Battle for Middle Earth: Initial Impressions
 

I went out and purchased this game and I must tell you, I am extremely impressed by its polished layout and professionalism. I have not progressed very far, so I can't speak to the later stages, but the early portion of the "good campaign" has pleased me a great deal.

I was kind of sitting at home moping about how HL2's sewer/tunnel levels are just so insipid and how I felt Doom3 was excellent, but repetitive, and I popped this thing in. Well done. Seamless meshing of video clips, audio files, and addictive RTS gaming.

Has anyone else picked this up and has some first impressions? My only complaint is the inability to set up hero moves in advance. In a large battle I don't want to have to look for Aragorn to use Blademaster. I understand there are hotkeys, but, I would prefer if he would automatically use his powers at certain times. Anyone agree/disagree?

Cheers,
Gabs

How would you or anyone else compare it to something like Warcraft III or Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War?

I'm trying to decide whether to pick up the game or not...

Well, as far was W3, I would say that the battles are much more epic, the graphics are much more gritty (the 3d aspect is much better) and the hero advancement is actually not done as well as W3. I really enjoyed leveling my heroes in W3, seems like in Middle Earth it just kinda happens. Plus, when you've got the entire fellowship, its hard to really get attached to one char.

I liked Warhammer, but, I didn't really like how "into the weeds" you could get with every single unit. Plus, it always seemed like if I just built enough of one thing, I could wipe the whole map. Seemed a little too easy for my taste.

I would recommend this game without reservation. The more I play the more I am really impressed with the polished look its giving me.

Thanks for the info! I think I'll pick up a copy very soon....

I was saving up some money to get this game (will prolly have to wait till january -sigh-) because all the reviews were good.
The gameplay movies made me really want to get this game. Thanx for the review.

I got this game as an early Christmas present...
This is my first RTS game. Normally, I play FPS, so it took a little getting used to.
I must say, I'm really enjoying it! It's a lot of fun, and looks amazing. I recommend it to anyone.

Gabbyness: Didn't I read somewhere in the manual that you can right-click on some heroes' powers, which will activate them whenever they are recharged and needed? I need to try that myself, I know what you mean: it's hard to keep track of ten million things going on at once in a battle.