This game is like marmite: You love it or you hate it.
I got home and played it for a few days and played it like mad. Then I got stuck on the 4th mission so I gave up and didn't play it for about a month. This is the exact reason why you should rent it, so you can see if it's for you, even if you think it looks cool.
However I'm being very hypocritical as when I decided to pick it up again and play it, I got hooked! Not by the story (which is a bit dry to be honest), but by the skirmishes. There are loads of maps for 2-4 players that can be played offline or online with different game modes. When you get into a skirmish, the battles can last for hours, especially on the harder difficulties.
If you have halo wars however, I would think twice. yes, BFME 2 enables you to do way more things and involves more strategies, but it just doesn't live up to expectations as co-op is not allowed which really annoyed me and the online is rubbish compared to halo wars.
I'm not saying this is a bad game, but it does have a few flaws that, in my opinion, really ruined this game for me in some ways.
Graphics: 7/10: Everything looks cool when you zoom in, but is missing major details and shadowing looks grainy. ME is well created though.
Sound: 9/10: A nice soundtrack with some decent sound effects.
Gameplay: 8/10: Controls are easy to pickup and work nicely. The frame rate drops during big battles, so I would recommend downloading it to your hard drive ASAP.
Conclusion:
Lord Of The Rings: Battle For Middle Earth 2 is a great game if you are a big RTS fan and is a good alternative to the simple yet fun game halo wars. Again, I would recommend renting it just to make sure you will enjoy it.