The fight for Middle-earth is still the focus of the campaigns, but the structure has been changed pretty dramatically from the first game. Those that played the original will remember the campaign taking place over the "living-world map" of Middle-earth. It created an interesting atmosphere but dragged on by the end. EALA has moved the campaign into a more traditional structure for the sequel and it works much better this way. The exciting attack and defend missions aren't broken up with repetitive and uninteresting skirmishes.
In fact, almost all of the sixteen total campaign missions (eight each for good and evil) are well constructed and fun. Many of them provide very cool settings to play in like Rivendell, Celduin, Erebor, and The Shire and most are constructed to fit the fiction and progress the action and technology. By the end of the game there's a truckload of powers, units, and heroes at hand. The good missions really push the feeling of being cornered while the evil missions are all about attacking with superior numbers and disdain for the realms of the freemen. I know I've said it before, but it's just too much fun to run into The Shire with the goblins to not mention it again.
Preceding and following each mission is a short cutscene describing the happenings in the war, why the mission is where it is, and what the strategic value is. All of these cutscenes are a mix of art and in-game graphics with more interesting camera views. While they're relatively unimportant to gameplay, they sure can be fun to watch. Whoever put them together has a good eye for the visually dramatic and they certainly help get you excited for what's to come and feel victorious at the end.
Because the war in the north takes place simultaneously to the war in the south between the Men of the West, Mordor, and Isengard, most of the focus in the campaign is on the three new factions: the dwarves, elves, and goblins. The addition of these three new races raises the faction count to six and manages to balance out very well. Each faction brings new play styles to the game and the offer of spectacular advantages and tricky disadvantages. Players will have to contend with the dwarves slow speed and the goblin's lack of defense.
For those unfamiliar with the changes to gameplay, Battle for Middle-earth II has made some huge ones that give it an old school feel. Bases can now be built free-form instead of the set base size with a number of build plots. Now, since walls can be built and buildings placed anywhere, changes were made to what can be constructed and how resources are collected. Walls become a huge strategy for certain races (though they're usually very expensive to construct) like the dwarves. Resource buildings now continuously collect money, but have a radius around them that blocks new resource buildings from being constructed too closely together. It means that players will have to actively expand into new territory to get the money necessary for their plans. It also means those interests have to be protected, which gets more complicated the farther they are from the main base. Goblins and dwarves have a great advantage in that they can actually use their resource buildings as tunnels for traveling quickly around the map.
While resource spaces are to be fought over, my compatriot Steve made a good point after playing a game that there aren't as many focus points for battles as there are in other RTSs. For instance, Dawn of War has capture points, StarCraft and Warcraft have resource nodes… but BMFE 2 is all about building up and crushing the enemy. There are some bonus buildings that can be captured, but I've often seen those destroyed quickly rather than having to worry about them being captured by the enemy. I don't think this is necessarily a problem though. The pace of the game doesn't seem to suffer, partly because skirmish maps are usually compact enough that conflicts erupt over room to expand resource operations.
In any case the remaining factions have been adjusted to fit the game's new format. They've been given more units per battalion (which creates battles with more bodies and more action) and given all of the buildings necessary to create bases including their brand new fortress. Each side has a fortress which can be upgraded with different types of defenses and eventually upgraded with a special ability like flinging a giant burning rock at an enemy or creating powerful eagles to attack from the sky.
Even with all of the changes to format, Isengard and Mordor are pretty much the same as we remember them from the original game. Gondor and Rohan, on the other hand, have been combined into one group to create a more rounded out faction called The Men of the West. They've got the powerful Rohirrim cavalry and stalwart Gondor infantry together in one group. As such, it's a much more complete faction that either ever was in the first game.
All of these factions combine into a pretty well balanced group. There are counters to pretty much every tactic, though some are easier to use than others. It's pretty impressive that EALA has managed to balance six fairly unique factions as well as they have. Diverse forces, heroes, hero powers, and faction powers all combine for a terrific mix of gameplay.
My only concern with balance right now is that I'm having a hard time figuring out the elf weak point. I'm guessing I just haven't looked hard enough yet, but they seem to be really difficult to play against. They're fast enough that they can hit and run, gain levels, and buy enough time to save up enough resources for the high level upgrades, which really turn them into an offensive juggernaut. On the other hand, should an elf player only get a hero and a couple of battalions out before a big goblin or orc rush, they'll likely be able to hold the attack off while gaining levels for their heroes extremely quickly since goblins and orcs die so easily. The problem is that if you don't wait to attack the elves, they'll just gain enough resources to upgrade to powerful arrows and then it's really difficult to beat them. I have yet to lose as the elves in multiplayer and yet to win against the elves with anybody. There's always the possibility that it's just my failing.
Even so, skirmish in multiplayer and single player is pretty fun. I did mention in my first impressions the other day that I was having some problems with desynching online. Since then, I've only desynched once through quite a few matches including a several hour War of the Ring match. Though it's infrequent, it's still is annoying when it happens.
There are over 40 maps to choose from in skirmish including some extras for those that bought the collectors edition, like Weathertop, though players that picked up the basic copy shouldn't be sad with their selection. All of these maps that come with the basic game are present in the War of the Ring mode of play. This is where the "living-world map" now lives. It's a RISK style game where players have to move armies around a board covered in territories. Several victory conditions are available creating a pretty good, long gameplay experience.
Most of the mode is actually pretty darn fun and it works well as both a single and multiplayer (both co-op and competitive) experience aside from a couple of problems. The biggest of these is that it's way too easy for an enemy general to get behind your lines and simply run from territory to territory claiming new lands while your own army simply chases behind. The problem is, it happens too often and there's no consequence to getting caught doing it. When you do manage to completely surround an invading army and attack, there's little to no penalty to the cornered rat. Should that leader lose the battle and their armies, he'll simply be transported back to the nearest territory, which unfortunately means the front lines of the war which ends up penalizing the player that catches him. While the offending simply gets to add new armies to his hero and immediately rejoin the fight, the player that had to chase him down is stuck back in their own territory several turns away from getting back into the fight which usually results in yet another hero sneaking by to capture more territory. It's unfortunate that destroyed leader heroes aren't removed from the game when killed without an adjoining territory to retreat to after the battle. It would create more consequences and even open up more strategic opportunities. Killing an important hero should mean something.
Over all aspects, Battle for Middle-earth II is a visually impressive experience. Whether you're looking at some of the impressive units, monstrous and wonderful set-pieces, lustrous ice terrain and water, spectacular special effects, or wonderful animation, it's hard to come away disappointed. They've done some major upgrading from the original title and it shows whether you're invading The Shire with a hopping whooping horde of goblins or defending the town of Dale and Citadel of Erebor from a massive Mordor attack. Almost all of the in-game menu systems are slick aside from the tiny chat box in the multiplayer lobby and gigantic bottom interface in War of the Ring mode (though it can be minimized).
Likewise, sound is also spectacular. Many of the sounds are recognizable from the movie and the new ones added for this sequel are just as good. The gibbering of goblins and burr of the dwarves are all well appreciated. Add the spectacular movie soundtrack on top and your ears will never get tired of what they're hearing.
