494 Words About: Lord of the Rings–The Battle for Middle Earth

Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth was one of numerous Real-Time Strategy(RTS) videogames my parents bought me for PC, and like Rome Total War or Stronghold Crusader before it, I disappeared into building settlements and growing an army to fight against enemies. The fact that I was able to play in Middle Earth and even recruit characters like Gandalf, Aragorn, and Gimli only made my love escalate into an obsession. Remember this was 2004, and Return of the King had only been released a year earlier. I lived in this game, and I lived in Middle Earth.

That’s why it’s sad to admit that I usually picked the armies of Morder over Rohan and Gondor. That’s entirely because Mordor had Mumakil and Balrogs. That was a no-brainer.

Balrogs OWN. 

Being an RTS videogame, I recognised the patterns of each playable party after a few runs and it became clear that Mordor offered, above everything else, the quickest and easiest build. Battle for Middle Earth followed a “tower defense” structure, meaning the game was about building towers that would let you make buildings that would let you build troops. Unlike Gondor which required a barracks to make four to five soldiers, Orcs just needed a pit to crawl out of and they would usually come in batches of seven to eight orcs. Once a unit of Orcs was ready I would send them out to collect resources and discover spots for new towers. And, naturally, because they were cheap and came in bulk, I could have a pretty sizable army before Rohan had even finished its first stable.

Battle for Middle Earth was not the best RTS videogame I ever played, not by a longshot. There were numerous graphics issues that caused problems to the underpowered PC I had access to growing up, and in terms of strategy there was little else than simply “throw dudes at each other until one side won.” The main appeal was that it was one of thousands of LOTR related merch that was peddled to me at a time when I was desperate to consume anything and everything about Middle Earth.

EA Games smelled blood, money, and I was a lemon to squeeze.

Regardless, I still played it and enjoyed myself. 

Battle for Middle Earth afforded me a strategy puzzle, because as fun as Mordor was to play (and it was) I recognised the challenge in playing as Gondor or Rohan. I recognised what structures needed to be prioritized. I learned which units were the most cost-effective. I learned the proper way to expand my territory through Tower build-up. And, most importantly, I learned that Gimli was always a sound investment.

RTS games in general, regardless of their quality, taught me how to compartmentalize resources and make decisions accordingly. Despite my lack of skills in mathematics, videogames like Battle for Middle Earth taught me how to use and analyze data sets.

Also, Balrogs. Nuff said.

Joshua “Jammer” Smith

4.22.2024

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***UPDATE***

I’ve uploaded a video on YouTube of myself reading this essay. You can listen to me read it by following the link below:

494 Words About: Lord of the Rings–The Battle for Middle Earth (youtube.com)