"The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II" is a real-time strategy video game developed by EA Los Angeles. The publisher is Electronic Arts. The second part of "The Battle for Middle-earth" was released in early 2006.
"The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II" is a continuation of "The Battle for Middle-earth," which was released in 2004. The game's events mostly take place in the northern part of Middle-earth. Interestingly, the developers focused not primarily on Peter Jackson's films, but rather on the story described in the books of master J.R.R. Tolkien. The film trilogy by the renowned director only depicted the adventures of the Fellowship of the Ring, while many events from the books were left off-screen. There were also other heroes besides Gandalf, Frodo, and Legolas, and battles were fought all over Middle-earth. It is on such heroes and battles that the creators of "The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II" concentrated their efforts.
Almost all factions from the first game migrated to the second: Mordor, Gondor, Isengard, and Rohan, but new sides of the conflict were also introduced, including elves, goblins, and dwarfs. "The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II" is divided into two playable campaigns. In the first, you play as the forces of Good, and in the second – as the forces of Evil. Both campaigns consist of a chain of sequential missions, which is a novel feature of "The Battle for Middle-earth II" – the first part had a map of all regions where events unfolded. Anticipating potential player dissatisfaction, the developers introduced a special mode called "War of the Ring," which is free from strict limitations and equipped with a map of Middle-earth.
In contrast to "The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II," the second game underwent a number of significant changes. For example, you can now build structures at any point in a location rather than only in strictly defined areas. Instead of citadels, there are fortresses. Soldiers cannot be placed on the walls built around a fortress (with rare exceptions). The resource collection system and the hiring of combat units have changed. Do not forget about the aforementioned "War of the Ring" mode, in which players need to destroy all hostile factions. This mode somewhat resembles the gameplay campaign of the 2004 project (with the same global map), albeit with its unique features. When participating in "War of the Ring," players must capture enemy-occupied regions until there are no controlled regions left on the map.
For the second part of "The Battle for Middle-earth," an expansion called The Rise of the Witch-king was released in November 2006, introducing a new faction, Angmar, and a new antagonist - the Witch-king, known as the Lord of Terror or the Dark Lord.