LOTR: BFME 2: The Rise of the Witch-king

Based on the film series of The Lord of the Rings, LOTR: The Battle for Middle Earth II: The Rise of the Witch-King is a real-time strategy video game developed by Electronic Arts. The Rise of the Witch-King is an expansion to The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth II. The expansion pack allows you to control the rise of evil in Middle Earth.

What is The LOTR: BFME II: The Rise of The Witch-King about?

Even though BFME II and Rise of the Witch-King seem similar, but their main difference is Angmar. Comparing both games, Witch King has new units, maps, hero, and single player mode, all that wasn’t in BFME II.

The Witch-King is the primary lieutenant of the dark lord Sauron, and the leader of the Nazgul, his army’s fearsome black-robed generals. After the epic battle, which was shown at the beginning of the film, The Ring Fellowship, the expansion is set. The Rise of the Witch-King campaign is of the tale that the Witch-King was to undertake between Angmar and Arnor before and during the battle before Sauron returned to Mordor. The campaign offers seven new missions.

The plot of the game is, Angmar’s Witch-King builds a realm out of nothing and gathers an army from the northern people, most of whom are Wolves, Trolls, Orcs, and differing Black Numenoreans; to destroy Arnor’sDunedain kingdom. The epilogue allows the players to place themselves in the footsteps of the good races. As you attempt to create your kingdom, the epic story continues and it ends with the King of Gondor dropping down to stop you. The Rise of the Witch-King expansion pack does justice to the history of The Lord of the Rings, and even improves it by incorporating Sauron’s diabolical schemes seamlessly into it.

Features of LOTR: BFME II: The Rise of the Witch-King

• Provides additional game strategies, such as tackling new campaign missions, Competition, Control Point, type of missions.
• New additional factions for every single one of the game’s original six factions.
• Players can play an improved and extended mode of the War of the Ring, with the new army – the built up units in Battle Phase skirmishes are brought onto the Living World Map.
• Addition of History Element- the Witch-King’s rise to power.
• New hero creation.

Pros of the Rise of the Witch-King

• Realistic Graphics.
• New missions to tackle.
• The AI opponent gives a good challenge.
• Includes separate and campaign mode missions.

Cons of the Rise of the Witch-King

• Visuals for all the races aren’t the same.
• No cave trolls.
• The AI retreats before ending the battle.

Our Verdict

LOTR BFME II: The Rise of the Witch-King offers a new faction, Angmar, with several other features, which makes the expansion pack even more fantastic! It doesn’t dilute the original story of the LOTR and adds up to the original game. From a scale of 1-10, the game would be 8/10.

Here's a surprise. No, not that there's still enough room to fit a review on this page after the longest title in gaming history, but that this expansion pack is actually better than the original game. Then again, perhaps it isn't such a shock, given that this add-on is a PC-only title, unlike the console-orientated The Lord of The Rings: The Battle For Middle-Earth II.

So what's different? Well for starters, the tedious, overly linear and one-dimensional trawls that passed themselves off as battlefields in BFME2 have been replaced by far more challenging skirmishes, which stretch your strategic prowess to far greater lengths than before, if never quite pushing you to your limits. The plot is also worth an honourable mention, admirably charting the Witch-king of Angmar's invasion of Amor.

Some excellent new units, including Snow Trolls that hammer through enemy ranks like legions of charging cavalry, coupled with an array of imaginative new Heroes provide plenty of variety, while the proactive Al and numerous hotspots on many maps give missions that frenetic edge so sorely missing from the full version. However, be warned: Witch-King's epic battles are far more power hungry than its predecessor's, and you'll need at least a 256MB 3D card to truly enjoy them.

With the War Of The Ring turnbased campaign also receiving some minor though effective tweaks, this is one add-on pack you should snap up like a slavering Warg. Amazing what's possible when consoles don't get in the way, isn't it?