Battle for Middle-Earth was my childhood. Literally. I still have my discs though, I am unable to actually install the game from them, as the discs are so scratched from overusage. This game brought to me the world of Middle-Earth closer, than the movies ever could. Following the Fellowship, I could save my boy Boromir and bring him home to defend his White City.
I still remember a game I played with a friend, where I played Mordor and he played Gondor. He just wasnt ready for the sheer spam of Orcs I threw at him. One hour we fought over a tiny piece of land, until he finally had enough troops and leveled heroes to slowly beat me. Hell, his smile still freezes when I tell him about it.
Yeah, the game is just so good. It is not balanced, and doesnt try to be. Hell, all three games in the Battle for Middle-Earth series had their problems. But all of them got Middle-Earth right. The had that magic. Its a shame, that the game cant be played officialy, especially because you just cant play multiplayer anymore. Online needs to be rerouted through third party apps and LAN is hardly stable enough.
This game needs to be preserved for those who come after us. For the beauty and wonder, struggle and adventure, epicness and darkness of Middle-Earth was truly felt in this game. I just want the game to buyable officialy, and so that I dont need a plethora of third party software to one day be able to show it to my little brother or, maybe in time, to my kids.