Lord Of The Rings - the battle for middle-earth (PC-DVD)

(Herald rating: * * * *)

An altogether more complex title is The Battle for Middle-earth, a strategy game that wraps the stories of the three movies into one big campaign of good versus evil. You can play either side in the game, in real-time battles that take place in familiar settings from Gondor to the darkest depths of Mordor. The graphics are similar to the movie, though not as lush. The DVD nicely packs the game on to one disk.

What's so clever about Battle for Middle-earth is the way key parts of the movies - such as the visit to Shelob's lair or the battle featuring the warrior elephants - are merged into one medley of sequences that propel the action along.

It's a bit like Age of Empires but with a storyline closer to our hearts. You build armies to take over portions of the Middle-earth map and build villages to support your campaign.

Fighting alongside the armies you control with your mouse are the heroes - Frodo, Sam, Aragorn, Boromir, even Gollum. You can control them individually but they also die in battle and magically reappear later for story continuity.

There's an online feature allowing you to take part in Command and Conquer-style battles with other real players. But there are many hours of fighting in the single-player game which is perfect for those who aren't quite satisfied sitting through the director's cut of The Return of the King and want something more hands-on.

Price: $100