
Electronic Arts - Electronic Arts
Windows XP
Release date: 2006-10-24
CD-ROM




This was an amazing find. If you were to go to Best Buy to purchase each of these games separately, you'd spend around $100. I haven't had time to play these games, but the C&C series has never disappointed me. Likewise, other games from EA are generally good quality games. I don't recommend getting it for the Lord of the Rings game--instead find the two-pack of the Lord of the Rings Battle for Middle Earth 2. You can find this for between $12 to $20 either on Amazon or elsewhere.
This arrived without any installation codes.
I should say first that Amazon were very good about sending me a replacement at no extra cost (which I only requested just now, so we'll see how it goes).
I would have preferred that they were able to resolve the issue on the phone, but I can't place much blame on Amazon -- EA really should have supplied the codes in the first place.
Note: that the EA instructions say you will find the install codes on the back of the manuals. Well... the manuals are all on as PDF files on an included CD, and none of the images have any installation codes.
Very frustrating.
I purchased this games collection pretty much because of B&W 2 + Battle of the Gods and LOTR BOTME II . Everything arrived on time and in a neat way, BUT beware that LOTR II doesn't come included in the package, just the first one. All the other games advertised came along with it except that one so if you are considering this collection, take that into account.
Otherwise the pack value is very good considering that B&W 2 is almost 10 dollars on its own though this tittle seems a bit old.
I'm not a fan of RTS games because it's just about building up your army and fighting horders of enemies coming at you, not very strategic... and LOTR I proved me just that. It's just about building up your army and fighting HORDES of enemies! it doesn't even reassembles the first movie well since the heroes (the fellowship of the ring) battle so many enemies just from the first level. The first time I saw them I thought I was doomed, but no... you can pretty much can leave them fighting alone and they clean hundreds of trolls and globings PLUS you can't build wherever you want, just on specially selected spots (it's like giving you away the whole strategy for your buildings plan O___O). Finally, the magic control explanations are messed up, totally backward (they tell you to press LMB then RMB to cast a spell, when it's the other way around RMB then LMB).
On the other hand, B&W 2 is very addictive. You can build, you can fight, you can mess around and it has more improvements than the first one. The bad thing is that it doesn't support multiplayer games (which was not the brightest idea), the pet is waaaaaay too easy to handle no matter how mean it is and it's not as challenging as the first one was. Despite all that, the game is very good and will hook you up for hours.
The other games I haven't bothered to play them since like I said, RTS are pretty much about building your army and overpowering hordes of enemies. I wish these other 2 tittles prove me wrong and I'll eventually install them.
Lastly, all the games come in CDs, you'll end up having to insert up to 4 CDs per game just to install them. This is something that worries me because what if one of the CDs get damaged? I'd rather have them packed in DVDs.
My recomendation: buy if you are a fan of strategy games (even RTS), good value pack and also get the EA war collection games (pretty much the same concept).