Battle for Middle Earth 2 Expansion Shots

The first game was good. It provided a simple interface and simple game mechanics. However, there were many strategies and nuances that kept the game interesting. The second game was also ok, but they broke away from the first game and tried to make BFMEII into more of an "age of" game. Like all RTS games, both needed patches. The first game had quite a few of balance issues with units and BFMEII had a bigger problem with walls and buildings and units.

The problem?

They need to learn how to patch. Microsoft is always patching the "age-of" games. They tweak things here and there and as certain over-powered strategies come to the surface they tweak things to balance it out. The guys working on BFME seem to release a few little patches for little issues then (6 months later) they release some mega-patch that changes the whole fucking game. Anyone who had played the original BFME knows about the 1.03 patch.

In an RTS you tweak and keep on tweaking till you no longer support the game. You don't release a huge patch that changes every unit in the game because you have no clue how to balance the shit. Go look at the patch notes for 1.06 for BFME II http://www.fileshack.com/file.x/6221/The+Battle+For+Middle+Earth+1.03+Patch+-+English with all the changes its not even fun to play any more. Oh well...I'm sure the expansion will make it fun again...

This game is BOORRRRRRRINNNGGGGGGGG!!!
IT IS LIKE DOING IT WITH MY SISTER.

I just find it hard to get excited about those pics - Rome: Total War was more impressive in the armies one could array, and they never looked quite as unnatural as those clearly delineated squads seen in those pics.

best game ever!

I used to be excited about this game. I even bought it for the XBOX360 to try it out. The first one seemed to have so much more playability over the second one and seemed to of lost most of its charm. Never could really put my finger on it, but it just wasn't as much fun. I played the first one for about a year and the send one for about two weeks. I guess the number one thing that killed this game for me was the new walls, what a waste they were.. they didn't serve any purpose. Maybe i will try it again with some of the later patches they released, might have gotten better with some balancing fixes.