War in Middle Earth was most likely one of the most entertaining games for Tolkien fans during the inception of the PC game during the late 80's and early 90's. A real time strategy based game; players discovered they could control the forces of good in Tolkien's novels, "The Lord of the Rings".
Gameplay was quick and simple, with an easy to use interface and decent graphics (for the time) War in Middle Earth provided a wonderful platform to explore the world of Middle earth in a battle-field setting.
I first played the game when I was 12 years of age, and hope share the program with mine own children.
One could zoom into a first person view of the characters or an army and see them fighting, resting or traveling. Discoverable items in game allowed the unlocking of other countries and units to be controlled by the player, and the forces of evil were able to give the most experienced player a run for their money. The battles were a trifle oversimplified and the gameplay could lag, but systems in the early infancy of the PC age all had this problem, and I was to be expected. One interesting feature of the game was that you could search anywhere
on the map. The 'Fog of War' concept had not yet been realized or applied to gaming, which lead for an ability to lead an extensive exploration of your games world before really having to act. While some gamers may complain that this destroys the level of realism a game might have, I must say this; War in MIddle Earth's (WIME) no Fog of War effect allowed for extensive pre-emptive strategical planning.
A player could simply explore the entire map, choose his battles, and find the high ground so to speak. The player could then commit his or her troops, and then watch the action unfold. Any strategist worth their weight in kilobytes would find themselves sitting pretty near the first quarter of the game with little to no upsets, or setbacks. I find that these older, simpler, games still hold many features that could be reapplied to games nowadays, giving them more depth and definition. Imagine if you could eliminate Fog of war or other features to customize each playing experience.
No longer would one be stuck playing over the same parameters over and over again. A new world of customizable gameplay could be reached by taking a note from older genres and platforms.
Scott Myrick II
