War in Middle Earth

J.R.R. Tolkien's War in Middle Earth (or just War in Middle Earth) is a strategy/wargame created by Synergistic Software. As you can imagine, it's set in the Lord of the Rings universe. It was published by Australian company Melbourne House in 1989 for the Amiga, Atari ST, Apple IIgs, and MS-DOS. Another version, changed and simplified, was released for 8-bit platforms.

The game, designed by Mike Singleton (author of Midwinter and The Lords of Midnight), is a mix of genres and was very innovative. There are three game modes: map, campaign, and ground level (called the "animation view"). In the map view, you can see the entire playfield; units are shown as colored dots, and you can make tactical decisions. The campaign mode instead shows a zoomed version of the territory, with multi-direction scrolling. This is where you can issue orders. Finally, you have the "ground level" view, where the game is more like a graphic adventure. All events happen in real-time, and you can decide to switch views at any time. If you want, battles can be played, or you can choose to skip them and just see the results.

It was a very advanced game considering the year it was released. The gameplay is excellent, the balance is good, and the music is perfect. Role-playing elements could have been developed a bit more, but despite this, War in Middle Earth is a solid game that makes excellent use of the license of The Lord of the Rings.