The basic premise of any RTS console game is that its going to be utter garbage that even the trash man tries to steer clear of, however BFME2 is actually a quite solid game. The control scheme while still nowhere near competition to the PC control is nicely suited for the 360. Graphically the game is quite stunning at times. For example, your army will look full and completely healthy when first built but after one battle you can tell the damage they have taken just by looking. Then there’s the overall online component to throw in with the good because while EA in the past has been known to have multiple lobby and online problems. There are not that many with BFME2.

The story, while your basic Lord of the Rings story, is quite fun and very well put together. Now some of the other good things the game offers is all based off of the control scheme for the 360. EA LA has made it very easy to use the controller to build control and upgrade your army and fortress all at the same time while still being able to see the battlefield and know when something is coming at you. The other thing that really stands out is the magical powers. Oh… how they will save your ass at times and if you don't use the correctly could be the turning point of any battle your into.

And of course what would a Lord of the Rings games be without the voice over cast which draws a lot from the movie cast. Yet the good points keep coming back to the fact that it’s an RTS game that actually fits and works well on a console. However along with the good you always have the bad. Now I can't deny the fact that I’m a small Lord of the Rings fan and I can't deny that I love RTS games. But I can deny that Battle For Middle Earth 2 is the best thing on the 360. Yes, RTS wise it’s a good game but it still has its negative points. Once again the control scheme, while good, it can't compare to the PC control scheme and i wasn't expecting it to. I was still hoping the controls would be a little bit easier to command when your army is in multiple battles. It’s not. In fact that’s my huge gripe with the game. How the system and game will lag when multiple battles are taking place. A little lag would be common however when you have one part of your army attacking from one side and the other part of your army attacking from the opposite side the game stutters along until you only have one of the battles on your screen and even then it lags a little. Now you really don't have need for a massive sized army on any of the single players until the last mission of which you come into control of a huge army. At this point you might as well settle in for leaving half of your army behind or sending them to fight and not worrying about them. Reason being is very simple, the last mission has a ton of opposition which combined with your army makes the game run slower. Continued on page 3 »