PUBLICATION of Professor JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit in 1937 and The Lord of the Rings in 1965 were two of the most important events in adventure history. Two books like no othes.

The Hobbit game from Melbourne House shook the adventuring world, a Spectrum game with recognisable graphics, a game which had us puzzled over for weeks and months.
The sequels, Lord of the Rings and Shadows of Mordor, were buggy disappointments. Perhaps smarting under the criticisms, Melbourne House has pursued the theme of The Lord of the Rings. War in Middle Earth is a mixture of adventure, role playing and strategic wargame. It encompasses all three parts of the Lord of the Rings and for those who do not know the story a synopsis is given in the instruction booklet.

There are three main screen displays - full map, campaign and animation levels. The full map shows the entire area of Middle Earth involved in the game. Characters under your command are shown as blinking blue dots, evil forces as red dots and neutral forces as green. Time is halted while you look at it.

The campaign level gives a detailed scrolling view. Characters are shown as small figures and forces as a shield, its design in telling you who it represents. Clicking on characters, armies, towns or any other point of interest, will bring up a window telling you what or who is there.

The animation level presents a moving display. Messages passed to your characters are shown in a window. Characters walk or ride in from one side and move out to the other, occasionally sitting down for a rest or kip. Graphics are superb. Keep this level activated and the scene will change as your party moves to a new location.

In each display there are icons that enable other options to be actioned. You may look at the health of a character, see what forces are doing and their status, change the rate at which time passes, get a character to pick something up or use an item already held, change from one level to another, instruct a character or group to move to a place or in a specified direction and save the game position.

When opposing forces face up to one another you have the choice for each main character - and for groups such as 400 light infantry - of four actions: Charge, engage, withdraw and retreat. Fighting can make or mar the rest of the game, here the system used works quite well and is believable.

At the start you can only control three groups; Frod, Sam and Pippin, Eomer with a small group of cavalry in Rohan, Faramir with a group of rangers in North Ithilien.

SAURON has sent the Nazgul to the Shire because he believes that the Ring is somewhere in that area. Nazgul are deathless ancient kings who were given, and came under the spell of, the rings Sauran made for mortal men.

To get more allies you must meet characters or groups. As Frodo and his companions travel, they meet folk who offer advice. Read carefully, for some messages do not stay on the screen for very long. They usually indicated where useful objects may be found.

In the book, Frodo goes to Buckland, where he is joined by Merry. The four hobbits then travel east and meet Tom Bombadil (more advice) and then on to the small town of Bree where they meet a tall ranger, Aragorn. He takes them to Rivendell, where it is decided that the Ring must be destroyed and that the party to attempt this will be nine strong.

This Fellowship of the Ring is made up of Frodo and the three hobbits, Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas (an Elf), Gimli (a drawf) and Boromir (a man).

Unlike the book, where you only meet Eomer and Faramir much later on, the game enables you to make use of their services and friendship right from the beginning.

It is possible to get the Ring to the Cracks of Doom by several different methods. There is also the question of finding treasures tha are hinted at. Who is to find them and when?

Combined might may be able to make a frontal assault on Mordor and get the Ring to Mount Doom.
Alternatively, as in the book, a mighty display of force may cause Sauron to overlook a small band creeping silently through a back door.

Your options are wide open. There are healing draughts in the Grey Havens, in a ravine north of the White Towers or in Tuckborough. There is mithril armour in Belegost and an ancient golden sceptre to the west of Amnumias. There is a valuable hammer lost to the dwarves and a silver orb that will have the elves following you like the Pied Piper.

There is a wood prized by the wise, elven shards, a red arrow and Thrain's ring. All these things could be useful, but do you have the time to find them?

INITIALLY the evil forces of Sauron remain quiescent - some slight movement but nothing openly aggressive. At a moment probably triggered off by the approach of the Ring, Sauron unleashes his armies. It's obviously useful to distract Sauron from looking too close to home.

It is possible to finish the game within an hour by getting Eomer to ride north to the Shire and escorting Frodo and friends into Mordor from the east. But apart from proving it can be done, this provides little or no real gameplay. None of the useful objects are found or used and the Fellowship of the Ring is never formed.

The time to feel good about this game is when you can do it as it was written in the book.
The operating system works well, but disc access when changing levels is a little slow. My version crashed a couple of times.

For those addicted to The Lord of the Rings, this is a must. You will meet many of the characters who make the trilogy so remarkable. This game is very much what yo make of it. It definitely does not lose interest, you simply take a different path. What music and sound effects there are, are quite good, and the graphics are excellent, you can sit and watch Frodo and Co wandering for hours.

Mastertronic's latest incarnation of the classic fantasy novel Lord of the Rings is a wargame with a difference.

