''War in Middle Earth'' is a
real-time strategy game released for the
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer.
Referred to during development as t ...
,
MSX
MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by Microsoft and ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, then vice-p ...
,
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...
,
Amstrad CPC,
DOS,
Commodore Amiga,
Apple IIGS, and
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...
in 1988 by
Virgin Mastertronic
Virgin Interactive Entertainment (later renamed Avalon Interactive) was the video game publishing division of British conglomerate the Virgin Group. It developed and published games for major platforms and employed developers, including Westwoo ...
on the
Melbourne House label.
The game combined both large scale army unit level and small scale character level. All the action happened simultaneously in game world and places could be seen from the map or at the ground level. Individual characters could also be seen in larger battles (in which they either survived or died —
Gandalf alone could easily defeat a hundred
orcs
An Orc (or Ork) is a fictional humanoid monster like a goblin. Orcs were brought into modern usage by the fantasy writings of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially ''The Lord of the Rings''. In Tolkien's works, Orcs are a brutish, aggressive, ugly, a ...
). If the battle is quite small (less than 100 units approximately) it can be watched on ground level. Otherwise it will be only displayed numerically. On ground level characters could acquire objects and talk with computer-controlled friendly characters (such as
Radagast or
Tom Bombadil).
Reception
The game was reviewed in 1989 in ''
Dragon
A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...
'' #147 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 3 out of 5 stars.
''
Computer Gaming World
''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...
'' gave the game a mixed review, noting that, although it faithfully recreates the events of the books, genuine strategy is lacking and the game plays very similarly on subsequent playthroughs.
''
Compute!''s review was more positive, only criticizing an anticlimactic ending to "an otherwise impressive game" that was "faithful to the Middle Earth story line".
The Spanish magazine Microhobby valued the game with the following scores: Originality: 80% Graphics: 70% Motion: - Sound: 50% Difficulty: 100% Addiction: 80%
Reviews
*''
Computer and Video Games
''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') was a UK-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot website ...
'' (Mar, 1989)
*''
ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment)
''ACE'' (Advanced Computer Entertainment) was a multi-format computer and video game magazine first published in the United Kingdom by Future Publishing and later acquired by EMAP.
History
ACE launched in October 1987, roughly the same time as ...
'' (May, 1989)
*''
Commodore User'' (Apr, 1989)
*''
Your Sinclair
''Your Sinclair'', or ''YS'' as it was commonly abbreviated, was a commercially published and printed British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum. It was in circulation between 1984 and 1993.
History
The ...
'' (Apr, 1989)
*''
Info'' (Nov, 1989)
*''
Crash!
''Crash!'' is a 1977 film directed by Charles Band. It starred José Ferrer, Sue Lyon, John Ericson, Leslie Parrish, John Carradine and Reggie Nalder.
Synopsis
Jealous invalid husband (Ferrer) tries to kill sexy blond wife (Lyon), who uses occ ...
'' (Mar, 1989)
*''
Zzap!
''Zzap!64'' was a computer games magazine covering games on the Commodore International series of computers, especially the Commodore 64 (C64). It was published in the UK by Newsfield Publications Ltd and later by Europress Impact.
The magazine ...
'' (Apr, 1989)
*''Power Play'' (Mar, 1989)
*''
The Games Machine
''The Games Machine'' is a video game magazine that was published from 1987 until 1990 in the United Kingdom by Newsfield, which also published ''CRASH'', ''Zzap!64'', ''Amtix!'' and other magazines.
History
The magazine ran head to head with ...
'' (Apr, 1989)
*''
Amstrad Action
''Amstrad Action'' was a monthly magazine, published in the United Kingdom, which catered to owners of home computers from the Amstrad CPC range and later the GX4000 console.
It was the first magazine published by Chris Anderson's Future Publishin ...
'' (Mar, 1989)
*''
ASM (Aktueller Software Markt)
''Aktueller Software Markt'' (literally ''Current Software Market''), commonly known by its acronym, ''ASM'', was a German multi-platform video game magazine that was published by Tronic-Verlag from 1986 until 1995. It was one of the first magazine ...
'' (Feb, 1989)
[http://www.kultboy.com/index.php?site=t&id=1505 ]
References
External links
*
War in Middle-earthat
World of Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer.
Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colour ...
1988 video games
Amstrad CPC games
Amiga games
Apple IIGS games
Atari ST games
Commodore 64 games
MSX games
DOS games
War in Middle-earth
Real-time strategy video games
ZX Spectrum games
{{strategy-videogame-stub