How NetEase Games' The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War does Middle-earth justice

pcgamer.com:

Creating any sort of media set in a fantasy universe as beloved as The Lord of the Rings will always be a challenging undertaking. One must faithfully recreate the iconic characters and locations that fans have come to know and love. Do this right, and you're left with a faithful, breathtaking rendition of a much-loved world. 

Do it wrong, and you'll very likely languish in obscurity.

From the beginning of its development process for The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War,  developer NetEase set out to be as faithful to the original trilogy as possible. Created from a strategic partnership between NetEase Games and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Rise to War is a mobile strategy game that gives fans the opportunity to step into Middle-earth and command their own armies. With countless iconic characters from the series leading the charge, players will clash with one another, expand their territory, and form alliances, all in the pursuit of The One Ring. 

The care and attention with which NetEase crafted the in-game world is plain to see. Blending Peter Jackson's trilogy and Tolkien's original books, the developer has recreated all the most memorable cities, landmarks, and locales, from Lothlórien to Gondor to Mordor. The characters, too, remain faithful to their in-universe counterparts, each one turning the tide of battle with an array of unique, character-specific skills. 

The game is also built for freedom—players are not limited in what factions they can join or what characters they can recruit.

Want to retake Isengard for Saruman? You can do that. Curious about what would happen if Sauron's forces turned on each other in a civil war for the One Ring? Why not find out? 

Speaking of players, they've formed the crux