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

Critic reviews

• CCVG

  Xbox 360 - The Official Xbox Magazine · Jul 25, 2006

  8.0

  Our main gripe with BFMEII? The battles aren't big enough. Though the unit sizes have been increased from the previous PC version, they're still pitifully small. Like we said, we want to see thousands of troops clashing along enormous fronts, just like in the films. Rome: Total War on the PC can achieve this, but for some reason EA has chosen to restrict what should be epic confrontations to smaller skirmishes.
• VGVideo Gamer

  Tom Orry · Jul 20, 2006

  8.0

  The single-player game is a tad short due to the missing dynamic campaign from the PC game, but the online game modes should provide plenty of value for money, and the Xbox 360 specific achievement points are nicely spread out. PC gamers will turn their noses up at what is undoubtedly an inferior product, but console gamers have something new to experience, in a genre that just didn't seem possible.

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• GZGame Zone

  jkdmedia · Jul 16, 2006

  8.5

  The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth II is a success not just as a great game in The Lord of the Rings series. It’s also a great RTS that strategy fans will go crazy for whether they’d like to save Middle-earth or leave the battle to someone else. Players will be kept on their toes at all times. As combat heats up, your skills will have to as well or face certain doom. The controls and easy command selection allow anyone to enter the fray, while the ferocious battles will keep skilled players at bay.

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• GGameSpot

  Jason Ocampo · Jul 07, 2006

  8.3

  While the single-player game will appeal to fans of The Lord of the Rings, competitive players will undoubtedly be drawn to the cutthroat multiplayer mode, especially since there's nothing quite like it on the Xbox 360. And, yes, the big surprise is that here's a real-time strategy game that works on a console, and the world didn't come to an end.

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• IIGN

  Douglass C. Perry · Jul 05, 2006

  8.2

  While the console controls aren't perfect and by no means as good as those on the PC, they're good -- good enough to make a real-time strategy feel fun, fluid, and competent on Xbox 360. 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. Like I've been saying all along, this is the sleeper hit of the summer on Xbox 360.

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• GRGames Radar+

  Charlie Barratt · Jul 05, 2006

  8.0

  Because how can you resist a game that not only enables you to pit hobbits against dragons on a regular basis, but also gives you the tools necessary to concoct a crazy strategy in which the little guys actually win? Whether you're a fan of the property, a real-time strategy buff, an Xbox Live warrior, or some combination of the three, this one is definitely worth checking out.

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