Scifi Collectibles, Science Fiction Discounts

Reviews

How many times must we buy this movie? Your fans are smart enough to realize when they are being ripped off.

What's the point of having blu ray version if there is no extended version of the film. Definitely not buying this products unless extended version is included. This product is just to rip our hard earned money.

As badly as I want this in my collection, I refuse to buy these and then in a few months have to buy the extended editions. I refused to do it the first time with the DVD version, and I refuse to do it now. Stop ripping off the fans of these great movies.

I always figured Peter Jackson as a good guy, someone who loved this material enough to want to do a faithful adaptation (which he succeeded at wonderfully) because he wanted to give Tolkien's fans the movies they deserved. Apparently I was mistaken. It was always just about the money. I hate to say it, but I won't give them anymore of mine. Along with the original Star Wars trilogy these movies were the reason I got in to high def. And now it looks like I'll never get to see either set of movies the best way you can at home. Sad.

Hello! Consumers need Shortened Editions with commercials before diving into Theatrical Editions. Something that's released only in black-and-white with worse resolution than VHS and only featuring mono sound to retain the integrity of the source material, please. Thanks.

Reviews

the lord of the rings is one of the best science fiction/fantasy movies made since star wars. the lord of the rings is an awesome movie trillogy. i love this movie. i recommend it to everyone

Pleased to receive Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings DVD Special Edition in quality condition. It arrived promptly, exactly as described, and met my high expectations.

The magnificent trilogy of The Lord Of The Rings in this DVD pack has almost another 2 hours of movie and inumerous extra materials and contents. Priceless!

I love my dvd. I brought it used, but it look new. It was the best buy I made. I love the movie and I always want the un-cut copy of the movie and now I have it. It's the best. :-)

The title above says it all. I found the Platinum Edition of LOT Triology (plus TONS of bonus material). GREAT Cond. Low price, fast shipment. What more could you want? Altogether, a great deal.

Reviews

oh, oh, frodo look out. you might get betrayed. The Return Of The King is the last movie in the series Frodo is almost about to get rid of the one ring. will he succeed and save middle earth or fail and destroy everyone. i guess you'll have to watch and find out. this is a very good movie just like the rest i love these movies. i recommend it to everyone

The War of the Ring reaches its climax as the dark lord Sauron sets his sights on Minas Tirith, the capital of Gondor. The members of the fellowship in Rohan are warned of the impending attack when Pippin cannot resist looking into Saruman's palantir and is briefly contacted by the dark lord. King Theoden is too proud to send his men to help without being asked, so Gandalf and Pippin ride to Minas Tirith to see that this request is sent. They meet opposition there from Denethor, steward of the city and father of Faramir and the late Boromir. Denethor's family has acted as temporary guardians of Gondor for centuries until a member of the true line of kings returns. This member is none other than Aragorn, who must overcome his own self-doubt before he can take on the role he was destined to fulfill. Meanwhile, Frodo and Sam continue to carry the One Ring towards Mordor, guided by Gollum. What they don't know is that Gollum is leading them into a trap so that he can reclaim the Ring for himself. Though Sam suspects his deceit, Frodo is starting to be corrupted by the Ring's power and the mistrust of Sam this causes is fully exploited by Gollum. The only way good can prevail in this contest is if the Ring is destroyed, an event that is becoming harder every minute for Frodo to achieve. The fate of every living creature in Middle Earth will be decided once and for all as the Quest of the Ringbearer reaches its climax. "The Lord of the Rings- The Return of the King" is one of the most finely tuned and cinematically perfect movie ever made. Not only the best of the trilogy, but a crowning achievement in epic movie making.

Delivered to my apartment in excellent condition. The DVDs was packaged well and I placed them in the dvd player without a scratch on them. I am completely satisfied with my purchase.

My sister had the first two movies and she let me borrow them. I fell in love with them because they were like an MMORPG in a movie. There are three movies and they are all great. I once had the extended versions of the movies and there was a lot more footage in them, but I felt the original ones were better because they were shorter and kept out insufficient scenes. The movies are terribly long, but it is worth it. I had a dream about Sauron and it was a nightmare. So don't watch these movies when you go to sleep, or you will have unpleasant nightmares. Other than that, these movies are fantastic and worth the money!

This might be my favorite movie out of the LOTR trilogy just for the amount of emotion and the Battle of Minas Tirith, with Éowyn killing the witch-king. This trilogy have three of my favorite movies of all time.

