This week I want to tell you all about a free mobile Lord of the Rings based game that I downloaded to my iPad and then forced my Dum Leader, Hoppy to play with me so you’d get information from someone who is a better player than myself.
The game is called “The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth” and it is available on iOS and Google Play as a free download.
The basic premise of this game is a strategy game. You are building a city, upgrading it, building armies and can send out armies to attack other cities while making sure your city at home is well fortified enough to withstand it’s own attacks.
There are micro transaction dealies in game you can purchase to make things like waiting times shorten or production increase or strengthen your army. None of this should be a new concept to our LOTRO playing audience.
I’ve had this game installed for about two weeks now with me casually stopping in to check on things and try to play it and I’m ready to share my thoughts.
Here’s a spoiler to help you decide if you should read on:
- Goldenstar hates this game with the fire of 1000 suns.
- Hoppy feels kind of meh about it thinking it’s not bad for killing a few minutes here and there.
Goldenstar Struggles
I’m notoriously horrible at strategy games. I want to be clear about that up front.
The primary problem I had with this game may be complete bad luck or my complete lack of understanding. Talking with Hoppy, I was doing exactly the same thing as him working on my quests to build up my army as suggested by my Gandalf guide in the game.
When you start you are given 7 days to sort of get your city in order before you are vulnerable to attack from other players.
My 7th day ended up falling on Thanksgiving so I basically ignored my game for a day and a half. I had built up my walls, created armies etc I didn’t suspect an issues (plus I was eating pie and turkey and didn’t care).
I login to my game later and I’m decimated. All my armies defeated and when discovered I had no army people were repeatedly attacking me to gobble up all my resources. After that the game was very hard for me to enjoy. I consistently had no resources to buy any militia because I’m constantly being attacked and resourced depleted. I was getting attacked several times daily and unable to get out of the hole I’ve been dug into.
Goldenstar Straightens Her City Back Out
In the interest trying to fully play the game for this post, I ponied up some cash to buy a protection rune in in-game cash shop to prevent me from being attacked for 12 hours.
I figured this would allow me to try to build up my forces and resources without being attacked constantly. I also used every resource boost I had in my inventory so I could go back to building things up.
The protection rune has seemed to have worked. I got my forces and resources back up to a reasonable (not great but better than zero) level.
After the rune wore off I was immediately attacked again but I actually won the skirmish so I wasn’t back to being decimated. I actually felt pretty darn good about it and thought things were turning around.
I was wrong. So very wrong.
After paying money for the opportunity for 12 hours to build my defenses, a couple hours later…
Goldenstar is Destroyed Again
Really people?
How is anyone supposed to play this game?
This time I was actually watching live getting the notice from my watch tower that an attack was incoming. I had used up every last scrap of food I could to try to squeak out a few more fighters in case they might help.
It was over and I was back to being defenseless.
I still have some resources so maybe just maybe I could bounce back but honestly I’m just done with this game. I’m obviously absolutely horrible at it. I can admit when I’m over my head and this is just a game I simply cannot play with any measure of success.
General Chat and Younger Players
The game has a general chat type thing on it that is just full of spammers and very young individuals. It is not something you can opt to hide unfortunately. I’ve gotten fairly use to ignoring it but it really is an annoying thing I could live without.
Hoppy and I started a CSTM alliance to see if we could switch the chat to just alliance chat and make the general chat go away but it doesn’t seem like the game allows the switch to be a permanent setting.
So you’re either stuck ignoring it or perhaps you can join in the discussions of “who here is a girl?” or “does anyone have a boyfriend/girlfriend?”. Except you have to imagine that everything is spelled wrong. I just thought it fair to warn you.
After all that… Do you want to give it a try?
Even though I completely suck at the game doesn’t mean you might not enjoy it! I know this post is full of nothing but anger and annoyance but it is important to note that Hoppy is playing too and is doing just fine. I’m saying that this totally could be a me thing.
Hoppy reported to me yesterday that he’s never been attacked and has been out scouting and taking locations in the wild. They’ve been taken away from him but his home city is completely intact and at most is just questioning the point of the game as he’s just upgrading what the quests tell him to with no reason why. He was not even close to experiencing the same frustration I was.
I’ve made Hoppy the leader of our Alliance since he is apparently much better at it than me and you are welcome to download the game (again it’s free) and give it a try. You have to play on the same world and then just search for the CSTM alliance and ask to join. We cannot invite anyone.
World: Eladriel5 (English)
Alliance: CSTM
Feel free to post your victories and rub it in how much I stink at this game! I will only hate you a little for it.
