War in Middle Earth

War in Middle Earth is a strategy game from Melbourne House that adapts Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings into a war strategy played out on a map of Middle-earth. The player simultaneously directs two storylines — the military campaign, in which the armies of Rohan, Gondor, and their allies face the forces of Mordor, and the journey of Frodo's fellowship carrying the Ring toward Mount Doom, which must be kept hidden from the enemy. The longer the player manages to keep Frodo's group out of the sight of Sauron's hostile forces, the greater the chance of finally destroying the Ring, while the military front meanwhile keeps Mordor's attention and forces occupied elsewhere. The player is thus constantly thinking on two levels at once — where to strengthen the military defense, and at the same time by what route to safely lead a handful of heroes through territory full of enemies.

On the Commodore 64, the game combines a strategic map showing the movement of armies with separate screens for tracking the Ring-bearer's progress, attempting to carry over the dual tension of the book — the military resistance and the secret mission on which the outcome of the entire war depends. The graphics use portraits and maps that looked impressive for their time, and the game ranks among the more ambitious licensed adaptations of its era. The vast map of Middle-earth and the number of units, towns, and characters mean the player has to learn to switch between a strategic overview and closely following the fate of individual heroes. Text messages and character portraits add to the atmosphere, giving the player, even on limited hardware, the sense of watching a truly epic, bookish story unfold.

War in Middle Earth is valued precisely for its effort to translate the very essence of the book's plot into game mechanics — linking open military confrontation with the quiet, vulnerable journey of the heroes in the background. On the Commodore 64, it is one of the more expansive Middle-earth-themed strategy games of the eight-bit era, and it still attracts Tolkien fans and collectors of licensed titles alike, who appreciate that the game didn't settle for merely a superficial use of names and places from the book.

Why play: For Tolkien fans and collectors of licensed titles who will appreciate that the game doesn't treat the names and places superficially, but genuinely weaves together the military and the quiet storyline.