Reviews

Let's face it, for fantasy fans; it's tough to imagine a more perfect mythos than the one created by J.R.R Tolkien and apparently game companies don't need to be told this twice. Everyone from RoseArt to Games Workshop to Fantasy Flight Games has unique variations of the universe on the market and that's not even beginning to address the countless earlier incarnations that have existed for the better part of the past 30 years. I'm a bit partial to the Fantasy Flight stuff personally thanks to high quality bits, beautiful maps, and really just a subliminal tone that harkens to the richness of the classic novel series itself. While quite busy (and satisfied) with the epic quests War of the Ring and Middle Earth Quest, I often regretted never having picked up Fantasy Flight Games' The Lord of the Rings (and subsequent expansions) written by none other than board gaming mastermind Reiner Knizia and these days it's getting harder and harder to track down an unopened copy. Though not complete consolation, I had always heard good things about another game he had developed using the same characters and environments called The Confrontation. Considering the Deluxe Edition (tested here) includes several variations of the classic rules, four new special cards, larger character tiles and corresponding plastic stand sculpts, and new artwork on all of the components, the time to get involved had been delayed long enough. Hard facts are pretty short and sweet: The game is for 2-players only and is recommended for individuals 12 & up and rounds are estimated at 30-minutes in length. Inside the box are a game board, 18 Fellowship & Sauron combat cards, 8 special cards, 18 plastic stands, 18 character tiles (that go in the stands), 18 character tokens, 2 full color reference sheets and one 12-page rulebook. As is the case with most FFG titles, it's only fair that I begin by discussing the rulebook. As is the trend of late, or so it would seem, the book, while beautiful to behold, seems to take the long way around explaining what really is a pretty basic game structure. Make no mistake, the 12 pages are filled with full-color photographic examples, go into great detail with the traits of each character in the game, and even contain two variations of the rules. The point is, actually playing the game is a lot more intuitive, not to mention perhaps simplistic than a player might suspect by reading the book alone. The real strategy here is rather not unlike the system that's made classics such as checkers and chess so successful since their inception: To reach the opposing side of the board. In the case of the Fellowship, it's to get Frodo onto the enemy's Mordor square to be victorious. Sauron needs only get three enemy figures into the Shire or to kill Frodo. Unless otherwise stated in a character's tile, movement is forever forward toward the opponent's side of the game board, which is divided in the middle by Middle Earth's infamous mountain ranges. Plop your character (which your opponent cannot see due to the plastic stands that house the tiles) onto a space already occupied by an opponent's piece and as they might say in Seinfeld, it's go time. Battles begin by the players revealing the shrouded combatants to one another. Next the actions on the character's tile text take place (this could be something like "Merry Instantly Defeats the Witch King" or "Gimli Immediately Defeats the Orcs". After this phase of action, the players will likely find themselves in a test of strength, which in this case is indicated by a number on both the character's tile and on the reference sheets. The player can then choose a combat card to throw from his hand, which is simply added to the tile's strength number. Whoever's player has the least strength after doing so looses the confrontation and is hence removed from the board. If it looks like you won't be successful in combat based on strength alone, your hand also contains some special ability cards that are great for getting characters out of tight spots. Among these could be a magic spell that allows you pick up a previously discarded card or an Elven Cloak that allows the opponent's strength (combat) card value to be ignored and so on. Basically, that's all there is to it. Of course like all Knezia-designed games, there is inherent strategy to be found despite an initial impression of being far too simplistic for lasting enjoyment. Games can almost always go either way and while often shorter than the 30-minute average time, are usually quite intense. When playing as the Fellowship, I've found myself attempting various strategies from placing my higher strength characters on the front line to forming a "huddle" around the ring-bearer. Sometimes it works and sometimes my best-laid plans result in slaughter. Indeed, perhaps that's what makes the game so enjoyable. Of course repeated rounds with the same opponent can eventually lead to the observation of patterns (like when I place my Merry figure to intercept what I suspect is my opponent's Witch King) but the variant games included do away with such concern. The first variation simply demands that the player flip all of the tiles within their stands around to reveal character variations for both the Fellowship and the forces of Sauron. These are indicated by a star symbol next to the character rather then a ring. The variant plays by the identical rules of the classic version except that the character texts are switched up. For example rather than simply having the ability to retreat sideways when attacked, the variant Frodo has the ability to ignore the Shadow player's card text. This version actually introduces a few new characters to the mix such as Wormtongue, Treebeard, and Smeagol, who are notably absent from the classic game's roster. Finally, the ways to win are tweaked as well with the Shadow simply having to get the Witch King into the Shire for instant victory and Frodo having the ability to pass the One Ring off to Samwise should he be defeated in combat. The second variation is called The Draft Game and like in professional sports, it allows each player the option to assemble their own army using classic characters, variant characters, or a mix of the two. In this version of play, the players present tokens for their players to reference at will that simply demonstrate the army they've got on the field (no surprises in other words). Finally, I should note that the game offers one final bit of variation in the form of eight special cards (4 for each player that is reduced to 2 apiece for play) that bring an interesting dose of randomness to the strategy. For example, the card of Gandalf's white stallion Shadowfax allows the Fellowship player the ability to move sideways (rather than forward) to an adjacent unoccupied (by the enemy) spot while the Recall to Mordor card allows the Shadow player the ability to move any one of his characters back to his Mordor square at the cost of a turn. In all The Confrontation has very little in common with the LotR titles it shares space with in the Fantasy Flight Games catalog other than the names of characters, locations and so on. While the others seem to follow the massive war game dynamic, The Confrontation works more like a personal strategic romp between two individuals. Again I hate to draw such comparisons because it's not as if the game actually borrows from or mimics either, but the best way to describe this system would be to compare it to what makes checkers or chess operate: Fairly simplistic decisions that can make or break a player's chance of success. Also noteworthy is that since Peter Jackson's incredible motion picture incarnations of the franchise were created, seemingly all Lord of the Rings art, either consciously or otherwise, has begun to look like the film interpretations. Interestingly enough, The Confrontation is one of few examples that I'm aware of that makes a deliberate effort to present its own unique perspective of the beloved characters (sorry ladies who've come to lust over Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, and Sean Bean). In all, The Confrontation is quite an enjoyable, albeit brief, exercise in strategy and light warfare. Like most of the Reiner Knizia games I've played so far, it takes only minutes to learn but offers a strategic element that never tires. I would definitely recommend it to LotR fans for its sound use of characters, locations, and moments that make the books/ films so memorable and to non-fans alike, as it never relies upon such elements to present its addicting dynamic.

I'm a big fan of board games, and this one is very enjoyable. It's very similar to Stratego at its core, but with a lot more nuance when the character abilities and player cards are considered. In addition, multiple versions are included for a LOT of replayability, especially for a board game. It's only good for two players, so it's nice for a couple, and each game can take as little as 15 minutes. There's a slight learning curve, given the unique abilities for each side of the board, so a few plays are necessary to get a full understanding of the rules and to develop a strategy around them. I'm looking forward to my next chance to play this one! If you like board games, you can't go wrong with this one.

Please note that I've only played this game twice. Both times as the fellowship; my friend wanted to play Sauron both times. My aim was to get Frodo to Mordor; my friend wanted to slay Frodo or get 3 characters to the Shire. Either player can lose the game by not being able to move forward (you have to move some character forward on your turn). The regularly spaced board positions are named after the regions of Middle Earth, though they do not form a map. The theme of the "lord of the rings" settles nicely over this game. That is if you are (like me) inclined to role-play your characters. I sent Sam with Frodo, Pippin with Gandalf. Presumably this will become predictable after a few games. But there's a certain pleasure to be gained from trying to win with extra constraints that add to the feel. If you've played Dungeon Twister Basic Set (Dungeon Twister), the combat cards have a similar feel. The difference is that in DT, once the characters are revealed, they are permenantly revealed. In this game, characters are only revealed during combat. So there's a bit of mental bookkeeping - trying to guess, infer and remember the identities of your opponents concealed characters. This uncertainty adds to the fun. Some of the weaker characters are particularly good against specific powerful opposing characters. In our games we kept looking at the reference sheets to determine the consequences of moving a character or using a text (combat) card. I suspect after several games, most cards will become known well. My first impressions are that it is a fun light game with some strategy.

My husband and I enjoy board games and discovered this two player game by Reiner Knizia a while ago. (about 5-6 months). We have played this game a good 30+ times. We thoroughly enjoy it and are constantly finding new strategies, new moves. It is ever so interesting. Ofcourse we have also built our little stories around the powerful 'Gandalf' and the stories of the 'flying nazgul'. So if you are into the LOTR the book,movie ...then you would totally love this game. Highly recommended two player game!!

I have the classic edition of this clever game in which a player selects being the good guys or the bad guys. There are nine characters on each side and each character has a unique property. The bad guys win by capturing Frodo, while the good guys win by making sure Frodo arrives safely into Mordor. Though it is often compared to Stratego, this game is more interesting and complex.

Reviews

The game was in perfect condition and arrived earlier than expected. It is a lot of fun and challenging at times. Great family game.

I remember reading LotR and I loved the series and the Peter Jackson version. Once I heard of the Monopoly edition of LotR, I was excited. I soon won the LotR Monopoly edition. I came home, invited some relatives and soon had a great time! As you know, Monopoly is a game inwhich you have to be the ultimate monopoly. You buy and sell property, and if you own Mt. Doom and Bara-dur (Boardwalk and Park Place in the original Monopoly) then you get a monopoly. You can build strongholds (houses) and fortresses (hotels) and everytime a rival lands on your property, then he has to give you power (money). If you can't pay the rent then you'll become bankrupt and you are out. You also have to avoid jail. There is some new tokens that resemble characters from LotR. If you had a look at the screenshots of this Monopoly game then you'll notice a lot of changes. But there is a new optional rule you can play with in this version; everytime you roll an "Eye of Sauron" (also counts as one) the golden ring will move to one territory per eye, where you can add strongholds. If you land on a territory with the ring, you may get it for FREE! If you land on an owned territory with the ring on it, you have to pay double the rent. So, if you are a 100% die-hard LotR that only enjoy the books, then you can miss. But if you are looking for a Monopoly board or for LotR stuff, I recommend this game then Note: If Tolkien lived to see this, he would have died immediatly. Infact, I think he's rolling in his grave as I am typing this review.

Received in a timely manner. Game in great shape.

