| The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-king | |
| |
| Developer(s) | EA Los Angeles |
| Publisher(s) | EA Games |
| Designer | Designer Missing |
| Engine | SAGE |
| status | Status Missing |
| Release date | November 28, 2006 |
| Genre | RTS |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Age rating(s) | ESRB: T |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Arcade system | Arcade System Missing |
| Media | CD, DVD |
| Input | Keyboard and mouse (Windows) |
| Requirements | Requirements Missing |
| Credits | Soundtrack | Codes | Walkthrough | |
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-king (LotR: BFMEII: RotWK) is a real-time strategy computer game published by Electronic Arts, based upon the fantasy book The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien and the film trilogy based on the book, directed by Peter Jackson. First announced during the San Diego Comic-Con of 2006, The Rise of the Witch-king is the official expansion to The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, which was published by the same company and released in 2006, for Windows. The Rise of the Witch-king was shipped to stores in the United States on November 28, 2006 and was officially released on November 30, 2006.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records Gamer's Edition, this game has the longest video game expansion pack title ever.
Gameplay changes
The game features a new faction, Angmar, bringing the total number of playable factions to seven. It also comes with a new campaign based on Angmar, consisting of eight missions telling the rise of the Witch-king of Angmar and the fall of the kingdom of Arnor.
New units were added to all six existing factions, as well as both new and improved buildings and heroes. Every faction except Angmar also received an elite hero unit. Elite heroes have a small amount of health and a large amount damage, but there are a small amount of them in each battalion. They only replenish their numbers in a healing structure.
Major improvements were made to the War of the Ring mode, including army persistence from RTS mode to the World Map, the introduction of an economy to the World Map, and the introduction of siege weapons to the World Map. Fourteen new territories and battle maps were added, as well as a new region, the Forodwaith. Four hero armies were also made available per faction. The Rise of the Witch-king also added two new historical scenarios for the War of the Ring mode, including the Fall of Arnor and the War of the Ring.
The heroes, powers and buildings of the new faction of Angmar
The Create-a-Hero mode was given a new class, the Olog-hai troll, and new weapons and armor customizations. Heroes were given a cost system tied to the number of powers given to them. Several new hero characters were added by EA in order to enhance gameplay: Morgomir, one of the nine Nazgûl, Rogash, a swordsman troll, Hwaldar, the chief of the Hill-men in Rhudaur, and Karsh, the former Captain Carthean of Arnor.
Critical reception
The game received favorable reviews from critics. On the review aggregator Game Rankings, the game had an average score of 78% based on 25 reviews. On Metacritic, the game had an average score of 78 out of 100, based on 22 reviews..