When comparing The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth II vs Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, the Slant community recommends The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth II for most people. In the question“What are the best RTS games for PC?” The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth II is ranked 5th while Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun is ranked 20th. The most important reason people chose The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth II is:
Everything about the game has been improved over the original including the gameplay. With improved base building it now easier to keep the flow of the game going. There has also been 3 factions added to the game making for more choice for the player in how their game will play due to each having different skills and weaknesses.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Refined gameplay
Everything about the game has been improved over the original including the gameplay. With improved base building it now easier to keep the flow of the game going. There has also been 3 factions added to the game making for more choice for the player in how their game will play due to each having different skills and weaknesses.
Pro Six different factions to pick from
There are six different factions you can play as: Goblins, Dwarves, Elvis, Men of the West (Rohan and Gondor), Mordor, and Isengard. Each faction has their own unique units and specializations allowing for different play styles across each chosen race.
Pro Great soundtrack
With a great soundtrack as well as realistic battle sounds the game has a high polished sound that fits right in with the movies.
Pro Tiberian Sun's well-filmed FMV aid in atmosphere and immersion
With other iterations in the Command & Conquer series, the direction and acting in Tiberian Sun is one of the best of the series. Tiberian Suns includes and all-star cast, with Michael Biehn (Aliens, Terminator) and James Earl Jones (Conan the Barbarian, Star Wars) as members of GDI, and Joseph Kucan returning as Kane, NOD's maniacal and religious figurehead.
The filming style and lighting prevalent in each FMV helps paint the perfect picture of a future, post-apocalyptic dystopia. This helps aid the game in conveying the dark atmosphere that is featured in each mission or multiplayer match. With the FMV and gameplay matching each other with such perfection, players can find themselves easily getting immersed in this title.
Pro Forethought of base defense required due to burrowing units
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun features burrowing units that can wreak havoc upon bases. As these units can only be seen if players have built sensor vehicles, they can unburrow directly inside bases virtually undetected. This allows players to sneak infantry transports and flame tanks into compounds, completely decimating undefended buildings. Due to this, players must think ahead of these threats and act accordingly; building defensive structures inside their bases, or leave a token force to protect the area.
Pro It's free
Tiberian Sun was licensed as freeware by Eletronic Arts in 2010.
Cons
Con Hub building lacks the logistics of other titles
Battle for Middle Earth II features a main construction building with different hubs branching outward from it. These hubs are the sole areas where you can add on to your base and, with a limited number on your first construction building, expanding to another base is essential if you want to build all of the units available to you and keep up your economy.
Con Actually a 4X game with a touch of RTS
This game is in the 4X genre and should not appear in the top RTS games list, it incorporates good parts from RTS like base building but is not an actual RTS.
Con Micromanagement a necessary skill for success
Like many other high-skill intensive Real-Time Strategy titles, this game is far from simple. Players will suffer a unit capacity limit, meaning you will have to do more with a few units rather than rely on a horde. Unfortunately, micromanagement is not for everyone, and some may see the skill requirement as an unfortunate addition to and otherwise great RTS game.
Con Slow-paced construction and gathering times add unnecessary length to matches
Unfortunately for Tiberian Sun, the game suffers from a massive slowdown when it comes to building and amassing an army. With Barracks and War Factories only training one unit at a time, players must build more of those facilities in order to train those units faster. This makes it imperative to spend resources on multiple builds just to make an army faster.
Resource gathering is also a slow endeavor that impedes player progress. Tiberium Harvesters, your resource gathering unit, have both slow movement and gather speeds. These units can take over a minute to bring back additional resources, which usually give players only a few hundred tiberium. This slows down the pace of the game even further, as players will need to build more Tiberium Refineries in order to gain money faster. Thus, this requires players give a large focus on economy over army to start each match.