Although we love Lord of the Rings and thought it would be fun having a Monopoly version, we were very disappointed at the quality of this game. The playing pieces were extremely cheap, as was the board itself, more like cardboard with paper on it. We hate it!!

I must admit that my family loves Monopoly and I love LOTR. This is a great version for us to break out during the hurricanes [I live in FL] for a change of pace. It is a nice set and if you're into collecting the different versions I would highly recommend this one. One point that I am unsure of is if this is the Trilogy version or not. When movies and marketing span years, one must be careful to check on those pesky details. All in all a good game with moderately paced game play; however it can take a while to get through a whole game so do not start near bed time.

Reviews

This figure rocks.That's all that there is to it.Even though he fights the balrog in the fellowship he fights him in ttt too.The only bad thing about this fig is that his hair is plastered to fall right in front of the sides of his face.This is not cahange able.Oh well all in all this is a great figure.

A friend of mine at my office had one and then it became a "have to have". When my clients appear at my door for review work, I just let Gandalf do the talking. It's awesome and "I keep it" in my office with my other LOTR figures..... Great fun! ja miller

i dont know ALL of the figures in the LOTR's line, but these "epic trilogy" figs are evry well done. i bought this balrog battle gandalf at TRU by me, and boy, this is one cool gandalf fig. he comes fully loaded with his wooden staff, sword glamdring, and scabbard rigged at his side very realistic looking. he also comes with a sound base that looks like a piece of rock (supposed to be part of the bridge of kazzad-dum) and has a very LOUD battle cry that has gandalkf saying "YOOOOOOU SHALL NOOOOT PAAAAAAAS!!!!!!!" its really loud so prepare yourself, i got a bit of a fright in the store when i pressed it. its very detailed, and i agree with the previous poster, a light up staff would have made this the perfect figure, but that loud sound feature and very cool looking detailed figure makes up for that. very good fig, i recomend this to any LOTR's toybiz collector.

This figure is Toy Biz's take on Gandalf the Grey as he appears battling the Balrog at the Bridge of Khazad-dûm, Moria, in The Fellowship of the Ring movie. Although nicely detailed, complete with tousled hair, a dirty robe, a tired yet determined expression, and two accessories, his sword and his staff, this isn't the best of all the Gandalf figures. His likeness to Ian McKellan, the actor who plays the character in the movie, is not as good as Gandalf the White's from Series 1 of The Two Towers line - for me the best so far. The Electronic Sound Base clearly shouts the phrase "You shall not pass!" in the actor's voice - you can even hear it echoing in the deep halls of Moria - and a couple pegs securely support the figure by its feet when it stands on top of it, but overall it's just a bit too short to give the impression of a long narrow stone bridge. And while this figure is actually inspired in a scene from the Fellowship of the Ring movie, it has been cheaply packaged for The Two Towers series by changing the names and pictures on Gandalf the White's card - even the literature on the back is the same. But where this figure really falls short is in the fact that its staff doesn't light up, a feature that was included in the first Gandalf figure to ever come out. I would have gladly paid a couple more bucks to have this figure with that kind of Light-Up Action included. If it had, it probably would have been one of the coolest figures of the entire collection. Buy it aware of what you're getting. --Reviewed by Maritza Volmar

Reviews

Well this game has pretty good multi-play and that is about the end of the PROS. The CONS are many so far as I have seen. First the price I see on Amazon says like $93.61 or something and I'm scratching my head like is this is Martian Kronars or Dollars? Did I fall asleep like Rip Van Winkle and wake up and my currency has been devalued to pennies for each dollar or what is up with that?! More CONS include AI levels are missing and how they impact your solo play. If you choose EASY the computer plays like he is simpleminded and almost never attacks and simple sits in his own camp waiting for you to attack him when you are ready. If you choose Medium, you'd better be a mean fighting expert because he will rush you with sets of troops getting progressively harder with each wave until he breaks your camp down. From what I can see there needed to be about two more levels like Easy+ just like Easy but not a COMPLETE stoop. There also needs to be a Not quite Medium level where the computer sends waves of troops to attack but takes a breather every now and then to let you rebuild from the onslaught. Other Cons include the view is pretty well zoomed in by default and you CAN ZOOM in MORE if you want your nose pressed against the Towers and walls to work on that crosseyed thing BUT sadly there is no option to ZOOM further OUT to see the whole camp. Instead you are left resorting to people yelling "They're attacking the camp!" and a tiny golden ping on the minimap to hint at what you wish you could have seen if ONLY you could have zoomed out and not been quite as Surprised as the guy who was yelling for help "They're attacking the camp!" "They're attacking the camp!" becomes a common thing if you are playing medium. More CONS is custom maps. Found one of several custom map sites like http://bfme2.heavengames.com/ but sadly nobody on this site seems to be able to stop boasting about their custom map long enough to explain exactly where do WE PUT these downloaded maps to ACTUALLY use them so we can know for ourselves how awesome and brilliant you were... All in all a good game if you are interested in just playing the campaign through once and finding someone human to play a few rounds against multiplay via Hamachi or something. Skirmish is toast with the lack of AI levels 1 too easy 2 too tough (difficulty 1.4 and 1.6 would have been a huge plus but no luck) Maybe they could use the windfall from their $93.61 to see it in their massive budget to slap a few useful AI levels into this game. Nah - never gonna happen. Play-testing people. You know QA!? It's all about spending the few weeks actually letting actual gamers play with your software before trying to SELL it.

when i first got this game 2 years ago, it was [...]$ now it is an average of [...]$! now that shows how great the game is! the only thing is that if you have a problem TS sucks! but the game is awsome! i highly recomend this game! it is #3 on my top RTS games my #1 is C&C 3 #2 DoW2 then this game! i absautly love it (im 13) but i have incounterd 25 year olds playing online!

I'm writing this review from the point of view of a casual gamer who only plays against the computer; I like being able to quit a game whenever I feel like it. So, obviously, I'll only be commenting on the single-player modes. The campaign modes of the game features nothing from the movies proper, instead focusing on the "War in the North" - the Goblins versus the Elves and Dwarves. The campaign is comparatively short, featuring only about 1/3 of the missions of the original BFME, presented in a fixed order. However, the locales and actual missions are varied and well-designed, avoiding the monotony that was 75% of the BFME I campaigns (a.k.a. destroy the enemy base, which was always located directly opposite you on the map, and maybe fulfill the ridiculously easy secondary objective). As you can tell from the campaigns, three new factions are introduced - Goblins (roughly equivalent to the spam-happy Mordor from BFME I - units that are weak but cheap with a few random heavy hitters), Dwarves (incredibly strong and ponderously slow, very good on the defensive), and Elves (think Gondor from BFME I and soup it up, making them stronger and faster but are slightly weaker defensively as a trade off). Gondor and Rohan have been combined into the "Men of the West" faction, combining the best of both worlds, and Mordor has been made slightly more robust, including adding a few more heroes, but have lost the free orcs. Isengard, with the exception of adding new heroes, is pretty much identical. My favorite addition to the game is the "War of the Ring" mode, which takes the campaign mode from BFME I and turns it into a Risk type of game, with territories able to be reconquered, garrisoned, built up and more. This adds a great level of strategy and fun to the game, and any battles can be auto-resolved or fought out in real-time. My only complaints about this mode are that the AI tends to be too agressive, leaving their territories undefended, and that the players only can have three armies that invade other territories (they led by pre-selected heroes you have at the beginning of the game; later heroes you build can't lead armies). The create-a-hero feature is a cool concept, but I would have liked to see more options - each character can only have certain skills depending on their class (wizard, orc, et cetera), which is fine, but we only get 12 or so to choose from. Appearance options are even worse, with only a sparse variety - you can't even change hair color. And every hero costs 2000 resources, no matter how powerful or useless they are. (This was apparently fixed in the now-difficult-to-find expansion pack, "Rise of the Witch King") Also, a lot of the little annoying things from BFME I have been fixed. Unit-producing buildings now can be upgraded by purchasing an upgrade, cutting out the rank-based-on-production system that never worked because the command point limit was so low - another issue that has been resolved in BFME II, with a base CP limit of 1000 that is adjustable (it also is realistic - player start a game with 100 CPs and, as they build up their infrastructure, get more). Resource gathering is now based on territory and buildings can be built anywhere, which makes the game more realistic - factions now battle it out for the entire map instead of trying to control one of several arbitrarily-chosen "expansion points." There is also a new difficulty for the AI - "Brutal" - for those of us who found the "Hard" opponents somewhat lacking. All in all, this is a very worthwhile game that is both deeper than BFME I (thereby pleasing the BFME and other RTS veterans) while still being fairly easy to pick up (meaning the rookies will enjoy it). It's quality and fun, but has enough frustrations and shortcomings to land it squarely in 4-star territory.

