Melbourne House War In Middle Earth Game
23 Jul, 2023
2023-7-23 6:25:33 AM UTC
2023-7-23 6:25:33 AM UTC
So I thought I would do another article to cover the last of the Melbourne House Tolkien Computer Games, War in Middle Earth, published in 1989. It is not part of the original series of games, it is not even an adventure game but a Roleplaying/Wargame, and it was quite a successful game. It was developed by Synergistic Software (not by Beam who did the other games) with the chief developer being Mike Singleton (a prominent games developer of the time who interestingly wrote one of the very earliest Tolkien related computer games Shadowfax by Postern Software). Although released on the Melbourne House label, Melbourne House had been taken over by Virgin Mastertronic, in fact some re-release versions of the game featured Virgin in the logo (see below). The game was released on both 8bit and 16bit machines and the game differed slightly on the different formats.
It should be noted that this article is mainly about the UK release of the game.
The cover for the game was a classic image of the Witch King by famous Tolkien artist John Howe, officially titled "The Lieutenant of the Black Gate" (on a side note, this image was the image used on the cover of the 1987 Tolkien calendar).
The game originally came in a box on 1 cassette. It included an instruction manual and a map.
It was released on cassette for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad and Commodore 64.
It was also released on cassette for the MSX but only in Spain. This version was distributed by DRO Soft.
The game was re-released on cassette in a plastic clamshell case for the ZX Spectrum and the Commodore 64 (I am unsure if there was an Amstrad or MSX re-release version). These had Virgin included within the Melbourne House logo and interestingly they had the double bird image above the Tolkien name on the packaging (not below as with the original release) the same as the US packaging (see below).
As well as the cassettes, disk based versions were also released for the Commodore 64, IBM PC, Atari ST and Amiga in the same box packaging (note the game came on various different disk formats, 5.25” and 3.5”, depending on the system).
The game featured in quite a lot of the computer games magazines of the time. It featured on 2 magazine covers, ACE - Issue 17, February 1989 and Computing Gaming World - No 59, May 1989.
The game was marketed heavily with adverts being published in quite a few magazines. As well as smaller adverts (not listed here) there was a lovely 1 page advert featuring the packaging image. It was published in Computer and Video Games - November 1988, Sinclair User - No 81, December 1988, Computer and Video Games - December 1988, ACE - Issue 17, February 1989, Computer and Video Games - February 1989, Your Sinclair - February 1989, Amstrad Action - Issue 42, March 1989, ACE - issue 18, March 1989, Computer and Video Game - April 1989, Computer and Video Game - May 1989 and ACE - Issue 22, July 1989. There was also a one page black and white advert (published in ACE - Issue 12, September 1988 and Computer and Video Games - No 83, September 1988).
Magazines also published reviews and articles for the game. A lot of these are quite small reviews (and are not listed here), however here are a few of the larger, more collectable ones.
ACE - Issue 17, February 1989 has a three page review
Computing Gaming World - No 59, May 1989 has a two page review
ACE - January 1989 has a two page review
Sinclair User - February 1989 has a two page review
Amstrad Action - Issue 42, March 1989 has a one page review
Computer and Video Games - March 1989 has a two page review
Your Sinclair - No 40, April 1989 has a two page review
ZZAP - No 48, April 1989 has a one page review
Commodore User - April 1989 has a two page review
ZZAP - No 49, May 1989 has a two page review
ST Amiga Format - May 1989 has a two page review
ACE - Issues 21 and 22, June 1989 and July 1989 has a four page guide across both magazines written by the chief developer
Computer and Video Games - October 1989 has one page of tips
Info - No 29, November/December 1989 has a one page review
Dragon (Roleplaying Magazine) - Issue 147 has a three page review
Please note that these are the magazine details I have identified, there may be more.
I am not aware of any promotional items for this game.
