A new style of RTS, and a great game
Let's start new method of resource collecting. As you should already know, it's an RTS (Real-Time Strategy), but it takes a different approach. Rather than the traditional creating of little peasants and sending them off to gather gold and wood and food, you simply build structures that generate your resources at a set amount and rate depending on your structures on the field, something new and which I like a lot. Also, instead of being allowed to build a massive, never-ending base like in most RTS games, it's limited to a certain amount of structures and in certain locations. These locations are identified as small camping set-ups around the map to represent some building places, or ruins to show others. There are 4 types: Settlements, which allow only the construction of resource collectors, Outpost which allow 3 structures, Camps with allow more structures, and then Castles which provide lots of structures as well as protecting walls (only on the side of Good, so Rohan and Gondor). This prevents you from making massive bases anywhere you choose, which makes you need to abandon strategies from old games and work with new ideas, something which I feel enhances the gameplay a lot, its no longer about how many buildings you have, or units, or resources, but how you manage to gain control of the map before your opponent does.
Next is the units, how they work and everything. Unlike in most games where you spawn units one at a time, here you spawn them by the battalion (a group). For the side of Good they come 5 per battalion, and the side of Evil it's 10 per battalion (or Horde). The only exception to this is siege units and certain smaller units such as the Uruk-Hai Berserker, the Ents, the Mumakil, Trebuchets, catapults, and others, who spawn only one at a time, as is tradition is RTS games. And now, unlike most games, these units, like heroes, can lvl. As they are involved in more fights, they can gain experience and become stronger, more useful. They can even upgrade into banner carriers, units who carry your teams mark (such as White hand of Saruman) on a banner and give bonuses to your troops. As a new twist in BFME, your units carry on with you if they survive the mission. Any unit you had at the end of a mission will be there when you continue with that same army onto another mission. Doing this allows them to be known to you, you can name them so that you can keep track of them. Buildings are also similar, although they don't carry over. But, they can gain lvls as you use them more often to spawn troops, which allows them to spawn better troops and to be more resistant to damage. Also, some have special abilities. For example, the Ents can throw rocks, while the Ents, Mumakil, and Rohirrim can all trample land units by just walking right over them.
The heroes work the way they do in all RTS games. They have special abilities to help in battle, they lvl, and they gain more abilities as they do. However, and this is one of the imperfections, is they are very unbalanced. Certain heroes outrank others by a large margin, making the battle against them unfair to fight. One example is Gandalf, who's power far exceeds almost all the heroes (if not all, cannot say for sure). Other than that, anyone familiar with RTS games can figure out the heroes quite easily.
Now, something you don't often see in games, is that this game employs to separate campaigns, giving you a chance to play as both the forces of good and evil and alter the future of Middle-Earth depending on who you choose. You have the forces of Gondor and Rohan, against the growing evils of Mordor and Isengard. In addition to being allowed to choose your individual side, each contains their own special powers, unique only to the forces of good or evil. As you claim certain territories in the campaign or kill more enemies, you gain special power points, which can be spent on what the game calls the powers of the Evenstar (good) or the powers of the One Ring (evil). As you purchase more points you progress along a power tree gaining access to more powers. These powers can change the tide of a battle any time, making you go from near defeat to instant victory, if you employ these powers correctly. Some examples of powers are healing your troops, summoning the aid of the rohirrim or the elves, calling for daybreak to blind your enemies, or summon the unstoppable cursed Army of the Dead (powers of the Evenstar). Or, should you choose to let the evil in you direct your path, you can cut down trees to increase resources for unit production, use the Eye of Sauron to spy on your enemies, or summon the might Balrog demon to your aid. Which powers you use and when you use them can alter the battle at any point, if you know how to use them right.
The graphics in this game aren't up to par with some other games. The cut-scenes are really well created, some truly stunning graphics at time, looks a lot like the footage in the movie. However, during the actual skirmish or campaign matches, the graphics aren't exactly the most detailed, but they are nonetheless great. They just aren't what they could've been.
Up until now, I've told you all the amazing things the game has to offer. However, there are some things, although not entirely gameplay related, that can hinder your playing experience. For instance, although most of the gameplay is similar to other RTS games, there are some parts that work differently that you may not understand immediately, and the game's tutorial is entirely video clips, no hands-on testing. So if you can't understand the tutorial, you have to fend for yourself, learn from playing skirmish or campaign, or online if you so choose. Also, the load times, even on some of the higher end machines, can be somewhat slow, causing the occasional lag during the game if you have too many units going back and forth, or simply loading the mission.
When you consider all these new experiences the gameplay has to offer, as well as the old RTS style that we've all come to know and love, it's a pretty amazing game. If you are a Lord of the Rings fan or an RTS game fan, I would suggest this game, I really think you'd like it. And if you are a fan of both LOTR and RTS, then you shouldn't be sitting here reading this, you should've left long ago to get this game. If you haven't yet, then get up and get moving. NOW!