The first mission takes place in the Mines of Moria which was once the city of dwarfs, but is now over-run with foul goblins. The mission objectives are pretty straight forward and most will complete this level without too much bother. Be aware that the Battle for Middle-Earth is perhaps a little shallow and lacks the complexity of plot that some might hope for. The upside of this is that the game will appeal to a wider audience.

The Fellowship is lead through the mines by Gandalf.

As you can probably tell from the screen-shot, it is possible to control all of the heros each of whom has their own special abilities. These powers can be increased as the campaign progresses. This is perhaps a little inaccurate, but hey it's just a game.

The party then moves on to Lothlorien which is under threat of attack. The game is, as the name suggests, very much about fighting battles with sword, bow and magic spells.

The bridge to Lothlorien

Battling it out at Lothlorien

We are treated to some nice visual and sound elements taken directly from the movies. This gives the game a well polished feel and does help to immerse you in to the world of Middle-Earth.

Some missions require resource management. We can construct and control buildings such as stables for horseman training or farms which allow more troops to be created.

A Rohan farm