The game was also released in the US also by Melbourne House. It was only released on disk in the US for the Commodore 64, PC and Apple II. The packaging was very similar to the UK with the same box design but it has the double bird image above the Tolkien name (not below as with the UK release), most of the US packaging is a cream colour, however some is also the UK grey colour.
I know of one US magazine advert for the game, with 2 variations. The first version was in the Computer Gaming World - No 56, February 1989, I don’t know any details of which magazines the second version was in.
I do not have any more details of US magazines featuring the game.
If anyone has any other details on this game then please let me know.
It should be noted that this article is mainly about the UK release of the game.
The cover for the game was a classic image of the Witch King by famous Tolkien artist John Howe, officially titled "The Lieutenant of the Black Gate" (on a side note, this image was the image used on the cover of the 1987 Tolkien calendar).
The game originally came in a box on 1 cassette. It included an instruction manual and a map.
It was released on cassette for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad and Commodore 64.
It was also released on cassette for the MSX but only in Spain. This version was distributed by DRO Soft.
The game was re-released on cassette in a plastic clamshell case for the ZX Spectrum and the Commodore 64 (I am unsure if there was an Amstrad or MSX re-release version). These had Virgin included within the Melbourne House logo and interestingly they had the double bird image above the Tolkien name on the packaging (not below as with the original release) the same as the US packaging (see below).
As well as the cassettes, disk based versions were also released for the Commodore 64, IBM PC, Atari ST and Amiga in the same box packaging (note the game came on various different disk formats, 5.25” and 3.5”, depending on the system).
The game featured in quite a lot of the computer games magazines of the time. It featured on 2 magazine covers, ACE - Issue 17, February 1989 and Computing Gaming World - No 59, May 1989.
The game was marketed heavily with adverts being published in quite a few magazines. As well as smaller adverts (not listed here) there was a lovely 1 page advert featuring the packaging image. It was published in Computer and Video Games - November 1988, Sinclair User - No 81, December 1988, Computer and Video Games - December 1988, ACE - Issue 17, February 1989, Computer and Video Games - February 1989, Your Sinclair - February 1989, Amstrad Action - Issue 42, March 1989, ACE - issue 18, March 1989, Computer and Video Game - April 1989, Computer and Video Game - May 1989 and ACE - Issue 22, July 1989. There was also a one page black and white advert (published in ACE - Issue 12, September 1988 and Computer and Video Games - No 83, September 1988).
Magazines also published reviews and articles for the game. A lot of these are quite small reviews (and are not listed here), however here are a few of the larger, more collectable ones.
ACE - Issue 17, February 1989 has a three page review
Computing Gaming World - No 59, May 1989 has a two page review
ACE - January 1989 has a two page review
Sinclair User - February 1989 has a two page review
Amstrad Action - Issue 42, March 1989 has a one page review
Computer and Video Games - March 1989 has a two page review
Your Sinclair - No 40, April 1989 has a two page review
ZZAP - No 48, April 1989 has a one page review
Commodore User - April 1989 has a two page review
ZZAP - No 49, May 1989 has a two page review
ST Amiga Format - May 1989 has a two page review
ACE - Issues 21 and 22, June 1989 and July 1989 has a four page guide across both magazines written by the chief developer
Computer and Video Games - October 1989 has one page of tips
Info - No 29, November/December 1989 has a one page review
Dragon (Roleplaying Magazine) - Issue 147 has a three page review
Please note that these are the magazine details I have identified, there may be more.
I am not aware of any promotional items for this game.
The game was also released in the US also by Melbourne House. It was only released on disk in the US for the Commodore 64, PC and Apple II. The packaging was very similar to the UK with the same box design but it has the double bird image above the Tolkien name (not below as with the UK release), most of the US packaging is a cream colour, however some is also the UK grey colour.
I know of one US magazine advert for the game, with 2 variations. The first version was in the Computer Gaming World - No 56, February 1989, I don’t know any details of which magazines the second version was in.
I do not have any more details of US magazines featuring the game.
If anyone has any other details on this game then please let me know.
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