The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle Earth II: Rise of the Witch King
Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-Earth II: The Rise of the Witch-King expands the universe Tolkiem created. This expansion pack to the fan favorite game series lets you command the rise of evil in Middle-earth while experiencing the epic battles that took place before the films. Become the leader of an evil faction and lead an invasion of the peaceful kingdom of Arnor, home of Aragorn's ancestors. To fully experience the evil side of Middle-earth, gamers can now play as the all new Angmar faction in skirmish, multiplayer, and War of the Ring modes.
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The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle Earth II: Rise of the Witch King Reviews
I still give top marks to EA for this game and it's previous version. The Witch King provides additional characters without change in style and game play. My review of LOTR II applies to this game as well. The quality and style are all equalled by Battle for Middle Earth II. Enjoy.
Overall, this expansion has peaked my interest in playing the game. If you like the original, you will definetly like the additions with this expansion.
While the witch king does not dramatically change game play, it does add to the original game.
The Angar faction is a wonderful addition. I mostly play it on skirmish mode with other players.
I heard that the War of the Ring additions are also great, but I haven't had a chance to dig into that. They have added new, much needed, units to the other factions, additional maps, and beefed up the create a hero system.
They also added a few heroes to some of the factions, like the Dale hero from the dwarven side.
Apparently this is a known issue from EA forums that many people experience after instillation. The only way is to download a torrent with a no cd crack which is not a fix. After receiving and installing the game was unable to play due to an dat.error. DO NOT recommend buying as EA has not released a fix.
Frankly, for *me*, it's too massive and time consuming, and I just don't have the requisite time/energy/desire to take it on. For the Elves, there are Noldor Warriors. Other factions have ways to generate extra resources. Only one Black Rider at a time may be in play. All have their good and bad points. (Compare this with goblin archers who seem to need to run up to the enemy and French kiss them before firing). The Campaign is interesting in that it presents a new faction: Angmar, and the Witch-King is a major character in many of the tasks that comprise the Campaign, although he seems to be (in the Campaign and the Skirmishes) a bit on the weak side.
If you play the Goblins, watch when you build a tunnelyou'll see two goblins kind of playing catch, although they're supposed to be working. Lorien archers, Mirkwood archers, and Noldor warriors. The skirmishes were less exciting, as the terrain didn't change much from one place to another, with minor exceptions, and that's where BME2 and BME2RWK really shine. When the goblin on the outside loses track of what he's doing, the one from the inside comes up, smacks him on the head, and they resume their tasks of throwing and catching rocks. You can have three units on the field at a time. Isengard gets Uruk Deathbringers. The harder the game selection, the more forces will be thrown at you, so you don't have idle time to wait for your troops to heal.
You need to create new troops, purchase new banners, armor, arrows or weapons, etc. The level of detail that went into the planning of this game is extraordinary. Also, the walls that Angmar builds are strong. (If all you know is the movie, what happens between Gandalf and the Witch-king in Gondor in the Extended Version of ROTK could not possibly have happened). If you capture the ring, you get to call out Sauron himself. Like others, they are more effective as they level up, but are too easily dispatched.
Gandalf is better matched against the Balrog that the evil forces can call upon, but even the Balrog is weaker than it should be. Used correctly, and leveled up, they are a mighty force. What I can comment on is the Campaign, and the Skirmishes, and how true to Tolkien's Middle-earth the game is. They are all Maia, essentially angels (or fallen angels). Gandalf, for instance, wouldn't stand much of a chance against the Black Riders of Mordor, and we know from the books that he's more than a challenge for any of them. I haven't played the War of the Ring, so can't comment on that. All of the new additions are carefully thought out, and while they all don't follow the canon of LOTR, the direction of the Witch-King's assault on the kingdom of Andor does, and that in itself is impressive. My only real beef with this game is that patches to the original version weakened some heroes.
With elves, if you develop your archers quickly, get them the silverthorn upgrade as soon as possible, and purchase Haldir as a hero, pretty soon you'll be ruling the battlefield. Like I saiddetails. He is the one character in the gamethe only onewho can change the tide of a battle. They come fully upgraded with banners (though one isn't visible), silverthorn arrows, and armor. The Men of the West get Knights of Dol Amroth. (Which just makes the game seem that much more incredible to me). But the bad guys need the extra resources, because they can't heal.
They can be upgraded with "ice", and once done are very difficult to knock down. In the first Battle for Middle Earth, the Campaign was much more exciting, as it followed the story of The Lord of the Rings reasonably wellit certainly followed the movie. That's mostly true if you're playing against the computer, but if you're playing against another person, who would ostensibly know how better to deploy heroes (i.e., send them out with troops, have them fight alongside troops, and try to stay alive to level up and reap the benefits of higher-level powers, as opposed to acting like kamikazes), then the Witch-king's major power, a resetting of all heroes special powers to "used", is actually a major power. I was playing level 1 Goblins against level 4 elves, and while not being soundly trounced, I was definitely losing.
Just as in writing, it's all in the details. Goblins get Fire Drake Brood. Compare that to calling out Galadriel, who is the hero that the forces of good can call upon when they've captured the ring. When you skirmish in Lorien, the colors of the forest are gorgeous and alluring, as in the Shire and Rivendell.
