual characters, and the action can start to slow down to a judder, but it’s a rare occurrence.
But when the action really gets pumping, the minus points of using a control pad for this particular brand of gaming becomes all too clear. It’s simply not as easy to pick and click on tiny little characters in the centre of the screen – something which the mouse is very much adept at achieving.
A minor point again as it’s a relatively rare event. But it’s there and is just as frustrating as seeing England crash out on penalties. Again.
But despite these two minor foibles, this is hardcore real time strategy action done well on a home console. It looks good, it plays even better and even the multiplayer options will have you tucking into its juicy meat for weeks on end.
For Xbox 360 owners, an unexpected treat.
Like this? Try these:
Age of Empires 3 - PC
Rise of Nations – Rise of Legends - PC
Dungeon Siege 2 - PC
FORMAT REVIEWED
Xbox 360
OTHER FORMATS
PC
POSTED...
Mon 17 Jul 2006 at 6:53pm
