Eruntalon

Lord of the Rings Battle for Middle Earth, definately out of the newer games.As for some of the little bit older ones, go for Age Of Empires 2 + the Conquerors. That is really addictive. I've als heard that it's better in many respects to its sequal, Age of Mythology. Also, Warcraft 3: Frozen throne is fairly good, and Age of Empires 3 is coming out this year.

From what I've heard, the actual system itself is rather good. Especially the Battle system like you said. The biggest complaint I've heard, however was about the ending. Apparently you end up fighting the Eye of Sauron with a sword on the top of Barad Dur!

This is still one of my favorite games of all time, and with god reason. When you think of RTS today, Age of Empires comes to mind. Though it wasn't the first, and definately not the last, it was probably the most ingenious and thought out RTS game...ever.Age of Empires 2 is even miles above its predecessor. The best thing about it was the different civilizations. They were all balenced to perfection and yet gave a uniquness to gameplay that I have only ever found with this game. Also, online play is brilliant. There's nothing like playing your arch rival (usually a friend) over the intenet and after a long fought battle crushing him in defeat with your superior stragety skills I just can't say enough about this game. The only thing I come away with is a hope for an even better AOE 3.

Go with battle for Middle Earth, definately. I own it and can say that it is a great game. It's not quite Age of Empires, but the fact that it's Lord of the Rings makes up for it. The graphics are rather nice and the new layout is great. Ther Heros/Monsters features are great. It lacks the difference between civilizations that Age of Empires 2 had, but it's still a great game.

Yes!!! I've been hoping for this for a long while The Graphics look absolutely stunning. I hope they add in some of the new features that would have made 2 last longer. Have they announced anything else about it (such as civs, techs, units)? I'll have to keep checking back, definately.

When they first released, I would have said PS2 hands down, mainly because of the game selection and the fact that PS1 was out first (more consumer trust).However, now that they have been out for a while and we have had a chance to use both and the game selection is higher I would have to say X-Box: better Graphics, X-box-live, the Big Controller (yes, I actually like them--it alows people to buy a smaller size if they would like, but for people like me with gigantic hands it's nice to have a larger controller for once), and of course Halo/Halo2 always helps.

I think it really depends on the game itself. I think Strategy (especially RTS) and FPS games really need to be played online to be really enjoyed for any length of time. But, other games seemto work much better offline, because teh levels can be more in depth and intuitive.