Played correctly, they are fearsome. Elves are the premier archers of the game. Evil was stronger than good, and the "forces of good" really had to dig down deep to pull out a victory. You can custom-make heroes that have more health than Galadriel. Their bannered units don't replenish as quickly as the good guy's bannered units do, and there's nowhere for them to go (no Mirror of Galadriel, or Well of Healing) to quicken their healing.
One, Morgomir, is said to be one of The Nine (he's not), and when using him as a hero, he is, at times, much more effective than the Witch-king himself, with "powers" that have a more direct impact on the game. As soon as Sauron came out, the tide shifted, and I won. If you're playing the evil side, and find yourself run over by a bunch of horsed lancers, your forces take a serious hit. Mordor and Isengard have lumber mills in addition to their main resource generator, and Isengard has a power that, when selected, allows you to raise the output of a slaughterhouse by 300% for the duration of the game. It's not quite so easy playing it the other way, playing the good guys. I'd have to agree with that. She's not a game changer.
The others have clever backgrounds, that do reflect canon, but they're fictional-fictional creations. Good is represented by Dwarves, Elves, and Men. All in all, a terrific game. Remember: Gandalf, the Balrog, Saruman, and Sauron all share a similar origin. Dwarves get Zealots.
But anyone can see from the reviews posted here that it's a remarkable feature of the game. More so as a hero in Mordor, where he rides the winged beast (he has the option of dismounting), than in Angmar, where he sits a horse. Add that to the lumber mills, and you're raising money quickly. Along with Angmar come new troops: Thrall Masters, Black Numenoreans, Dark Rangers (who fire bolts of ice, rather than silverthorn or fire), Dire Wolves, Snow Trolls, Hill Trolls, Seige Engine, and, the newest introduction to the entire BME universe, Sorcerers who, if used correctly, can be devastating. No man should be able to withstand Gandalf's wrath, especially when he returns as Gandalf the White. They can also switch to fight with swords at close range. But that's finethat's canon. Only two may be on a field at a time, which amounts to 6 individual fire drakes.
Still, that's not much of a beef. He's not terribly quick on his feet, or speedy with his mace, but once that mace connects to anything, watch out. She has some cool powersfear, and a wicked tornado that picks up virtually everything, and that, when positioned over an enemy's fortress can cause severe damagebut the way they've drawn her character she looks more like Stevie Nicks throwing karate kicks than the Queen of the Elves. I slowly made it through on the easy setting, and I won't be going back for more.
It was interesting, but not quite interesting enough to do what I would think of as torturetry and try again to beat a game that will always beat me. He's pricey10,000but has an insane amount of health, 15,000, and must be wearing armor that's stronger than mithril. Mordor gets The Black Riders. The Campaign is that of the Witch-King's successful attempt to destroy the realm of Andor, a northern kingdom in Middle-earth. One is throwing rocks out from inside the tunnel, the one on the outside is catching them. In the Angmar faction, the "heroes" are not canon, with the Witch-king's notable exception. Evil is represented by Isengard, Goblins, Mordor, and Angmar.
The more elite the archer unit, the further back the archers need to be to hit their targets. He can cause whole battalions to become airborne. One of the lead reviews posted here mentioned that even on the "easy" setting, the Campaign was extremely difficult. He also can't stand up to the Witch-king, which is absurd. That is, until I captured the ring. I haven't played the Dwarves, so can't comment on them.
The maps, and the lands portrayed within the maps, are much so more detailed than those in BME1, and your ability to customize the terrain to your liking (choosing where to build structures, how many you want to build) is greatly improved. There are other additions and changes to units and buildings, but that's a long enough list. Only three units can be on the field at a time, and if you pair them with other units on horseback, and, say, Eomer as a hero, once the knights level up appropriately, they lend extra experience to surrounding troops and can make for daunting cavalry. With the elves, you can upgrade to "silverthorn" arrows, and once you have an armored group of archers with silverthorn arrows, the game turns in your favor pretty quickly. The drawback to the elves is that it's difficult to raise resources. When playing equal sides, level 1 Goblins against level 1 elves, it's usually a cake walk for the goblins, with me playing the goblins and the computer playing the elves, for example.
He's nearly impossible to hurt if he's being utilized correctly, and if you're playing an evil group and get the ring, make sure you bring Sauron out. Best to pair them with a summoned Fire Drake from the Goblin fortress. They have three different types. Yet many can. All of the other factions received upgrades/changes; most importantly, they each received elite infantry units, with limits to the number you can have on the field. Her health is 5,000.
In reality, it's six horsed men in blackthe Nazguland again, they become more and more terrible as they level up.
This is about all it does though, graphics and AI remain about the same. It takes care of a lot of the glitches and balances the civilizations a bit, while adding a new civilization that has powerful, but expensive troops. Overall I truly enjoyed the original and this addition certainly does not detract from it, just don't expect too much from it. If you enjoyed battle for middle earth II then I would recommend this expansion, as long as your not paying more than about $15.
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