voici un compte-rendu d´un type étant allé au BFME tour in San Fransisco:
Okay, I´d like to start by clearing up some misunderstandings and uncertainties we´ve been having. There is no sound bug in the game, and there is also no shadow bug. Also, this is important, EA apparently removed the circles that marks battalions and made it so that only heroes have these when you select them. Also, the Tower Guards do not suck, they kill trolls, LITERALLY.
Okay, with that, I´d like to start my review. Upon entering the Metreon in San Francisco...I had a bit of a time finding the dream machine computers. I found them by a large screen projecting from one of the computers play b4me. The guy sucked, he had 20 knights cooped up in his castle and just sent out one battalion of swordsmen to protect one of his agricultural plots, placed with a farm. My dad didn´t want to wait, he wanted to see me play and see if I really was as good as i said I was. So he decided to use my rank here and told the staff there that I was a moderator and was writing a review for you guys. they kicked the guy that sucked on the big overhead screen off and told me to take as long as I needed. I started off of his skirmish game he had going, a Gondor vs. Gondor scenario. He had his castle pretty built up by then, but had only one trebuchet on the wall and NO archers! What an idiot, no archers and a tall wall? I started by building a farm within my walls to provide a steady flow of material even if I lost my agricultural plots. This proved a critical move and would eventually win me the match. I did not yet have the strength to take on the rampaging swordsmen and Pippins that were taking out the farms outside my wall, so I decided to remind them that they were dealing with berethor. I sent out a cavalry raid of 4 battalions of knights, about 20 or so knights in all. They crushed through the weakened opposing resistance with dramatic ease, a bit too dramatic if I may say so...too easily. So I took back my economy plot just as my enemy sent rangers and his pippin from his base in a pathetic attempt to kill my knights. Upon flashing my knights to the enemy as I rode for this advancing party of about 40 guys, the enemy immediately staggered into a formation of swordsmen in fron, archers behind. Just as my knights drew close, the enemy sent his swordsmen forward, who were simply crushed, but slowed my momentum and made me unable to trample the archers...who were now laying heavy archer fire into me. By the time I´d killed his pippin, barely better than an orc I have to say, I´d overthrown the group and secured my economy plot with a halved force of 10 knights. I decided I´d have a little fun with my enemy and built 4 battalions of tower guards just as the enemy sent forward a Faramir and a crap load of rangers to deal with my weakened knights. The tower guards advanced slowly, but the archer fire had very, very little affect on their seemingly vast health meters. They killed everything there, ranger, faramir, everything. Okay, so my knights are now all dead but now I have a solid wall of 20 or so tower guards to wield. I had them go and kill a troll easily, a creep, then I set them in a ( shield wall) formation and marched them forward towards my enemies base. The enemy simply did not shut his gate, and had little archer fire from the walls, and no trebz. He sent forward a respawned Faramir, a short Pippin and a tall Boromir, all of high rank by now, to attempt to deal with my tower guards, I didn´t lose one tower guard to the heroes. My tower guards moved slowly throughout my enemies base, the enemy building Gondorian swordsmen and sending them forward in an attempt to stall me. I had won in 5 minutes, with still 20 tower guards remaining. A small victory, but I´d picked up and recovered from a game with a guy that sucked, as I said before.
Okay, so now the staff was rather impressed with my performance, and even offered me a job there for 17$ an hour....I said I´d think it over. But there was a small crowd arrayed in front of the big screen, waiting for me to destroy and throw down anything that came at me, so i decided to stay and impress them. I exited to the main menu and selected good campaign...I started off in Moria with the fellowship, after a minute´s loading, I was set. I moved my fellowship from rivendell to Moria and began. First thing I did was select all of my heroes, and send them up the stairs towards a group of goblins. they dispatched the small, pathetic group swiftly, and then I decided I´d see what this little shield with 2 spears meant on the ground meant. I thought it was some kind of orc banner, so I sent Boromir forward to destroy it, but it turned out it gave poor Boromir a rank...not bad. I continued on and it was relatively easy, moving along like that, cutting down a troll here and there. Balin´s tomb was a bit harder...battalions upon battalions of goblins flowed eerily through the now busted open gate. My poor warriors gradually weakened, but Gandalf encouraged them with a vast and powerful spell that blew a dozen goblins on their butts. My aragorn used Athelas to restore my party´s health, and then a cave troll came in. My hobbits literally peed their pants and ran back to legolas, who was rapidly laying arrows into the beast. Boromir was blown onto his butt, and Gandalf was flung across the room. My hobbits now threw rocks at the troll...how brave and powerful those hobbits are. I would have done better without them...anyways, I killed the troll and the goblins stopped flowing into the tomb, I exited through the broken wall that had appeared and ran down the stairs of khazad Dum. Goblin archers lined up on the ledges gave me heavy fire, but I ignored them and continued on to meet the balrog. My gandalf acted swiftly, and I attempted the take the balrog head on...a mistake. Gandalf was down to 10% health by the time I realized I had a power called " heal" on the left side of the screen, so i used it. gandalf, now fresh, zapped the balrog and then took off running in circles around it. hehe...makes me laugh. My gandalf continued a hit and run tactic until the balrog was dead, then I pressed on to a " Victorious" sign...and i went back to the living world map.
