The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II -- The Rise of the Witch-king (PC) (gamespy)

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Sauron's an idiot. That's one of the major lessons I've learned from my time with an early version of the expansion pack for The Battle for Middle-earth II. The Rise of the Witch-king focuses on the Lord of the Nine, the leader of the Black Riders and first among Sauron's servants. Like many subordinates working for clueless bosses, the Witch-king has a thankless task -- follow his boss's orders without question. This only ends up getting Mordor crushed by a motley collection of Men, Elves, Dwarves and grubby little Hobbits with smelly feet. Oh yeah, his loyalty also gets the Witch-king himself a sword in the face, something I imagine was not on the application form when he went after the job as Sauron's chief flunky. The good news is, The Rise of the Witch-king will let gamers correct Sauron's mistakes and put the right guy in charge for a while -- and if my time with the expansion is any indication, it should be a pretty fun ride.

The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II -- The Rise of the Witch-king introduces several new features to The Battle for Middle-earth II. The biggest one is the Angmar faction. The game's new campaign follows the story of the rise of Angmar. It seems that some 1,300 years after the defeat of Sauron and the death of Isildur, the leader of the Ringwraiths begins laying the groundwork for his eventual return. To do this, he needs to destroy Arnor, the greatest of the Dúnedain kingdoms. The campaign follows this story from the founding of the kingdom of Angmar among the Hillmen, trolls and rebel Dúnedain, through the destruction of the palantir of Amon Sûl, and culminates in the Witch-king's eventual downfall.

It was this campaign that gave me a new respect for the Witch-king. Unlike Sauron, who in both the books and the movies shows all the personality of… well… a burning disembodied eyeball, the Angmar campaign reveals a much more interesting tale with hints of moral ambiguity and a sense of perspective that are often lacking in the classic tale's portrayal of Mordor. Unfortunately, the game relies on still artwork in the cutscenes rather than clips from the movie. Inevitable, I suppose, considering that the game's storyline goes far afield from the territory covered in the films. It's still a bit disappointing, and the result is a jarring disjunction between the art styles of the still images and the film clips when they're used in the same cutscene.

Here's the thing about Sauron. Strategically, Sauron was about as subtle as a hammer to the skull. Mordor relied on degenerate orcs and goblins for the brunt of their fighting forces. Such forces have the advantage of being cheap, strong, numerous and disposable. Their disadvantage is that they're not that bright. The Witch-king doesn't have those kinds of resources. Instead, he cunningly plays on the sense of victimization and the need for empowerment of the disenfranchised of Arnor -- the pathetic trolls, abused Hillmen and the so-called "Black Númenóreans" -- rebel members of the race of Aragorn.

The result is an army with a remarkably different stylistic feel than Sauron's other forces. The very first mission in the game shows the Witch-king meeting with Rogash. Rogash is a troll that defies all the stereotypes of trolls in Tolkien's world. He's smart, he wears armor, he fights like a trained swordsmen, and he enters into the Witch-king's service because he wants his people to stop fighting amongst themselves and get revenge against the hated Men. The second pillar of the Witch-king's forces is a faction of the primitive Hillmen under the leadership of the rebel Hwaldar. Tired of his people being persecuted by the oh-so-righteous Dúnedain, he decides to strike back against their oppressors. Finally, there are the Black Númenóreans who include platoons of Dark Rangers. What their beef is with their brothers isn't exactly clear, but it was hinted at when I clicked on a unit of human infantry and heard, "We are the true Dúnedain!"

That stylistic feel is matched by Angmar's strategic feel. Angmar is very much a generalist's army. Unlike the goblins, who rely on swarms and speed, or the dwarves, who field smaller numbers of tougher units, Angmar's mixed group of forces rely on adaptability for victory. Their cannon fodder unit, the Thrall Master, is produced from the Hall of the King's Men. This singular unit stands alone until the player decides what sort of thrall army he's going to call. He can pull in orc rabble that are good against pikemen, goblin worg riders to assault archers, pike-wielding Hillmen to tackle cavalry, or axe-throwers for ranged support. Naturally, they're not terribly good at any of these functions, but they're not supposed to be. The Thrall Master's main function is to act as a quick counter to whatever an opponent can throw at them and live long enough for elite units to get in place.

Elite units include the aforementioned Black Númenóreans (who field both infantry and bow-wielding Dark Rangers), troll heavy infantry and the new Sorcerer unit. By his very existence, the Sorcerer is a testament to how important it is for the Witch-king to keep his elite units alive and gaining experience. Sorcerers have no offensive capabilities but can specialize in healing, freezing friends or foes (frozen units are invulnerable, a useful trick on enemies but invaluable for rescuing one's own units), or dropping a morale-destroying rain of corpses on foes. They also have abilities that buff and debuff units and slow down opposing forces. In my skirmish battles against the computer, I quickly realized just how important it will be for the Angmar player to use these guys properly. Any particular Angmar unit can't really stand against its opposite in another army, but properly coordinated, buffed and managed, they'll be a force to be reckoned with.

The bad news for those who love heroes is that, like their units, Angmarian heroes are a pretty feeble lot when compared with those in other armies. Even the Witch-king, who's a pretty nasty customer on foot, doesn't have the punch of the other factions' heavy hitters and is kind of helpless on horseback. In fact, one of the Witch-king's main powers, the ability to turn opposing units into wraiths, sounds much cooler in theory than it is in practice. The resulting wraith is such a pathetic unit that it was almost always a better use of my time to be doing something else rather than clicking on the Witch-king's power and selecting a target. True, turning one guy into a wraith shows real craftsmanship and dedication to the art of being evil, but I'm a busy Dark Lord -- I'm going for slaughter in numbers here. I've got a war to win and Hobbits to roast.

EA has made a ton of improvements to the War of the Ring mode, obviously listening to the raft of criticism the mode received when the original game launched. Improvements include 14 new territories, the ability to construct buildings on the strategic map, persistent units that can be used again and again (this is critical for Angmar). The result seems to be a strategically deeper and more enjoyable experience. There are also two new scenarios, the fall of Arnor (the same war depicted in the campaign) and the War of the Ring, in which the player can run the entire war from the perspective of any of the major races in the game. The AI has also been improved -- at the very least, it now seems to understand the concept of retreat, but I still didn't have a lot of trouble with it, so I'm reserving judgment on how effective the improvements are.

It was my time playing the updated War of the Ring mode that really kicked off my newfound contempt for Sauron. If my experience playing the War of the Ring as both Mordor and Angmar are any indication, there's just no reason why Sauron should have lost the War. Sauron had the power, and his chief lieutenant was a strategic genius. Had the Witch-king been able to apply the same genius he used to turn Angmar into a powerful fighting force to Mordor's army rather than traipsing all over Middle-earth looking for his boss's favorite trinket, the Shire would have ended up Mordor Province #37. Yeah, yeah, I get it -- they're evil, and his victory would have been a disaster for all the Free Peoples and whatnot. I just can't help but feel for the poor Ringwraith who pledged his loyalty to a boss who didn't appreciate him. The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II -- The Rise of the Witch-king is due to hit store shelves November 28.