Lord Of The Rings, The Battle For Middle-earth II, The Rise of the Witch-king

An expansion that lasts as long as its title? No.
Version
 PC		Developer
EA Los Angeles		Publisher
EA		Genre
RTS



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By Ian Dransfield

So here we have the first expansion pack for EA's Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth 2, and with it comes an even longer full title for the game, so what the hell - from now on it's called Rise of the Witch-King, or in fact just Witch-king out of principle.

I thought Witch-king is a pretty run-of-the-mill expansion to be honest, but BFME players should be happy to get some new missions, and rightly so - the BFME series is a solid one, if nothing amazingly special. Rise of the Witch-King brings a new campaign to the fore, with players assuming control of the eponymous Witch-king.

"It's pretty standard expansion pack stuff really, but the abruptness of the main campaign harms the value."

Head of the ring-wraiths (Nazgul) he unites northern troll tribes and other nasty beastly types to form the new faction of the Angmar - crushing the local man-kingdom of Arnor along the way. The campaign is set between the time of Sauron's defeat in the massive battle seen in the movies, and the beginning of the Fellowship - and fans are getting a nice treat as the LoTR canon is fleshed out with this prequel material.

The main addition with Witch-King comes in the campaign, but this is terribly short lived, with only seven or so missions until the end comes about. Nevertheless, it's an interesting and fun experience while it lasts. Other additions come in the shape of a tweaked turn-based section in the War of the Ring freeform campaign, and a few new units here and there for the existing factions.

It's pretty standard expansion pack stuff really, but the abruptness of the main campaign really harms the value of the thing - whilst using the Angmar in multiplayer does become an option, there really isn't much other incentive to purchase Rise of the Witch-King unless you're a big fan.

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