Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II Demo

The Lord of the Rings has captivated millions of fans ever since the books were released, but much more so after the the movie trilogy came out on the silver screen. Thanks to the films, almost everyone is aware of the heroes that fought to save Middle-earth from the dark forces of Sauron, including Legolas, Frodo and Boromir.

The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II is the second installment of the acclaimed RTS series that takes place in the fantastic world of Tolkien. As with the previous title, this second game aims to provide you with the opportunity to take control over one of the factions fighting in the war and lead them to victory, as well as make use of their special units and heroes to come out on top in the end.

As far as the strategy part is concerned, the game follows the original RTS concept, complete with base construction and resource gathering. Once a mine is built, gold starts pouring into your treasury and you can use it to erect more advanced buildings, or to recruit forces for your army. Depending on the race, you also have to keep building supply structures in order to be able to expand your forces even more.

To render the epic fights between the factions, the game employs a very good-looking graphic engine, which is able to render every unit in great detail. Thus, even when you zoom into the battlefield to watch the war unfold more closely, the characters maintain their appeal and do not transform into simple blobs formed out of just a few polygons.

Thanks tot the advanced graphics, the game can also render some of the most popular heroes into the story, such as Gimli, Legolas, Saruman and various other characters from the story. In skirmish mode, these can be used to empower your army with their presence and you can also make use of their special abilities, which can sometimes turn the tide of a battle by themselves.

In the end, The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II manages to provide you with every ingredient that is part of a successful RTS, including a wide variety of units, heroes, base building and a very captivating campaign to give you a first-hand look at the war and even your own role to play in it.