The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth

⭐ 9.0/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

This is an overhead strategy game with movie-tie ins that came out just around the time RotK released. I loved this game as a kid, but typically licensed games like this just piggyback off the success of the movies, quickly cashing in a hack of a game. This is not the case here.

This can kinda be described as Age of Empires in Middle-earth, but truthfully this game becomes entirely its own. I love strategy games because they make me feel smart, but I rarely play them. This is not just a good Lord of the Rings game; it's an awesome strategy game. It stretches you and challenges you and by the end you will feel like a master tactician. It has depth, complexity, and plenty of reward. This game also magically catches lightning in a bottle twice with having both rohirrim charges and Ithilien archers being so, so satisfying to maneuver.

Otherwise, what could I possibly say about the music and acting? It's got the sacred movie soundtrack and voice acting from the cast, including lots of extra work from Sir Ian himself. Nothing else comes close. There is not a whole lot else I can say. This game was made in 2004, but holds up incredibly well as many games of this style do. If you like LOTR or strategy, or especially if you like both, this game is a must. You need to be a computer scientist to install the files, but it's worth the challenge. Only a 9 because I'm reserving the ten for 2.