Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II for Xbox 360 Reviews by Gamers

I really had high hopes for this game because there hasn't really been a good strategy game made for consoles. I thought with the power of the 360 this might be the first. I was wrong. First I'll start off with the biggest flaw in the game, the framerate. The game chugs along somewhere between 15-25 frames per second and occassionaly it almost comes to a halt. With the power the 360 pumps out it is unforgivable. I can only assume it was a bad port or not a good graphics engine in the first place although it actually is better online and dosen't hinder the gameplay like in the single player campaign, so if that's what your getting it for you may find it somewhat enjoyable. The second thing that bugged me was the camera, it just won't back out far enough to get a good overview of the action. So you are having to move the cursor around pretty fast to keep up with what's happening but with the poor framerate it just doesn't work. The next thing was the controls, it took some time to get used to but somehow never seem comfortable and some things, like bookmarking units, i rarely used. The way EA mapped the various commands to the controller has promise but it could still use some work. Last i was pretty disappointed with the graphics, considering how great most reviews said this game looks i thought the characters, environments and textures were all sub par. Even the lighting and water were average at best. The artwork in between each chapter was good but they are static and feel kinda lifeless. Overall i was pretty disappointed. So if you are looking for a great RTS to play you should probably stick to the PC. If you love the Lord of the Rings you will probably still like this game even with all it's faults. But for everyone else heed my warning, although it is playable, BFME 2 is far from a polished 360 title. Maybe next time EA.