The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II (PC) Impressions

I've been playing The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II (PC) on and off for over a month now, and I must say that I'm rather disappointed in the title. The demo I played held much promise, and while the game features high production values, it's the interface that's done it in for me.

Basically, this RTS is all about large scale battles, large scale battles with poor macro and micro management options. I've found the overall unit control to be very reminiscent of RTSes from the late '90's, which is awful given the fairly standard control scheme that's the bread and butter of the genre.

Basic things like clicking a portrait to centre on a unit or group of units, Tabing through large groups to access special abilities, and having a visual command card reference to know when you forces are at the size strength you want or they're being depleted. All of this is absent from The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, and I simply can not understand why EA did this! The game is so beautiful with so much possibility, but fails because of such poor controls.

As I play the game I can see the potential that it could have had with a proper RTS interface, but as is the game feels incomplete and the large scale battles are a mix of frustration and boredom as you simply huck battalions of units at one another. Hero control is also rather poor, as you can't quickly access their special abilities for any kind of battle altering use.

I've also found the Campaign design to be lackluster and rather uninspired. The story just doesn't flow, and though I've completed the Good Campaign, I can't say I was overjoyed with doing so; I didn't feel much accomplishment or reward. The Evil Campaign has started off nicely, however I've encountered a frustrating challenge in the second mission due to poor unit control and have stopped playing due to simple annoyance.

Skirmsh (and Multiplayer) has potential, however I don't know any build orders and I'm honestly not overly compelled to find them out. War of the Ring mode is certainly interesting and a nice twist in the gameplay style, however I found it got a bit too repetitive after a few games to garner any long term interest.

I actually looked at selling my copy through the course of last week, but most places will only pay around $15.00 for it when it cost around $60.00 (though it was a gift and cost me nothing). For that price, I might as well keep it, though unless I discover some hidden fun in Multiplayer and Skirmish, I'll probably only play the game when I get really bored and have nothing better to do.

At present, I'd advise everyone not to bother picking this title up, and this'll probably be my last time giving a non-Blizzard RTS a go. How this title racked up so many high review scores is beyond me, as I've found so much fault with it.

Am I wrong though? Are there simply control options no mentioned in the manual that I've blindly missed? If so, post a comment and let me know, or if you feel differently about the game, share your thoughts.