The game was shipped and recieved much earlier than I expected, so I was very pleased. The disc came exactly as it was described to me, so there were no unexpected problems. I am a satisfied customer.

This a great game. You can play it for hours. Lots of battles for sure to play

Reviews

This is a decent expansion pack for BFME2. ROTWK takes place long before the events of the film, and detail the fall of Arnor (via the army of Angmar) over 1000 years before the Ring was even thought of. The most obvious additions are the new faction, Angmar, and a campaign that revolves around it. Every original faction gets new units (including "elite" units, only a certain number of which can be in play at any time), with three getting new heroes. The create-a-hero now has a variable cost system, two new classes (snow and hill trolls), and the existing classes get a few more appearance options. War of the Ring mode has been fleshed out, with an in-game economy, the ability to attack with four armies (instead of three), new territories, and the ability to keep units you created in RTS battle. The enemy AI is now able to retreat if it feels it can't win, although in my play-through it retreated a lot more than it should have - once even when it had me pinned in a corner of the map and had me slightly outnumbered. All in all, it's a worthy expansion pack, but it's worth $30, not $100.

The quality and style are all equalled by Battle for Middle Earth II. The Witch King provides additional characters without change in style and game play. I still give top marks to EA for this game and it's previous version. My review of LOTR II applies to this game as well. Enjoy!

While the witch king does not dramatically change game play, it does add to the original game. The Angar faction is a wonderful addition. They have added new, much needed, units to the other factions, additional maps, and beefed up the create a hero system. They also added a few heroes to some of the factions, like the Dale hero from the dwarven side. I heard that the War of the Ring additions are also great, but I haven't had a chance to dig into that. Overall, this expansion has peaked my interest in playing the game. I mostly play it on skirmish mode with other players. If you like the original, you will definetly like the additions with this expansion.

After receiving and installing the game was unable to play due to an dat.error. Apparently this is a known issue from EA forums that many people experience after instillation. DO NOT recommend buying as EA has not released a fix. The only way is to download a torrent with a no cd crack which is not a fix.