November 27, 2012 at 2:41 pm
My kids picked this up over Thanksgiving weekend. I just looked at the name “Hobbit KINGDOMS?” Since when do hobbits build kingdoms? It looked like just another empire building game with a Tolkien skin.
December 6, 2012 at 10:14 am
yep, and it is a shame((
November 27, 2012 at 3:05 pm
I tried it, I used to play travian so I used to this sort of game, but all I can say is if LOTRO has the best community in gaming, then the hobbit kingdoms has the worst. The chat was vile, and the game shallow and money grabbing, seeing Tolkiens world set in such a appaling fashion made me appreciate that, whatever some folks may think, Turbine has done alright by the big man.
November 27, 2012 at 3:49 pm
Sounds like Evony with a Tolkien skin.
November 27, 2012 at 5:31 pm
Thanks for the review! I was skeptical about this and haven’t tried it yet, probably won’t after reading this. But, Goldenstar – if Baby Hobbit (and you!) are fans of My Little Pony, you really should try that app/game! It’s a super cute townbuilding game that is pretty addictive. I’ll warn you in advance though – the microtransaction costs are super high and might make you/Baby Hobbit a bit sad since a couple of major characters cost quite a bit of real-life money. Still worth a try though!
November 27, 2012 at 9:33 pm
I didn’t even know there was a MLP game. I’ll have to check it out! Thanks!
November 27, 2012 at 5:55 pm
Not sure if it’s the same one but there was a game I found that had a similar setting but came across as a farmville clone and farmville is one of those that barely scrapes into the category of being a game.
November 27, 2012 at 7:14 pm
I saw this one in the Play Store, and from the description alone, I really wondered what had happened there, and whether the Tolkien estate was aware of/had approved the game. I still doubt it, and your review makes me wonder even more.
November 28, 2012 at 7:21 am
The rights to use Rings or The Hobbit in films, games, and the like are controlled by the Saul Zaentz company (Middle-earth Enterprises), so it doesn’t matter if the Tolkien estate is aware or approves (which it doesn’t; except, maybe, the grand kids).
If Christopher Tolkien and the estate still controlled those aspects of the intellectual property, I doubt there would have been the New Line films at all, or many of the games we enjoy today, which would have been both good and bad.
Hope that helps!
November 28, 2012 at 7:22 am
Great grandkids, rather!
November 28, 2012 at 12:40 pm
Also of note is that the Tolkien Estate has just filed an $80,000,000 suit against Saul Zaentz and New Line and Warner for overstepping their licensing bounds in regards to games, etc. Citing that it has done irreparable harm to the legacy of Tolkien’s works. It’s hard to remember that Zaentz only had the ‘rights’ to film and the merchandising that comes from film, not everything
December 6, 2012 at 5:09 am
Probably why John Fogerty has detested Saul Zaentz for decades…anyone remember Zanz Kant Danz from the Centerfield album? Once a crook, always a crook.
November 27, 2012 at 8:00 pm
I haven’t played Kingdoms of Middle Earth but I have played Kingdoms of Camelot which looks exactly the same minus the Middle Earth skin. It’s also made by the same gaming company. Here are a few tips that may help:
There should be an option to ‘hide troops’ or something similar to that. This will atleast stop your troops from getting wiped. Build up your storehouse to protect your resources from opposing players. Hope the info is close to being right and helps you out.
November 27, 2012 at 9:35 pm
Hoppy was attacked today but his attacker was very nice and send him a message giving him the same advice which he then shared with me. GO TEAM CSTM! Anyway we’re both giving that tactic a try.
One other thing Hoppy brought up this afternoon is that why the poop are the elves and dwarves fighting each other. Those are the only choices for races and we build up our cities so I can attack other elves and dwarves rather than defending from the forces of Sauron. No sir. We didn’t like that either.
January 9, 2013 at 10:32 pm
Also, which server do you play on? I may be able to help you out if youre on Gloin28
January 9, 2013 at 10:41 pm
That is super nice of you! I honestly don’t recall. I was on like an E server. I did get better with hiding my troops and buiding up my vault. I was even conquering stuff so it did get better but the idea of “hiding my troops” did not come intuitively. You’d think you’d want to protect your city!
November 28, 2012 at 3:11 am
I played Travian and Ogame, and I recognize the same pattern here: these games base player development in frustrating other player’s experience, rewarding those who dedicate more attention to the game, “milking” the weakest “cows” without taking risks or competing against equals.
Medium players check on the game regularly and survive only thanks to not looking too weak, while server populations decrease to a few top players that nourish on the resources of thousands of abandoned and uninterested accounts.
