No matter which way you approach it, the game's controls are quick to learn and intuitive. You can even press and hold A to sweep over groups if you prefer that method. The right trigger commands all types, which means all characters across the entire screen, even those not in sight. This way you can pick out individuals for special tasks or tactical attacks. Press right trigger to pull up the command bar for spells, calling up more units, etc., or press the left bumper to grab all characters of one type, like all goblins, dwarves, or warriors. I got hold of the controls while visiting EA Monday and I instantly was able to do everything. Double tap A and you've grabbed all the units on screen. The A button is the main command here so that by pressing it, you gain control of the unit you've highlighted. They're not actually controllable yet, they're just lit up, as if to give you a preview. The cross is context sensitive so that when you move it over the desired unit, that group is instantly highlighted. You control camera movement with the left analog stick and movement of a simple cross/reticule with the right analog stick. Controlling the factions is, in all honesty, incredibly easy and intuitive - more so than you'd think. You can fight as any of six factions: the Men of the West, elves, dwarves, goblins, Isengard, or Mordor. With the two combined, EA was able to move beyond the movies, and in the case of Battle for Middle-earth II, the game focuses on the great war of the North, a battle between the elves, dwarves, goblins, and Mordor forces out of Dol Guldur. After Vivendi Universal Games' rights to the book license ended, EA picked them up, combining the movie and book rights for the ultimate deal. If there is one IP that's still smoking hot (with many thanks given to Peter Jackson's incredible cinematic trilogy), it's Lord of the Rings. So, his team created a brand new user interface specifically created for the Xbox 360, which has an enormous amount of power, and they grafted the controls onto the well-received RTS Battle for Middle-earth II. His team identified three problems: the user interface was bunk the power and capabilities of the consoles to date have been weak and all of the games that have been tried haven't been accessible enough. Two years ago, Castle and his team at EALA decided to tackle the challenge of console RTSs. He's the real deal, a smart industry veteran who brought his company up from the ground to major success on the back of a great RTS. YES NO Castle, however, is far from being a carpet bagger. You've owned all the consoles since the Amiga and every blue moon some developer who thinks they're special comes out of the woodwork to create the next greatest thing - a working RTS on consoles. But according to Louis Castle, the co-founder of Westwood Studios and creative mind behind titles such as Command and Conquer and Blade Runner, Battle for Middle-earth II has what it takes. The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, already on the PC market, is basically a much improved sequel over the first, with a better campaign structure, bigger wars, more units and more cohesive sensibility across the board. EA saw that control system, considered it, and tried something else. Predator Extinction was an OK game with a neat control system: you pressed down on the analog to send an increasingly growing circle out to group units to command. The last group that tried, Zono Inc., at least created an innovative control system that partially worked. The list of developers who have braved the road, now littered with dead console ports, is very short. Second, console technology also has been sub-par for supporting the chaos that ensues in an online skirmish. First, no developers have to date figured out a way to re-create the quick, accessible control of a mouse and keyboard on a console. There are two reasons why real-time strategy games have consistently sucked rocks on consoles. Don't let anyone tell you any differently.
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