14 DAY TRIAL // 
The high fantasy novel Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien has been a great source of inspiration for painters, musicians, movie-makers, writers and even video game developers. Although I'm quite sure most of you are also familiar with the writings as well as with the movie trilogy that were highly appreciated, our attention turns to the accomplishments in the video games industry. The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth RTS proved it deserved a sequel so Electronic Arts kindly bowed to the fans' community and released this year (2006) BFME II.
Emphasizing the adventures presented in the movies, BFME II adds new content from Tolkien's original fiction. The player now goes beyond what he has seen on the big screen by waging war in the North and assuming command of the most fascinating civilizations in the Middle-earth history - the elves and dwarves as well as the already familiar forces of Rohan and Gondor. The dark side, avid of evil, can kick in at any time and be pleased by controlling the malicious goblins or the armies of Isengard or Mordor (that you are acquainted with if you've played BFME). Enigmatic locations were the battlefields of the greatest confrontations between Good and Evil. Lands such as Dol Guldur, the Misty Mountains, Mirkwood needed to be defended or overtaken depending on the faction that you chose.
But this was all the way back in March. There was plenty of time to conquer the North and become the winner in this dark war. November seemed the perfect time to release the first expansion. It's time to meet with the army of evil minions from the lands of Angmar. Discover the story of the most powerful of the nine Nazgul, the one that no living man was capable of killing. Prepare yourself for the Rise of the Witch-king.
Story
Although he fled defeated at the hands of the Last Alliance, the Witch-king still lusts for power. His ambitions push him into single-handedly establishing a huge kingdom in Angmar and destroy the Men of Arnor. He seeks to create a mighty empire in expectation of the return of the Dark Lord Sauron's strength. The Witch-king finds a few followers along the single-player campaign that the expansion provides. Rogash, the Troll of exceptional cunning and cruelty swears allegiance to the mighty Nazgul at the very beginning of the daring crusade. The Witch-king's right hand is Morgomir, once Captain of the Black Numenorians, presently one of The Nine and Lieutenant of Carn Dum. Hwaldar paves the way for Angmar's invasion by betraying the trust of his Rhudaur Hillmen brothers. The fearsome league is completed with the mysterious Kharsh, a Wraith whose victims often only hear a fade whisper before joining him in fate. The heroes of Angmar all come with their distinct stories depicted along the SP campaign.
Concept
Along eight missions and an epilogue, the player will listen to the intricate stories of the Angmar leaders and follow the Witch-king's road to the glorifying defeat of the Men of Arnor. The campaign proposes all RTS battles of a magnificent grandeur. Conquer the Northern lands, destroy Arnor fortresses and defend your own against the forces of Men. Once you have fulfilled the kings' ambitions for power and everlasting glory, tune in to the War of the Ring setting to enjoy the additional 14 regions on the fantastic world of Middle-earth. The TBS component of the game challenges your strategy skills even more than before as the map gets a lot bigger.
Gameplay
The Witch-king comes with an interesting selection of troops. One of the most useful units (and at the same time unique) is the Thrall Master. He has the ability of summoning troops on the spot (one type of unit at a time, of course). Although low level units with not much skill in the art of fighting, these are extremely useful as they can serve a certain purpose. Basically, you discover the map with the daring Thrall Masters and once you face your enemy, you decide on the most appropriate unit type - cavalry (Gundabad Wolf Raiders in this case), archery (Rhudaur Axe Throwers) or infantry (some wild Rhudaur Spearmen or the bloodthirsty Gundabad Warriors). Although their only strength is in number, these are inexpensive units that can easily even the odds in the beginnings of the game and also serve as a good resource defense. Carefully protect the master as if he falls in battle, the entire battalion is doomed as well.
