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> Results: War of the Ring
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War has come, and hordes of orcs fight armies of humans as Nazgul soar overhead. Trolls wade into battle swinging tree trunks and living tree-trunks called Huorns meet them head to head. Dwarves fight side-by-side with Elves and the riders have ridden hard from Rohan, as Sierraﾒs foray into the realmﾗthe literary realmﾗof Middle Earth for the first time. War of the Ring isnﾒt based on the movies. The Tolkien license is fickle that way. EA has the film license, so they are actually more limited to what they can cover and how things should look. This gives them an advantage over Sierra, whose book license forbids them from using the same voice actors, costumes, music, and artwork from the movies. Confusing stuff, but it neatly protects Sierra from some criticism. I mean, that is so totally not Ian McKellan voicing Gandalf and its like, so totally not their fault. Every review of War of the Ring is going to mention that the game looks (and mostly plays) exactly like Warcraft III. I mean itﾒs like they used the same engine (they didnﾒt) and it looks like they didnﾒt add anything new (they did). So, at first blush, youﾒd think you were playing Warcraft IV: Tides of the Anduin or something (youﾒre not). Still, Liquid Entertainment (Battle Realms) really did imitate Blizzardﾒs RTS to a fault. The perspective, graphics, interface, and most of the basic concepts and gameplay are an amalgam of Warcraft III and Battle Realms. Itﾒs a good mix and well executed from a gameplay standpoint. The game centers around LOTR heroes. As they fight they gain Fate points, which makes them tougher and lets them use their special powers. This brings about the same balance Warcraft III has, where youﾒre tending to your army and resource gathering (ore and food here) while also trying to level up your hero. The dynamic is different in that there arenﾒt any creeps (neutral forces in Warcraft III) so you have to raid the enemy with your hero to gain the Fate points that might turn the tide of battle. One highlight is the mission design. The storyline begins with the dwarven defense of the Iron Mountains, moves to the elves of Mirkwood, then to an early attack on Osgiliath by the forces from Mordor, and then to Lothlorien. From there the heroes head to Rivendell and the story centers around the Fellowship and whatﾒs happening around them. Theyﾒve taken some dramatic license here but itﾒll only offend the purists. Gotta give the developers credit for creativity on some of the missions. Some are very good. The second campaign has you playing the bad guys; I wonﾒt tell you what happens if you win that one. Multiplayer is solid too.  The colors are washed out, the graphics are cartoonish and blocky, but lack the spark Blizzard added. War of the Ring isnﾒt very attractive. Itﾒs not ugly either, but the aesthetic isnﾒt quite right for Middle Earth ﾖ a place weﾒre used to seeing in beautiful artwork, weird Rankin-Bass or forbidding Bakshi animation, or, wellﾅ New Zealand. The audio and sound is good, but, like all RTS games the unit audio is grating. The orcs sound like extras from an old Interplay Star Trek game and the elves sound, um, extra fey (not that thereﾒs anything wrong with that). War of the Ring is a good RTS game, particularly for fans of Warcraft III. But it lacks much of what makes Tolkienﾒs work so unique. Really this game could have used a generic fantasy world. It fails to capture the feel of the books, or the movies, but is still a good RTS despite that. Kid Factor: If your kids can handle the movies or Warcraft III, they can handle this. The game is a bit bloody, the bad guys have some scary monsters and a crucial unit they use is the slave master, but itﾒs all presented as the war between good and evil. In very stark terms. Parents should know that you can play the bad guys and squash all thatﾒs right in the world. Reviewer's Recommended Ages: 13+ ESRB: T-Teen (13+) Genre: Real-Time Strategy Developer: Liquid Entertainment Producer: Sierra Score: 3 of 5 
War has come, and hordes of orcs fight armies of humans as Nazgul soar overhead. Trolls wade into battle swinging tree trunks and living tree-trunks called Huorns meet them head to head. Dwarves fight side-by-side with Elves and the riders have ridden hard from Rohan, as Sierraﾒs foray into the realmﾗthe literary realmﾗof Middle Earth for the first time.
Kid Factor by Robert M. Andrews
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