The level of detail that went into the planning of this game is extraordinary. I haven't played the War of the Ring, so can't comment on that. Frankly, for *me*, it's too massive and time consuming, and I just don't have the requisite time/energy/desire to take it on. But anyone can see from the reviews posted here that it's a remarkable feature of the game. (Which just makes the game seem that much more incredible to me.) What I can comment on is the Campaign, and the Skirmishes, and how true to Tolkien's Middle-earth the game is. The Campaign is that of the Witch-King's successful attempt to destroy the realm of Andor, a northern kingdom in Middle-earth. One of the lead reviews posted here mentioned that even on the "easy" setting, the Campaign was extremely difficult. I'd have to agree with that. I slowly made it through on the easy setting, and I won't be going back for more. It was interesting, but not quite interesting enough to do what I would think of as torture--try and try again to beat a game that will always beat me. The Campaign is interesting in that it presents a new faction: Angmar, and the Witch-King is a major character in many of the tasks that comprise the Campaign, although he seems to be (in the Campaign and the Skirmishes) a bit on the weak side. More so as a hero in Mordor, where he rides the winged beast (he has the option of dismounting), than in Angmar, where he sits a horse. All of the new additions are carefully thought out, and while they all don't follow the canon of LOTR, the direction of the Witch-King's assault on the kingdom of Andor does, and that in itself is impressive. In the Angmar faction, the "heroes" are not canon, with the Witch-king's notable exception. The others have clever backgrounds, that do reflect canon, but they're fictional-fictional creations. One, Morgomir, is said to be one of The Nine (he's not), and when using him as a hero, he is, at times, much more effective than the Witch-king himself, with "powers" that have a more direct impact on the game. That's mostly true if you're playing against the computer, but if you're playing against another person, who would ostensibly know how better to deploy heroes (i.e., send them out with troops, have them fight alongside troops, and try to stay alive to level up and reap the benefits of higher-level powers, as opposed to acting like kamikazes), then the Witch-king's major power, a resetting of all heroes special powers to "used", is actually a major power. Along with Angmar come new troops: Thrall Masters, Black Numenoreans, Dark Rangers (who fire bolts of ice, rather than silverthorn or fire), Dire Wolves, Snow Trolls, Hill Trolls, Seige Engine, and, the newest introduction to the entire BME universe, Sorcerers who, if used correctly, can be devastating. Also, the walls that Angmar builds are strong. They can be upgraded with "ice", and once done are very difficult to knock down. All of the other factions received upgrades/changes; most importantly, they each received elite infantry units, with limits to the number you can have on the field. For the Elves, there are Noldor Warriors. You can have three units on the field at a time. They come fully upgraded with banners (though one isn't visible), silverthorn arrows, and armor. They can also switch to fight with swords at close range. Used correctly, and leveled up, they are a mighty force. The Men of the West get Knights of Dol Amroth. Only three units can be on the field at a time, and if you pair them with other units on horseback, and, say, Eomer as a hero, once the knights level up appropriately, they lend extra experience to surrounding troops and can make for daunting cavalry. Dwarves get Zealots. I haven't played the Dwarves, so can't comment on them. Isengard gets Uruk Deathbringers. Played correctly, they are fearsome. Mordor gets The Black Riders. Only one Black Rider at a time may be in play. In reality, it's six horsed men in black--the Nazgul--and again, they become more and more terrible as they level up. Goblins get Fire Drake Brood. Only two may be on a field at a time, which amounts to 6 individual fire drakes. Like others, they are more effective as they level up, but are too easily dispatched. Best to pair them with a summoned Fire Drake from the Goblin fortress. There are other additions and changes to units and buildings, but that's a long enough list. In the first Battle for Middle Earth, the Campaign was much more exciting, as it followed the story of The Lord of the Rings reasonably well--it certainly followed the movie. The skirmishes were less exciting, as the terrain didn't change much from one place to another, with minor exceptions, and that's where BME2 and BME2RWK really shine. Just as in writing, it's all in the details. When you skirmish in Lorien, the colors of the forest are gorgeous and alluring, as in the Shire and Rivendell. The maps, and the lands portrayed within the maps, are much so more detailed than those in BME1, and your ability to customize the terrain to your liking (choosing where to build structures, how many you want to build) is greatly improved. Good is represented by Dwarves, Elves, and Men. All have their good and bad points. With the elves, you can upgrade to "silverthorn" arrows, and once you have an armored group of archers with silverthorn arrows, the game turns in your favor pretty quickly. Elves are the premier archers of the game. They have three different types. Lorien archers, Mirkwood archers, and Noldor warriors. The more elite the archer unit, the further back the archers need to be to hit their targets. (Compare this with goblin archers who seem to need to run up to the enemy and French kiss them before firing.) With elves, if you develop your archers quickly, get them the silverthorn upgrade as soon as possible, and purchase Haldir as a hero, pretty soon you'll be ruling the battlefield. The drawback to the elves is that it's difficult to raise resources. Other factions have ways to generate extra resources. Mordor and Isengard have lumber mills in addition to their main resource generator, and Isengard has a power that, when selected, allows you to raise the output of a slaughterhouse by 300% for the duration of the game. Add that to the lumber mills, and you're raising money quickly. But the bad guys need the extra resources, because they can't heal. Their bannered units don't replenish as quickly as the good guy's bannered units do, and there's nowhere for them to go (no Mirror of Galadriel, or Well of Healing) to quicken their healing. If you're playing the evil side, and find yourself run over by a bunch of horsed lancers, your forces take a serious hit. The harder the game selection, the more forces will be thrown at you, so you don't have idle time to wait for your troops to heal. You need to create new troops, purchase new banners, armor, arrows or weapons, etc. Evil is represented by Isengard, Goblins, Mordor, and Angmar. If you play the Goblins, watch when you build a tunnel--you'll see two goblins kind of playing catch, although they're supposed to be working. One is throwing rocks out from inside the tunnel, the one on the outside is catching them. When the goblin on the outside loses track of what he's doing, the one from the inside comes up, smacks him on the head, and they resume their tasks of throwing and catching rocks. Like I said--details. If you capture the ring, you get to call out Sauron himself. He's pricey--10,000--but has an insane amount of health, 15,000, and must be wearing armor that's stronger than mithril. He's nearly impossible to hurt if he's being utilized correctly, and if you're playing an evil group and get the ring, make sure you bring Sauron out. He is the one character in the game--the only one--who can change the tide of a battle. I was playing level 1 Goblins against level 4 elves, and while not being soundly trounced, I was definitely losing. That is, until I captured the ring. As soon as Sauron came out, the tide shifted, and I won. He's not terribly quick on his feet, or speedy with his mace, but once that mace connects to anything, watch out. He can cause whole battalions to become airborne. Compare that to calling out Galadriel, who is the hero that the forces of good can call upon when they've captured the ring. Her health is 5,000. You can custom-make heroes that have more health than Galadriel. She's not a game changer. She has some cool powers--fear, and a wicked tornado that picks up virtually everything, and that, when positioned over an enemy's fortress can cause severe damage--but the way they've drawn her character she looks more like Stevie Nicks throwing karate kicks than the Queen of the Elves. My only real beef with this game is that patches to the original version weakened some heroes. Gandalf, for instance, wouldn't stand much of a chance against the Black Riders of Mordor, and we know from the books that he's more than a challenge for any of them. He also can't stand up to the Witch-king, which is absurd. (If all you know is the movie, what happens between Gandalf and the Witch-king in Gondor in the Extended Version of ROTK could not possibly have happened.) Gandalf is better matched against the Balrog that the evil forces can call upon, but even the Balrog is weaker than it should be. Remember: Gandalf, the Balrog, Saruman, and Sauron all share a similar origin. They are all Maia, essentially angels (or fallen angels). No man should be able to withstand Gandalf's wrath, especially when he returns as Gandalf the White. Yet many can. Still, that's not much of a beef. When playing equal sides, level 1 Goblins against level 1 elves, it's usually a cake walk for the goblins, with me playing the goblins and the computer playing the elves, for example. It's not quite so easy playing it the other way, playing the good guys. But that's fine--that's canon. Evil was stronger than good, and the "forces of good" really had to dig down deep to pull out a victory. All in all, a terrific game.

Reviews

I haven't seen a review of this game lately so for anyone that might be wondering, I'm happy to report that Lord of the Rings Online is alive and well and it just keeps getting BETTER! I'm not a LOTRO fanboy but I did come into this game with a love of the Lord of the Rings books and movies. I've played a number of MMOs including the wildly popular and massively populated WOW but I want to reassure anyone who might be on the fence about whether or not to try LOTRO to "come on in" the water is fine. In fact, graphically and storywise everything in this Tolkien inspired world is fine. The folks at Turbine have worked very hard both technically and creatively to make your stay in Middle Earth an exciting and rewarding experience. When you purchase the Mines of Moria Collectors Edition you are getting the original game Shadows of Angmar, the Mines of Moria expansion, and a number of extras including a cloth map of Middle Earth, 3 helpful in-game items, and a soundtrack CD. The price of admission for this opportunity to experience first hand the hills and dales of the Shire and all of Middle Earth is a pittance. Really, unbelievably cheap for a Collector's Edition box game. Buy 2! Then you need only add the recently released award winning Siege of Mirkwood expansion to bring your game experience up to date. Be ye a quester, jester, crafter, or bard there is something in this game for just about everyone to love and best of all Turbine continues to supply LOTRO players with new and tasty content. For those who care about the longevity of their MMOs I believe LOTRO has long legs with a long and exciting road ahead. Another plus to consider when choosing this MMO is the LOTRO players themselves. I've found them to be quite a friendly and helpful fellowship of hobbits, elves, dwarves and humans. A couple of things to keep in mind if you are thinking about playing this game. There is a downloadable 10 day free trial available on the LOTRO website so you can try before you buy. Also, the game world is large and quite visually stunning which requires some computing horsepower to run at its highest settings. LOTRO was made to run on a host of differently configured PCs so for the best look and playabilty you will want to tweek the game's graphics settings to your own tastes. One last thought, if you do play LOTRO and fall in love with the game like I did, Turbine offers a lifetime subscription option. Take that Blizzard!

This by far is best expansion of LOTRO. The game is fast - paced and doesn't leave you hunting around to form groups to do the quests because most are soloable. Love the extra content in and out of game. The replica of The One Ring put this over the top. Blows WOW (World of Warcraft) COMPLETELY away! LOTRO is the clear winner.

Yes this game is a great game knowing the excellent price of $10. But the only down side is if you don't have a beastly computer you can't really run this game at good settings. Other than that it is a great game you should try it if you want to do something new.