The Angmar faction also houses the innovative sorcerers that consume the souls of their acolytes to cast powerful spells (you'll need to play through more than half of the campaign to get these). Troll hordes ensure the devilish look of the army. Green big fellas from the hills wield long hammers to knock off the enemy cavalry while fur wrapped Snow Trolls from the frozen northern wastelands act as cavalry units perfect for sweeping the enemy archers. Trolls' brute power is also used for the siege weapon - the Troll Stone Thrower (these Trolls are smarter than before, yet not smart enough to come up with exciting weaponry names so let's not blame them). The Dire Wolves are the Angmar's faction fastest unit. While they won't do much damage against a good defending force and prove to be pretty fragile for the swordsmen type of unit they intend to cover for, their speed is a good addition to the otherwise slow faction. The Hall of the Kings Men also allows the purchase of Black Numenoreans as an elite infantry unit as well as Dark Rangers - the best archers Angmar has to offer (I used to love housing them in a Battle Tower with their enhanced ice arrows and enjoy the quick view of them sweeping out up to two or three battalions before these even had the chance of swinging a blow at the building - of course cavalry was a little more challenging because of their speed, but they never really got to do much damage). Surprisingly, I found out that I could easily rely on my well upgraded fortress to get me out of a seemingly no way out situation and the fortified walls proved they can also be used as a good distraction of part of the enemy forces.
The great powers of the Angmar realm offer spells that make use of the harsh frozen conditions in the North as well as summoning spells that bring into battle fearsome creatures such as Giants, hordes of Orcs or hallucinating Wights. The third level power can either cast a devastating avalanche or summon a huge snow white wolf from the depths of the frozen realm.
An overall summarizing leads to the conclusion that the new faction the expansion introduces is well balanced, with attractive units (challenging strategies can be attempted, what were you thinking?), powerful heroes to lead the forces into battle and a captivating solo campaign (however, I'll live the pleasure of discovering their abilities and stories to you). You aren't allowed much freedom, as the enemy constantly launches countless waves of attacks at your base camp and makes sure you'll have something to fight once you reach your target. Well, tune in for more freedom to the War of the Ring mode once you finish the campaign and enjoy the newly added 14 territories.
Video
The new added regions (to the TBS - RTS side of the game) level up to the standards the BFME II set. With terrain type that ranges from hills to snow covered mountains, I'd say it pleases any trilogy fan's desire for grandiose battles in the mystical realm of Middle-earth. If it's not enough, the action moves of the new heroes will surely warm your heart (especially the grand leap attack Rogash charges his enemies with and scatters their bodies all over).
I particularly enjoyed the overall feeling of the campaign along with the entire unit design - it's cold, seeming evil and heartless. The body armor of the Nazgul also inspired the architecture of the faction's buildings completed by the human traces the Numenoreans bring. This once great culture also comes all dressed up in scales and furs (pretty cold up north, what else could they do?). What's more, all spells involve ice shards and great balls of snow and ice. The visual effects for all of these look wonderful in addition to the already known eye pleasing physics graphics. Other than this, it's just the already known engine of BFME II - spectacular, allowing for huge vicious battles and magnificent fortress falls.
Sound
Once again, the game cannot disappoint here. The background music that delighted us in the movie sends out a tsunami (if I may say so) of influence here. The battles are loud and the cut-scenes rely on good voice acting along with the fantastically chosen voice of the storyteller. If it wasn't for the guy that kept telling me my base was under attack every time the enemy managed to take one lousy hit at my buildings, I would've been extremely pleased with the audio.
Multiplayer
Just like BFME II, The Rise of the Witch-king comes with an appealing multiplayer option. It offers both LAN and Online possibilities of challenging up to 7 other players (so that would be eight players tops). You'll be able to choose a map that will be you're battlefield in an all RTS confrontation or choose the longer TBS mode for countless hours of battles for the domination over the Middle-earth. You know a human opponent will always prove much more challenging (and sometimes fun) so be sure to test your skills accordingly.
Conclusion
It may come a time when we get tired of trolls, elves, goblins and the endless wars that humans have to endure. It may even come a time when the Middle-earth Tolkien universe has no more secrets for us. But this is definitely not it. The Rise of the Witch-king reveals the story behind one of the most intriguing characters - the strongest Nazgul there ever was in the armies of Mordor. I enjoyed every mission of the new campaign, although I did find it a little irritating that the game tends to get pretty lazy when large forces are involved. I cannot forgive them for the enormous time it took me to save in the middle of the scenarios, though I feel like it made me concentrate on the gameplay even more as I knew I wouldn't want to take another break anytime soon. The story though softened me a little. The visual effects followed and now, all I can say is that this is a very welcomed addition to the Battle for Middle-earth universe. True, it's not absolutely needed, but it's a thrilling experience, providing the novelty fans all over the world have been expecting. The Angmar faction is definitely fun to control and carries the resources for many possibilities of efficient strategies.
