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[LordOfLore]

Link.

Once upon a time, EA had the rights to the Lord of the Rings (film) series, and they made a bunch of games. Many of them were surprisingly good, like Return of the King, but two in particular stood out: the Battle for Middle Earth RTS games.

They were very good, combining powerful hero units with elements of siege warfare to craft games that didn’t just make good use of the license, but were fantastic strategy games in their own right. They are also—thanks to the handover of the LotR license from EA to Warner Bros—sadly all but forgotten, since you can’t buy the games anymore.

That hasn’t stopped a pair of fans from bringing the first Battle for Middle Earth, released back in 2004, into the modern era. They’ve released a visual overhaul for the game that transforms the units and heroes from blocky little lumps into HD characters that more closely resemble their on-screen counterparts.

Designed for use on T3A: Online, a server that lets BFME live on after EA’s official servers closed down in 2010, you can download the HD files here.

 

[Zoon]

But how? I tried lots of mods but afair none of them had high quality models.

 

[Vashetti]

EA and WB need to come to some agreement to get these officially released again.

Absolute travesty that these classics are no longer available unless you seek out a CD (or pirate).

 

[farisr]

Not the classic Lord of the rings game I was hoping for.

I need my two towers and rotk remasters/remakes.

 

[Vashetti]

Not the classic Lord of the rings game I was hoping for.

I need my two towers and rotk remasters/remakes.

Those too, and the Harry Potter games.

Loads of fans will buy these games EA/WB. Come to an agreement!

 

[snail_maze]

putting the name of the game into the title prob wouldn't have been such a bad idea

on topic though: Really cool, loved battle for middle earth 2

 

[Nev]

Battle for Middle Earth 2 was fucking awesome, if hilariously unbalanced.

Such an underappreciated series. I wish they made a third one.

 

[Zoon]

Battle for Middle Earth 2 was fucking awesome, if hilariously unbalanced.

Such an underappreciated series. I wish they made a third one.

Check the Edain mod it's the closest thing we'll get to 3.

 

[Lord British]

Not the classic Lord of the rings game I was hoping for.

I need my two towers and rotk remasters/remakes.

Same. I was hoping for ROTK. Thankfully, it works on my Xbox 360

 

[Lom1lo]

I need a rerelease of the second entry. My discs dont work anymore

 

[Laieon]

I don't think I ever played Battle for Middle Earth 2, but 1 was great. I also really enjoyed the RTS game Sierra (I think it was them) put out a few years before - War of the Ring.

 

[Fliesen]

uhm, so, i had to click the link to the Kotaku post where i had to click the link to the moddb page to actually get some proper res screenshots.

the models still look blurry as all hell. no offense to the creators.

Like, what's the point in showing a high res / high detail version of Aragorn in the OP, when in game he's still a blurry mess? :/

There's no mention of new terrain textures, and those actually look great

 

[Deft Beck]

This is a perfect opportunity for EA to buy these assets and put them in a Game of War clone with plenty of microtransactions.

 

[V1ctIm]

Was hoping for the Amiga classic, War in Middle Earth. Easily the best LotR game and one of the first open world adventures. I beat Sauron in soooo many different ways it is ridiculous. Total freedom. One day maybe someone will update this amazing game.

 

[Ghost Slayer]

Give me Harry Potter trilogy for PC instead

 

[PantsuJo]

Cool game, indeed

 

[boiled goose]

Do they have a good single player campaign?

 

[Oemenia]

This is a perfect opportunity for EA to buy these assets and put them in a Game of War clone with plenty of microtransactions.

Don't.

 

[Vashetti]

Do they have a good single player campaign?

Yup.

BFME1 mostly follows the movies.

BFME2 follows a more northern storyline about what the Elves and Dwarves were doing during the War of the Ring. It's awesome.

 

[Lime]

That's amazing

 

[chicagocubsfan]

Played so much of BFME1 in Middle School

 

[dancrane212]

I loved that original game. Having your separate, persistent, armies meet up for the big battles was always an awesome moment.

 

[Oemenia]

I loved that original game. Having your separate, persistent, armies meet up for the big battles was always an awesome moment.

I love the C&C games, how does the BFME franchise compare?

 

[Deleted member 10571]

Goddangit, I thought this would be about those really old LotR/Hobbit EGA/VGA PC games.

 

[dragonyeuw]

I have the anthology release and recently tried installed BFMEII and Rise of Witch King. Kept freezing up so I need to find a windows 10 patch online if one exists.

Don't know if anyone has checked prices recently, but this game on amazon costs a kidney nowadays...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000N4JEN2/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Would be nice if these can be freed from licensing hell and put up on Steam( most likely Origin if it ever happened).

 

[The Elite]

I thought we were going way back with "Classic". 2004 to the HD era doesn't seem that grand.

 

[tbm24]

Thread reminded me how much fun I had with the RoTK game.

Thinking back I'm game for a re-release of the LoTR rpg. I had a lot of great times with it.

 

[notaskwid]

Was expecting Rotk, leaving disappointed.

 

[Godcannon]

Not the classic Lord of the rings game I was hoping for.

I need my two towers and rotk remasters/remakes.

We're those the beat em ups/hack n slash (I think also had co-op)? Kind of like musou style that followed the events of the movies. Those were jaw dropping good.

 

[ys45]

Damn, I came into the thread expecting the game to be the old Interplay LoTR game on Amiga/PC in the 90s .

Guess it's too early for me zzzzzzzzz



Fake edit : Looks like I'm not the only one lol

 

[Haeleos]

I need a rerelease of the second entry. My discs dont work anymore

You can download the games from the site mentioned in the article.

 

[Brazil]

I really loved the city building mechanics of these games, despite the fact that they were terribly unbalanced. Good times.

 

[dancrane212]

I love the C&C games, how does the BFME franchise compare?

Very well. Game has the speed and simplicity of C&C but is drenched in LoTR love and detail. Seeing a troll rip up a tree to use as a club and having human infantry cower and yell when it approaches adds so much to the feel of the game.

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

Awesome.

I'd love an updated Guardians of Middle Earth. Great LotR MOBA.

 

[Windam]

Now I wish I knew what happened to my copy of War of the Ring. Wish these were available digitally.

 

[Oemenia]

Very well. Game has the speed and simplicity of C&C but is drenched in LoTR love and detail. Seeing a troll rip up a tree to use as a club and having human infantry cower and yell when it approaches adds so much to the feel of the game.

Sounds great, will give it a shot. I hear the first and second games are very different, is that so? I love RA2 and C&C3 because they have really well designed scenarios in each level, even if the gameplay is simple the gameplay always has a nice forward momentum.

Is it true that BFME2 has more generated content?

 

[Poppy]

i played this game a ton with a friend and we would destroy online, unless it was against the germans

the germans were tough

anyway all i ever wanted to do was rush and mass produce isengard bombs and blow up walls because that shit is fun and lurtz was OP

 

[KeyBladerXIII]

I loved this game so much for the recreations of Helms Deep and Mines Tirith. I also loved the fact that Boromir can survive and go with you all the way.

Man, I need to play this again.

 

[farisr]

We're those the beat em ups/hack n slash (I think also had co-op)? Kind of like musou style that followed the events of the movies. Those were jaw dropping good.

Yeah, the hack n slash games, had 2 player co-op, and a leveling system that got you new moves as you went on. Was so damn good.