When comparing The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth II vs Men of War: Assault Squad 2, 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 Men of War: Assault Squad 2 is ranked 34th. 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 Direct control
Allows player to take a direct control of a vehicle, or infantryman (followed by their squad if any), which allows player to take the most important shots themselves, or to park their units into more pristine spots. Even if AI seems to fare well on its own, the more elaborate plans can be conducted by simply using this function.
Pro Fully destructible environments
This can make for a visceral feel as well as an immersive one as everything in the game can be blown to bits.
Pro Punishing
Definitely one of the more time and effort requiring RTS, which you cannot simply take off the shelf and do well in, without past experience. Bullets hurt, weapons are fairly accurate, yet do miss their marks occasionally, and explosions are going to demolish infantry.
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 Non-existent story and unbalanced
The story is the same for all factions, same layout, same script. There's a lot of things that many new players will think are useless, such as creating a defense with barbed wire and mines. It's really unbalanced, considering you can take out a tank destroyer with 200 mm of armour with an armoured car with a 37 mm gun.
Con Punishing
To some a cost of mistake can be slightly too much. Simply having a squad in open at wrong time can end up losing them all in few seconds burst of concealed machine-gun.
Con Steep learning curve
There being no tutorial makes for a steep learning curve, so one will need to spend a good bit of time with the game in order to learn all the mechanics on their own.