I am a refugee from Lineage II. Loved that game but was more interested in crafting and questing and it just didn't offer enough of that. Then my Fiance introduced me to LOTRO.........can I say WOW! It's beautiful, detailed, and FULL of non-stop quests for every level character! Plus....I am in crafting HEAVEN! The Lord of the Rings story is by far my favorite, along with The Hobbit, so, needless to say, this new world is a welcome escape for me. Now for the but......In the Collector's Edition box you get several free items to make the role-playing experience even better. It includes 2 maps - one is a poster, of Middle Earth, and the other is cloth. I was expecting a wonderfully realistic cloth map of Middle Earth, with great details, etc. However, what I got was a map of the Moria area, not very detailed or collector item worthy. Was very disappointed with it. The other items include: "The Ring" - gold-toned, chain included, fairly realistic, inside a small black velvet pouch; a Music & Art Collection book, with cd and pictures - small, hard back, pretty cool; a Starter Guide - small, paper back, and a MUST for the first-timers; the actual game download cd's - 2 discs sturdily incased in a cd sized set of sleeves; a poster of Conquer The World Beneath - approximately 13" x 30" in size, featuring a very large Balrog with a tiny back view of Gandalph making his stand against the monster, very colorful and detailed; your Product Key with 3 Buddy Keys - so your friends can try it for 14 days free; a Quick Reference Card - a guide to all the keyboard and mouse commands; and finally, it all comes in a sturdy, texturized box to keep all your goodies together. Please, whomever put this collector box together, REDO the cloth map!! Make it of all Middle Earth with more detail and more realistic of a map from Middle Earth. Then send them out to all of us who purchased the box. Thanks all for enduring my long review. It was a pretty satisfying buy on the whole. So if you don't mind a mediocre cloth map, and especially if you've never played the game, BUY IT!

The game lacks creativity and new art. The developers, if there are any anymore, do very little if anything. Spring, Summer and Fall of 09 had almost NO content. They are advertising the release of their next zone on the rings journey to Mt Doom, Mirkwood. These zones were supposed to be FREE, now they charge subscribers for em and sell them like expansions. One reason to avoid it. The other, and vastly more important reason is... There is this new command they slipped into their product this summer on the down low, as a way to help people who couldn't run windowed or task out. Its called /browse. Sony the makers of many dead and old MMOs did the exact same thing during the Hoth rollout. This /browse command will become a micro credit credit card web transaction site, just like SOE's games. They will get the subscriber with a monthly fee, a fee to purchase instances, and gear. Its a definate profit change, for them. If they can keep their subscription base. I would avoid getting addicted to this Overpriced Bugfest, or you may find yourself HAVING to purchase their good gear to compete online in later levels and later quests, instead of questing for good gear. Turbinen is forcing us to play an asian MMO in English, another words. Over there its no big thing to pay for pixels and miniscule items. Not the same in the west. Turbine is also the maker DDO. At the sametime they turned DDO into a micro credit card transaction game, they put the /browse command in LotRO. I quit because I fear they will make LotRO F2P with micro credit card transactions. They haven't owned up to it, anywhere to my knowledge. But I can see it coming. After putting almost 8months of flight time on all my LotRO:MoM toons combined and often playing late into the night with bloodshot eyes. It pains me to have had to quit. But I won't miss MMOing in a world that makes me BUY gear on a confusing popup site with my CC. I left SWG:Hoth when they tried to sell me the chance to buy a Hoth snowspeeders, purchasing pixels twice is bad. That was a bungled mess over there. My advice, avoid Sony MMOs and now add Turbine MMOs to that list. The Turbine developer likes Microtransactions. Microtransactions are often refered to as the the asian MMO model of selling you competitive good gear and quest time, instead of letting you roam free and find the best stuff out of their loot-a-matic. Ordinary play is free in the asian model, but the free areas and interactions are dull on the senses, eyesores instead of eyecandy. If ya want to aspire to become a second class virtual citizen with a bad RL credit record prepurchase Mirkwood. I know I didn't, I'm staying away from MMOs until they settle down into somekind of respectful game genre. Its anyones idea what you get in these boxes. Conan was so laggy, I couldn't even keep logged in. Knutor x-tank, x-kinleader, STO betatester

Reviews

The Lord of the Rings CD arrived in record time. I've never gotten anything in as quickly. It was in excellent condition. I'm very pleased with this purchase.

CD was in perfect condition...just as advertised! Fantastic transaction! Would definitely buy from seller again!

THE MUSIC WASN'T WHAT I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE. I DIDN'T HAVE ACCESS TO LISTEN TO IT BEFORE WRITING. THAT IS WHAT MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO BUY C.D.'S WITHOUT HEARING THE MUSIC FIRST. THE SERVICE WAS SATISFACTORY, HOWEVER. SHARON BREEN

If you enjoy classical music and new age music - and you enjoyed The Lord of the Rings trilogy - then you will LOVE this. It makes good background music while I am working, too. :)

I had to return it because you can't play it on your computer. PLEASE DON'T BUY IF THIS IS YOUR CASE. The content of course is awesome, I love it, I love it !

Reviews

As an avid Tolkien and Lord of the Rings fan, I know what makes the movies so moving and epic. The answer is the soundtrack by Howard Shore. Each track puts you right into Middle Earth with the Fellowship and sweeps you away in their journey. For anyone who loves the trilogy or just good heartwarming music, this soundtrack is for you. CD came prompt and in perfect packaging and conditions. No complaits what-so-ever.

I loved the movie, Return of the King, especially the background music. I just had to have that music. It's hard to find a particular item at the local Border's, Best Buy, etc., but I know I can always depend on Amazon to come through with the product and at a very reasonable price. The Lord of the Rings was an amazing trilogy, and the music was equally amazing.. . especially for Return of the King. My sister introduced me to the trilogy, and I remember it as a wonderful time because we were engrossed in this movie, and ate popcorn and junk food, and it was a nice memory in my life. Listening to the soundtrack brings that memory back to me. . but the music in itself is truly beautiful. I bought 2 copies; one for her as a gift, and she was so pleased because she had been looking for a copy and couldn't find one.

Another beautiful selection of music from a fine movie. It might be something nice to play while you're reading or working on homework. There's something utterly relaxing about listening to a good soundtrack. I've found it a nice way to mark time when I'm working at home. Surprisingly, it can also help you study. I'm no official expert on that, but it personally worked for me. In any case, a worthy investment.

This is just a note to confirm that this product truly is the actual soundtrack of the movie. Earlier, I was fooled into buying a cheap, synthesizer version of music "from" the movie. Rest assured that this CD contains the same rich, magnificent music (instrumental and vocal) from Return of the King that you remember. It will trigger the same emotions. It was nice that Annie Lennox's "Into the West" was included as the final track.

Okay, I was already determined to love this album when I found out that Renee Fleming stars in three of it's pieces. But Howard Shore truly does provide a gorgeous presentation of his musical talents. Keeping in mind that this is a movie track, and therefore, there is a lot of "incidental" music in this album. It's not always riveting without the action of the movie to complete the story. But that is a challenge every composer of film music faces. Flemming is flawless, providing a straight-tone (no vibrato), eerie, airy sound in her performances to emphasize the other-worldly influence of this music. One wonders how authentic her "elfin" would be, but since her vocals are nearly indistinguishable from the orchestra, the accent could hardly be determined anyhow. The End Of All Things is an amazing piece of compositing, and I've been listening to it over and over. As stated by other reviewers, I don't feel that Annie Lennox was the best choice for Into The West. Her voice is harsh and out of place next to the rest of the performance. However, this might have been intentional on the part of the composer, and I will attempt to understand, while taking a star from a perfect score!

Reviews

I love listening to the LoTR soundtracks. Howard Shore is a masterful composer and this CD is great. If my LoTR music wasn't on my MP3 player, I'd probably would have damaged the CDs by now with how frequently I listen to this music.

Nice blend between soothing the spirit and reminding oneself of the action-packed moments of the movies.