They are really more of a stare competition than a challenging game with any reward for skillful playing.
November 28, 2012 at 7:23 am
What everyone’s said is true; this is just Travian, Ikariam, whatever city “building” game you like, but with Middle-earth skin on it. I like those kinds of games (and Middle-earth) so it will be an enjoyable timesink until I get sacked or have to pay to win!
November 28, 2012 at 9:37 am
As shipwreck and others mentioned this is very similar to the city building of Kingdoms of Camelot. Any tips applicable to that game would also apply here. Wall defenses are generally a waste of resources until your hero is high enough level to defend. Use the wilds to increase resources. Upgrade the vault and strongbox as much as possible to protect your resources. Turn off troops unless you are online and can defeat the attack.
Anglilir – Arkenstone
Leininkugel – Arkenstone/Kingdoms
November 28, 2012 at 3:35 pm
The company behind this is owned by WB. Best thing about it is Lothlorien music in the backgound. The lore is disgraceful but it’s a useful enough diversion for an iphone game. My beginner protection wears off tomorrow so we shall see. I found an alliance which is actually pretty decent community.
November 28, 2012 at 4:01 pm
Oh my, your account of the game brought me back to a distant memory: Ogame. I too am bad at this kind of games but Ogame was one where I got some luck and enjoyed for several weeks until I got massively attacked and lost everything. Then, I looked back and understood that it was too enslaving as you should give up sleep, enter from work, calculate the correct times to arrive home and go out so you were not ravaged… no sir, that was the end of the experience for me. If talking about hobbit “kingdoms” wasn´t bad enough, your description made me understand this is exactly the kind of game I never want to see again. People playing this for too much time need to get a life (no offense, really, it’s just obviously they have way too much time to spend on this). thanks for sharing and saving us the time checking out
(and I suspect the average LOTRO player is not particulary fond to these kind of games).
November 29, 2012 at 1:18 pm
just started playing this as well.. not a big RTS game fan.. but it’s fun.. I’ll have to figure out how to join your alliance…
January 8, 2013 at 10:43 am
If u build a vault and hide your troops you’d be fine…
January 9, 2013 at 10:30 pm
If you go to your keep, there is a toggle swith that says hide troops.. This will prevent your army from getting destrooyed. ALSO, wall defences, are bait. Dont even worry about those. And finally, find an alliance to help you out. They can help you get rsources after getting attacked..
March 11, 2013 at 6:28 am
Well my first love is and will always be LOTRO. I’ve been there since 2007. This is a different game with a different clientele. There is no way to duplicate the graphics of LOTRO on a handheld. Of course, this is PvP rather than PvE like LOTRO. The ability to hide your troops is an absolute necessity since player do occasionally want to sleep. I am actually on your server in the Hobbit. I agree that global chat is pretty silly most of the time. My advice to enjoy the game is to farm resources (attack others to collect loot from them). Build your vault and strongbox to protect everything but gold, strengthen your alliance to share resources. Build up your city and do research. You can pretty much follow Gandalf’s Quest Guide in the early stages. The secret to this game though is to get a Second City. You can train troops exponentially, research twice as fast, double your research fields and wilds, etc. The one thing worth spending money on is a second city deed since the chances of winning one are only slightly better than winning the lottery. Message me in game, Renardwe. My alliance is Way 2 Immortals.
March 19, 2013 at 5:58 am
Goldenstar, You deserved to be demolished just for being such and idiot. All you haf to do was hide your troops, join an alliance and you would have been fine. I joined an alliance straight away. they send me endless resources, i always hide my troops, but no one would dare attack me now due to my might. If you had followed the instructions properly you wouldn’t have been such an easy target. Kingdoms of middle earth is literally the best game i have ever played!
March 19, 2013 at 6:17 am
Yeah… I did hide my troops as you are probably the 47th person to say so. It doesn’t make logical sense to leave your lands unprotected and allow bandits to walk in and take anything they can grab but I get it. That’s how you are intuitively supposed to know how to play.
Still. The game sucks.
I’m glad you are enjoying but it really is poop. Thanks for coming and telling me all that I did wrong 4 months after I stopped playing.
April 3, 2013 at 10:24 am
Hi Goldenstar,
I feel your pain completely and I find this game totally infuriating (yet I still play it)
It takes days to build up a big army and i’m just waiting to have a big enough army before I attack this one guy who attacks me every hour lol then i’m deleting the app!
Unless you spend 100′s of real money on this game or have a very nice alliance, this game is very hard and annoying. You’re not alone