I was one of the poor unfortunate souls to be burned by the first game a year and a half ago. EA, however, has never been a company to let a good idea die and left the first game open to a sequel.

For those fans of the Tolkein books, the game still focuses on the war of the ring, but takes the battles north where the armies of Dul Guldur have overrun the elves and dwarves peaking in a battle that makes the Minas Tirith battle look like a bunch of kids with skinned knees.

The inclusion of three completely new races: elves, dwarves, and goblins make for better balance. The sides match up at three for good and three for evil as Gondor and Rohan mesh into one more balanced group known as the Men of the West.

At the beginning of each contest, Gollum will be hidden somewhere on the map. The first person to find Gollum and kill him will be able to collect the Ring of Power. While the ring doesn’t do anything in particular, it does allow each side to bring in one of the ultimate hero characters. Evil factions will be able to summon Sauron while good folk can call upon the Storm Queen version of Galadriel…cool no?

While these two units are certainly ones to look out for, players will still be able to bring other powerful heroes into the conflict including plenty not included in the first game like the mighty Elrond.

But even more interestingly, players will be able to create their own heroes by picking a race, model, armor, clothes, weapon, and even powers. Some of the new powers that can be chosen for custom heroes include a teleportation skill that can move large groups of units from one place to another, transmogrify to turn a group into sheep (which they’re still tweaking), and turn coat which can turn a horde over to your side and most likely turn the tide of battle.

The battles are big, the sides are balanced, and the action is intense enough to make even the most skilled RTS (real time strategy) gamers shake in their briefs.

The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth II is certainly looking like it could end up rockin my socks and other various clothing apparel off. Be sure to check it out next month. The screenshot below is linked to IGN’s Web site for more screenshot of this game.