This filmscore/soundtrack is (chiefly) classical program music and a huge tone poem of the First Water. All the music on this CD was composed, orchestrated, conducted, and produced by Howard Shore. I thought long and hard prior to reviewing this work because I have some definite issues with it, which I'll discuss in just a bit - but the bottom line is that with this CD you get your money's worth and it's really a fine collection. First, I wish to provide some background details of the original story and of the music. For the uninitiated, "The Lord of the Rings," (by J.R.R. Tolkien) is an adult fantasy tale of good versus evil in a land called Middle Earth where all manner of creatures exist and interact. "The Two Towers" is the second entry of the LOTRs trilogy where "men," (as opposed to elves, dwarves, and hobbits), are introduced in a major way into the chronicle. The filmscore here includes some themes from the first film ("The Fellowship of the Ring") and incorporates some new ones as well. The orchestra here is nothing less than the much-renowned London Philharmonic, spot-on in their rendering of the work and yielding near-perfection in this instance in my opinion. The vocals include The Voices of London, The Oratory School Schola Boys' Choir, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Ben Del Maestro, Elizabeth Fraser, and Emiliana Torrini. Dermot Crehan is featured playing a Norwegian fiddle called a "hardinger" and fine work it is. Other unique orchestral ethnic instruments featured herein include the rhaita (Jan Hendrickse), cimbalom, dilruba, log drums, and wood xylophones. To describe the overall work in general terms, it's characteristically broad with not a lot of instrumental solos, often highlighting expansive sweeping strings, big horns booming out bass scales, and pounding and assertive timpani. I listen to classical music 24/7 (and especially to movie soundtracks) and here, I detected numerous superlative trends and techniques of Stravinsky, Debussy, Loeffler, Elgar, Orff, Hovhaness, Gowers, and Górecki, albeit Shore has his own well-stuffed bag of tricks and I think that my notations are just reflective of the influence of at least most of these great composers on Shore himself. Not many of the movements end as they begin, if any at all do so. Ultimately, three hours of music were used in this film and only 72:24 of it is found on this CD (more on this later, the producers forgot to list any times on the liner notes or rear cover!). It was recorded in 2002 (post-film production) at the Coliseum at the Watford Town Hall (19 miles northwest of London, England). And to clear up a muddy point in advance, many of the solo vocal renderings are yielded up by the singers in Tolkien's "made-up" languages from the original book, and are therefore unintelligible (the final track excepted). The "translations" (into English) are found in the CD liner notes. One point came to my mind right off: Howard Shore must have had to discipline himself against an unceasing temptation to configure every piece of music in this film to the likes of traditional Irish folk tunes and reels. You'll find some of this ethnically-familiar music inserted, here and there, but that hurdle was cleared nicely, much to the benefit of the film and similarly to the listener I might add. I made copious notations as I listened (many times) to the CD and I have listed a number of my thoughts here (BTW, I don't read a note of music so if I have misused some terms, just please take them as a lay person would express them): Track 1, (3:51) "Foundations of Stone" - Big horns; broad, flowing strings; lumbering percussion, and; a "Carmina Burana-type" chorus and vocals. Track 2, (2:48) "The Taming of Sméagol" - "The Hobbit" main theme (clarinet) is up front; atmospheric chorus; tense strings; a transition into big percussion and bass notes on horns. Track 3, (4:05) "The Riders of Rohan" - An action theme, chiefly of horns; a decrescendo and a return to a string crescendo; this leads into a medieval ambiance. Track 4, (2:45) "The Passage of the Marshes" - (one of my two favorite movements) A spectacular vision of ancient magnificence... horns first, then a solo violin (hardinger), then more horns and strings; a change of key and more musical tension; more key changes over the course of this track. Track 5, (2:58) "The Uruk-hai" - A variation of yet another familiar action theme... a canon, really; totally orchestral; then, a big but brief reprise of Track 4 and subsequently into a brisk Doomsday march. Track 6, (3:48) "The King of the Golden Hall" - A staccato percussion laid against big horns, ending abruptly into a lightly played second reprise of Track 4 (solo violin). Track 7, (3:17) "The Black Gate Is Closed" - Another apprehensive action piece and then to a less assertive development in the minor key with a hallowed chorus; a series of orchestral crescendos; a rondo of strings and a change of key. Track 8, (3:15) "Evenstar" - Another favorite of mine. This piece opens with Isabel Bayrakdarian singing a beautifully melodic Celtic theme in the minor key. Track 9, (2:28) "The White Rider" - Embarks much like the opening chorus in the 4th movement of Beethoven's 9th; then to some playing of scales, with switching from the minor key to the major; then back to the minor. Track 10, (2:43) "Treebeard" - Opens with the dreadful F#-C exchange (or possibly transposed in another key); then, to a Stravinsky-ish "Rite of Spring" sacrificial maiden march. Track 11, (3:34) "The Leave Taking" - A chorus rendering a premise that's just a bit ripped-off from a late-period "Star Trek" film, morphing into something of an arabesque; then, a dreary manifestation of an orchestral series of key changes, all in the minor keys. Track 12, (3:52) "Helm's Deep" - Big horns, big timpani, the latter in a syncopated presentation; enter the echo of a chorus chanting scales; a decrescendo and a re-building of the Track 4 theme; enter another Enya-type Irish theme. Track 13, (5:27) "The Forbidden Pool" - A diminutive opening in the minor key which somewhat escalates via some bass-note work from the cello section. Track 14, (5:07) "Breath of Life" (featuring Sheila Chandra) - An unintelligible mantra (I mean this in a positive sense); ultimately to a galloping horn, string, and woodwind crescendo, then a decrescendo. Track 15, (4:36) "The Hornburg" - More of the Track 4 theme; a brief trumpet solo preceding a chorus of vocals. Track 16, (3:15) "Forth Eorlingas" (featuring Ben Del Maestro) - The chorus opens with a light chant, building to a point of climax where the orchestra again reprises the Track 4 theme, and then on to another of the main LOTR themes. Track 17, (5:00) "Isengard" (featuring Elizabeth Fraser and Ben Del Maestro) - Fraser open the piece which evolves to simply more pounding scales; then back to a sort of coda-length segment of the Track 4 theme; then, more Fraser and Maestro. Track 18, (3:44) "Samwise the Brave" - An old English folk tune rendered as a flute solo at the opening, (a variation of a prevalent LOTRs theme, ultimately correcting to the actual chief LOTRs theme). Track 19, (5:51) "Gollum's Song" (featuring Emiliana Torrini) - This is the final work of the CD - Torrini seems somewhat out-of-place (or perhaps it's that the actual music does) against its peer tunes... it's really not classical music at all. The lyrics are half-whispered, half-sung and the underpinning is reminiscent of a Jim Morrison (The Doors) ballad. It's the only song on the CD where the words are sung distinctly in modern English. The track ends with a very nice version of the Track 4 notion. Now, to address my three minor reservations/concerns about this CD: 1. If you want all the music from this film you'll have to purchase this pricey work: The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers (The Complete Recordings). This was indeed a disappointment when I discovered that I had been "shorted"; however, I must reiterate that I did in fact get my money's worth on this CD, given the low price - I was just disappointed that a particular piece of music that I especially loved was missing! 2. The last track, "Gollum's Song" really just does not fit in with the rest of the music. There are many people who clearly love this song and I don't challenge their right to enjoy it -- it's just that I see it as an incongruous entry on this heavily edited CD. I would not be much concerned with this had the producers of the CD soundtrack (Howard Shore may not have had the final say) not redundantly injected the theme from Track 4 so many times, taking up a lot of the CD space. In fact, I think that Howard Shore would have been far ahead to farm out the Gollum composition in its entirety (he collaborated) to a single writer who regularly works in this genre of music. In the end, I wish they would have just included more classical movements, eliminating this one from the abbreviated CD. But since they didn't, like most of my CDs, there's seems to always be at least one track that I don't care for so I really can't complain all that much on this issue. And as I said, there are plenty of folks who really savor this tune. 3. My biggest concern is that Shore did not use Isabel Bayrakdarian nearly enough. While the other vocalists are quite good, they're not even in the same universe with Bayrakdarian as far as I'm concerned. She's a rising soprano of infinite talent and she really shines here (all too briefly!) as she particularly does with one of her recent phenomenal CDs: Isabel Bayrakdarian ~ Cleopatra Finally, this is an "enhanced" audio CD with bonus multi-media content which will run on most computers - it does make an internet connection when you engage this feature. That's about it. Howard Shore and all concerned did a terrific job with this soundtrack and I highly recommend it, although if you can afford the expensive "complete" one, I'd obtain it instead.