Without a doubt, one of the best books ever to appear was Tolkien's 'Lord Of The Rings'(Oh, undoubtedly Tone - Ed), a massive four book (including 'The Hobbit') epic that spanned the entire story of the acquisition and eventual destruction of One Ring. I won't go into plot because we have not the space, but in a nutshell, the One Ring was the most powerful of a group of 12 magical rings, forged many years ago, within the fires of hell itself (or home sweet home as I like to call it).

As the fires of hell are pretty hot, the metals were forged in such a way that the only way they can be broken is through the same hell fire. Eleven of the rings have been discovered and destroyed. Only one remains. The One. (Should that not be The ne? - Ed). The same one that Bilbo Baggins found as an adventurous young hobbit. The One Ring is special because whoever wears it has complete control over the other eleven rings, pointless as they would seem. It also grants the bearer with the gift of invisibility, if the ring is worn. Now the bad news, the evil forces of Sauroman (an evil wizard) are after the ring.

To get the ring, he has sent out his Black Riders, known as the Nazgul. The Nazgul have the irritating habit of being able to sniff out the ring whenever it is used, and the Nazgul are after you.

In War In Middle Earth, you are god, insofar as you are in control of all the 'good' people, including Frodo, Sam and Pippin, the trio of hobbits who are the initial ring bearers. What you have to do is get the ring from the Shire (Frodo's home) and get it to the other end of the map of Middle Earth to a place called Mount Doom, an opening to hell itself.

The game is icon controlled and set over three scales. The first is the battle map overview. With this, you too can cry 'How goes the battle?'. This shows you the entire map with all friendly units marked.

The next view is a semi-close up of the map. Ground detail is now visible, as is definition of what units are. A unit can comprise of almost anything, from one singular important character, such as Gandalf, Gollum or Frodo, to small armies of a hundred or so men or dwarves.

The final level of the map is the animation level. It is at this level that you participate in battles. In this mode, you can also watch your units go to wherever they want to go, first hand.

The battles are visually enacted by the characters jumping about swinging weapons. You can leave it for the computer to fight out, or you can lend your hand to a bit of barbarian swordplay by selecting what you want each character to do, you have the choice to charge, fight, defend or run.

Getting to the ring from The Shire to Mount Doom is bloody difficult, despite there being many ways you could do it. You can try and amass one huge army and storm across the land, obliterating anything that comes near you, or you could go silently and try and sneak it in. Either way, it is a challenge.

The graphics are wonderful, especially in the animation mode. I sat and watched Frodo and company walk across the Shire and into Mordor for hours. All the backdrops are exquisitely drawn and every one is different. Rivers are animated, leaves fall from trees, the works. Every so often, Frodo and the lads camp down for a while and sit around chatting for a bit, before finally laying down and going to sleep. Sweet.

The sound consists of a nice intro tune and some fairly basic in-game effects. Different selection sounds, along with battle noises are so far as WIME's forte goes.

WIME is fab. Graphically wonderful, fun to play, challenging and involving. If you have got a brain in your head and you want to use it, or even if you are a fan of the books, buy it. You won't be sorry.

When JRR Tolien wrote his chronicles of Middle Earth, he wasn't simply creating a legend, he was generating a whole new world - a parallel civilisation, where men exist among elves, dwarves and hobbits and where the enemy isn't a fellow race, but the force of evil itself. Where magic works and decides the fate of the populace.

The beginning of this story isn't exactly earth shattering. A hobbit burglar, by the name of Bilbo Baggins, tricks a pale-faced creature called Gollum out of a small golden ring. This ring just happens to be the most powerful artefact on Middle Earth. Sauron, the ultimate evil force, had attempted to use it in a bid to take over Middle Earth but his plan failed and the ring was lost - until now.

The only way to ensure that its powers aren't used for evil again is to throw it into the crack of the volcano, Mount Doom. Unfortunately, Sauron has since got wind of the ring's discovery and has sent out his ghostly messengers, the black riders (or Nazgul) to find and retrieve the ring which is now in the possession of Bilbo's nephew, Frodo.

And it's as Frodo that you're charged with the mission of carrying and ultimately destroying the dangerous jewel.

Play is divided into three map-based sections. The main map shows the whole of Middle Earth, with units under your control shown as flashing dots. Using icons, you have the power to move the units, be they individual characters or whole battalions, by means of the second playing area.

This is a blown-up version of the first screen, showing the main map in more detail. As it covers several screens full of information, you use the mouse to scroll from location to location.

When meeting between characters or armies occur, the third playing area is utilised. This takes the form of an animation screen, which displays the characters themselves as they interact: chat, rest, and collect objects and fight. Further icons and menus (giving you a selection of possible fighting moves, for example) appear as your choice of action makes them necessary.

Much of your strategy will involve proving yourself to other forces of good and getting them to trust you. At the start of the action, the map is brimming with large numbers of potentially helpful people, which haven't yet got the power to control. Until you've taken them objects which prove your allegiance to the cause, they won't be interested in offering any aid.

There are an almost infinite number of ways to complete War In Middle Earth. Are you hobbit enough to try them out?