If by now you haven’t heard of The Lord of the Rings, you probably live under a rock. In case you actually do, here is a brief synopsis. It is a book; first and foremost, which is the second best-selling of all time, only being outsold by some other book called the Holy Bible or some such. A few years ago, it was adapted into a three-part movie which went on to do over a billion dollars in business worldwide and netted the production crew a boatload of Oscars. Finally it was adapted into a series of fairly decent games and one catchy techno song ("What’s tators precious?" "You know, Po-ta-toes! Boil em’, mash em’, cook em’ in a stew, boil em’, mash em’, cook em’ in a stew"). It has been the reason that many fellow nerds in our generation have not been laid in an age of men. For me, it strikes at the core of storytelling. It is an epic battle between good and those who are truly evil because, remember, Orcs don’t want fair political treatment--they want to feast on man flesh.

Let’s weed through all that and focus on the games instead. Electronic Arts outbid every other game studio out there after the first movie, The Fellowship of the Ring, and began work on a slew of titles based off the movie. They went on to produce the dungeon crawler versions of The Two Towers and Return of the King. Then they moved on to create The Third Age, an RPG based on the exploits of characters fairly similar to the movie heroes. Finally, the most successful game Electronic Arts made from the movie license is The Lord of The Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth. Now after wresting control of the literary license from Sierra (think the less popular games The Hobbit and War of the Ring), EA is back at it again and is aiming to make the ultimate Real-Time Strategy (RTS) experience with LOTR: The Battle for Middle Earth 2 (BFME).

Playing BFME was the first time I truly felt like I was controlling the outcome of epic battles in a RTS game. Huge maps with almost exact realism to their movie counterparts, use of all of the legendary heroes, torrents of enemies to battle everywhere you go, and finally one of the best uses of a movie soundtrack rarely seen outside of the Star Wars universe made The Battle for Middle Earth one that I have replayed time and time again since its release.

Now there were hardcore strategists who didn’t like the game for one basic reason: it was simplified for those who don’t know what RTS means to begin with. You were able to build a farm and automatically resources would stockpile in your stores or you could keep your battalion of troops over time and as they would gain experience they would become almost unstoppable. Personally, considering how many enemies were flooding towards my forces, I didn’t mind if their arrows flew a little faster or farther, but that’s just me.

Since the game did enough to merit a sequel, this time around Electronic Arts has taken all this to heart to make an offering much friendlier to Strategy veterans. You didn’t like the fact you couldn’t mine your own materials? Well now you can! You can even go so far as to use your Dwarven mines as gateways because as we all know those dwarves need to get every last bit of mithril they can get their grubby little paws on. Do you want to create your own walls instead of the computer doing it for you? Well create away because BFME 2 allows for this kind of strategic use of the environment, you can even create a base anywhere your heart desires this time around. What about the enemy somehow making his way into your base when you left your citadel undefended? Well this time the tower fights back as you can upgrade your tower to a fortress and pop some archer towers or trebuchets up on that mo fo’. What about limited formations annoying you when the last of your knights would ride off into battle without any thought to his personal safety? This time you choose the tactics and you choose the formations. Did you prefer the lack of a linear campaign, or did it trouble you? This time you can play a story-based campaign as either good or evil, and once you complete that return to the living world map of the first game and play through any of the battles of both games with any of the armies. This of course answers the age-old question of how many elves it would take to hold off an Orc invasion at Helms Deep. You have spoken, and Electronic Arts has listened.

Now armed with the literary license, this game places the focus on what was happening in the rest of Middle Earth during and around the time of the War of the Ring. J.R.R. Tolkien in all his detail-rich glory has created volume upon volume of the exploits of Elves, Men (grouped into one faction as "Men of the West"), Dwarves, Golbins, and Orcs in the northern areas of Middle Earth and now you can, for the first time, live through their battles. You will be taken to places like Dul Guldur where hordes of orcs and goblins broke upon elves and goblins like water upon rock in a battle that makes Minas Tirith pale in comparison.

In battle you will also be able command new and improved hero units. In single player new hero units make their debut, such as Elrond (who tells the story this time around as well), The Watcher of the Lake, Tom Bombadil, and the Black Riders, this time on horseback. In the multiplayer "One Ring" mode you can even command almost-super-heroes. After a lot of time and a small fortune spent in resources, the evil forces can control the living walking version of Sauron complete with shiny metallic armor and the good forces get control of the Storm-Queen version of Galdriel. These forces can decimate entire armies before meeting their end thus making them a great addition to any team. Finally, if that doesn’t suit you, you can create your own hero character this time. Choose your own name, clothing, weapons, powers and charge into battle against the forces of Sauron, Saruman, and Voldemort. I’ll leave it up to you to guess which one of those doesn’t belong with this particular subject matter.

Graphically, there is no doubt that this game will be visually astounding looking at the original and there are more reasons for your eyes to rejoice this time as the water uses "technology similar to what films use when doing offline CG ocean water." With all the new ocean in the game, there is of course a new feature to be had. Prepare to take out your brand new fleet of boats and frigates into battle on the high seas and say, "Yarrr, matey!"

With improvements reaching far past the ambition of the first game, it will be easy to see why Battle For Middle Earth 2 will soon be a staple in our CD/DVD rom drives. With updated visuals, as many features as the movie has Oscars, and that same epic feel from its predecessor you just might meet up with Rick the Rampager on multiplayer, and of course, victory will be mine!