This orchestral score accompanies Peter Jackson's second serving of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic Lord of The Rings trilogy, The Two Towers. To many, including me, The Two Towers was the most interesting book and the most enthralling film, and the music has something to do with how tense and action packed the movie was. This is where hell breaks loose, and the music indicates as much. Most of the songs sway between quiet, mysterious movements and loud, dark, sweeping, full orchestra explosions at the drop of a feather. This keeps the score tense, progressive, and effective. On one hand, the listener will hear many versions of the main Lord of The Rings themes that they have already been spoon fed hundreds of times before and probably won't need to hear again. The Taming Of Smeagol, The Riders of Rohan, and The King of The Golden Hall are in this way songs that you may want to skip simply because you can already hum along to them. But even these songs carry the same urgency and sense of destruction that most of the movie communicated. This keeps even the familiar melodies rather fresh. But for the most part, the listener will most likely find the most enjoyment in the songs they don't already know. What Howard Shore has done here is craft an aural experience just as distinct as the visual and fictional experiences that it accompanies. There is a tint of Gaelic spirit in most every song, which adds to the overall coherency of the score. There are some songs meant to accompany the tense action scenes, such as The Uruk-Hai and Helm's Deep, that do their damage very well, and recreate the dismal aura of Sauron's lackeys. When Tolkien created his books, he pushed his creative boundaries and created not just a series of books around his characters and events, but also a world. He wrote his own languages with their own phonetics, grammar, and vocabulary, and these languages are utilized here in several songs by accompanying soloists, as well as by booming female choruses. Isabel Bayrakdarian and Sheila Chandra sing exceptionally on Evenstar and Breath of Life respectively. But the real winner is, get ready, Liz Fraser appearing on Isengard Unleashed. Fraser has honed vocal emoting for decades using a language of angelic babel on her own, making her the most appropriate vocalist for this score. Her appearance, no matter how short, is deeply appreciated, and a bittersweet reminder that one of the worlds greatest singers still has her talent completely in tact after years of inactivity. There is some English singing on the closing Gollum's Song by Emiliana Torrini, which captures the insanity of Gollum very well. The most memorable themes that the soundtrack has to offer are The Passage of the Marshes, The Black Gate Is Closed, Evenstar, Treebeard, The Leave Taking, Breath of Life, and Isengard Unleashed. But this is a soundtrack worth picking up for it's entirety. If you enjoyed any of The Lord Of The Rings movies, or have any appreciation for orchestral music whatsoever, you will really get a lot from this soundtrack, and really all of the Lord Of The Rings soundtracks. Don't lie to yourself. Just because The Lord of The Rings has an army of ridiculous fanatics to back it up does not mean it is not quality literature. This soundtrack does great justice to the second Lord of The Rings film, which does great justice to the original book.

This is a great work by Howard Shore. Its the darkest movie in the trilogy and this soundtrack portrays that. The Rohan pieces are inspiring because you can sense the themes of 'hope in hopelessness' and helps you to remember that God can and will help you when all seems lost; He is the Savior.

Reviews

The price for this keyboard is listed as almost $100,000.00? I think this needs fixed.

This item originally retailed for $19.99 and is an excellent item. Paying more than 5 times the MSRP is a waste of your money though. Wait for the seller to drop the price to a reasonable level, or buy it from someplace else. This seller must be a complete idiot & think that other people are too to try and sell the item for just under 100 thousand dollars.

Dont let the price put you off!! Honestly this Keyboard is quality and at a tad under one hundred thousand. I bought two of these babies and sold my porsche and holiday island retreat to pay them but boy was it worth it. I was able to play LOR BFME 2 with ease. so go ahead and sell the family jewels and look out for the Tetris dedicated keyboard its worth cashing you pension and bonds in.

The keyboard is setup like the other RTS ZBOARDS. The only thing I would change would be moving the special commands from the right side to the left side, its kind of pointless to have both the mouse and keys on one side. But I just move my keyboard over, no fowl just a little bit of work:)

Reviews

I traded the game back into amazon's trade in store. It was too hard for me but it was fun until I could not get past the first mission. Good graphics too.

Like most PS3 shooter/Melee games I find myself pushing all the buttons as fast as I can in no apparent pattern while sweating profusely and feeling like I'm going 100mph on an icy highway with tractor trailers all around. But it might just be me.

This game is really fun and cool. This game actually is set up very much like the Star Wars Battlefront series. I like the way it is played. You have certain point in which you have to either defend, or attack. In doing so, you earn checkpoints. These checkpoints allow you to change your character in the middle of the game. In certain parts you get to select a Hero for battle!! The great thing about this game is that you can actually play as the enemy. So, you have the choice of being the good or evil side. The graphics are incredible. The music and the sound put you into the action. The voices of the characters are really cool as well. The controls are pretty easy, although there are many different combinations that you can perform using your weapon. It is a very challenging game and learning each character's attack is essential. For example, I couldn't beat Sauron using Gandalf, or an archer or scout because I wasn't used to playing as those characters. I ended up beating Sauron using a warrior. Which I played most of the level with and so I was used to using. I think you are a Lord of the Rings fan, this is a definite item to put in your collection. Also, the PS3 allows you to download the upgrades to the game to further enhance the experience. The game also has a cool multiplayer game where you and another player can be on the same screen fighting the same battle. Or do a head to head battle. I have not yet played on-line, but looking forward to trying it once I get the hang of the game by completing the many levels of difficulty.

I was gritting my teeth the entire time I played this game. It was made by the same people that made the great game Star Wars: Battlefront. So I thought it would be like that but in Middle Earth. Sounds great, right?! Or maybe not. The environments are completely unimaginative, repetitive, and very limited. I felt like I was confined in each level. The controls were also a dull point to me. The only positive thing I can say about it was that it was neat to see the characters on the PS3 because I love The Lord of the Rings. Oh and I'm also glad I only spent $20.00 on it.

I originally bought this game for PC,and when my PC wouldn't run it, I decided it was time to upgrade and get a PS3. It was worth it! Since I am a lord of the rings fan I already knew I would like this game, but the fairly good graphics, large scale battles, and great gameplay and controls could satisfy your average player too. The evil campaign was also very entertaining. If you were a battlefront fan, enjoy action adventure games, or are a fan of LOTR then this game is for you!