The fellowship now moved to Lorien, but I noticed I could not select them. Instead, my view reverted to Rohan, and I selected the Westfold and began another mission there. The mission was easy...very easy...Eomer and his horsemen crushed through Uruk Hai easily...and the few wargs there were cut down easily by my mounted hero as well. I took a moment to appreciate a farm´s ability to make a peasant, I took about 15 moments actually, and sent my peasants, armed with sticks, forward to explore the map. the eye of sauron popped up right about then, and my peasants peed their pants and ran back to my camp. Pathetic farmers...anyways, I moved Eomer´s horsemen north and destroyed a guarded wood camp of Isengard, sweeping back and forth like a tire swing, simpyl trampling the uruks there, it was pathetically easy. Just then I noticed that the game was on " easy"...so I reverted it to " hard"...haha, worst mistake I´ve ever made. The enemy´s amount of uruks doubled and he used the eye of sauron to locate my base, and activate a series of skirmishes from the south on it. But he was already too late, eomer´s party of horsemen had uncovered his base, which now lie empty because of the siege on my camp, and I crushed his base like a bug. I thought I´d won, but then I realized I had to kill the uruks too, so Eomer´s party rode south, indirectly coming back to my base not from the north, but from the south, coming upon the flanks of a heavily armed army. My peasants and my sentry tower were being demolished, so my knights rode swiftly through these uruks, again and again, like a swing. Then I recieved the victory sign...and I pressed onto the living world map.
Okay, now the campaign reverted back to the fellowship in Lorien. Awesome place, elven warriors everywhere. So i dispatched of the persuing goblins easily, dispatching various enemies as I made my way to a small island heavily fortified by 4 or 5 battalions of elves. It is here that I answer a question for you guys. The elven barracks is a rohan builing and is required for elven warriors. Elves are not built from the archery range, so I think. But I may be wrong, I did not play a veteran army of Rohan while there...anyways, I built an elven barracks on that island. Strapping building if I may say so myself, pretty cool. White walls and tall trees. Anyways, I sent 7 battalions of elves and all of my heroes to the northern bridge of the island, for it was my duty to prevent the enemy from crossing this bridge. Trolls came with a hundred or so goblins to throw at me...but I quickly killed them with Gandalf´s blast. Oh! By the way, if Gandalf survives moria, he becomes Gandalf the White...forgot to mention that. My Gandalf the white dispatched of the last troll...and I waited for the next strike force to arrive. But I was dismayed when my foe attacked with ten trolls, and my elven warriors were blown off the bridge and into the water, leaving a tiny gap on the bridge. The goblins pressed forward immediately, overwhelming my heroes, but more importantly, making for this gap. Upon the goblins setting foot on the island, I lost. Sort of sad though, the crowd sighed in disgust, and people asked why, and what I´d done wrong. I swear I kicked the dream machine...nearly kicked it, I missed.
Okay, so from the review I you learned that a group pf 5 tower guards is better than 1 troll, a tower guard could not take a troll 1 on 1, but with 5, the job is easy. Just wanted to clear that up...anyways, I gave the game a ten out of ten, though it doesn´t look nearly as good when zoomed up close as in the screenshots, I went to ground level, and everything was a tiny, tiny bit fuzzy...but what kind of rts player cares if it´s fuzzy zoomed up or not? An experienced one always stays zoomed out, so he can see farther and govern and command more easily.
Gameplay:10
Graphics:10 ( when in normal zoom)
Sound:10 ( amazing, simply amazing)
Voice Over:10 ( I couldn´t tell which ones were sound alikes...)
Terrain:10
Overall: 10
I was a bit loose on the review, but it still is incredible to play. i didn´t like the constantly going back and forth between Rohan and the fellowship though, and another downside is that it takes a minute to load, one long minute...anyways, any questions you have, go ahead and ask me on this topic! I played more missions and longer than anybody here I think...
