Sunday, January 9, 2005; Page F08

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE BATTLE FOR MIDDLE-EARTH, Electronic Arts

If you haven't gotten your fill of Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic fantasy world, this inventive interpretation should yield many more hours of pleasant distraction. The game lets you take charge of any of four powers -- Rohan, Gondor, Isengard or Mordor -- and lead your forces through such events and battles as Mines of Moria, the battle for Helm's Deep and the Paths of the Dead.

Resource and force management are kept simple (it's not as if the books spent much time on logistical concerns, either), leaving you free to follow your armies through a gorgeously detailed "Living Map" as Nazgul swoop, Ents march and voiceovers by Christopher Lee and Ian McKellen guide you. You can play through two complete campaigns in the single-player mode or switch to a more open-ended, multi-player option that lets you challenge other Tolkien geeks online.

Some of your missions require you to defeat swarms of enemies with just a few heroes, but it's more entertaining to watch massed forces on both sides claw for victory. When you select a battle to focus on, you are presented with an overhead view of the land that allows you to select multiple battalions or siege weapons, then order a group attack or defensive maneuver. But you can also zoom in, getting up close and personal as your Trolls battle the Horsemen of Rohan. Being in the heart of the fight shows off terrific details and makes it easier to select individual heroes and unleash their special abilities -- for example, Gandalf's stunning Wizard's Blast or Boromir's fearsome Horn of Gondor.

One note about tactics: Since units won't run unless ordered, skirmishes can turn into contests of attrition unless one side plays a trump card, such as using the One Ring to summon a Balrog. With success, your armies gain in experience and, in some cases, hardware; if you can hoard resources and gain a good balance of battle skills, you'll do well in the later scenarios, where far more is at stake. -- Michael Tedeschi

Win 2000 or newer, $50

VAMPIRE:

THE MASQUERADE: BLOODLINES, Activision

Few things in the game industry should be shocking these days, but the blood, gore and violence in this game are. This first-person-perspective sequel takes place in a far grimmer world than its predecessor -- a dark and cruel 3-D rendition of modern-day Santa Monica, Hollywood and Los Angeles, in which even the supposedly innocent mortals are largely evil.

Among them, you will meet a serial killer who imprisons victims in his basement and slowly cuts them up alive; vampires who practice "fleshcrafting," in which they carve their victims into hideous monsters; and a pretty ghoul who feeds on corpses in the morgue to survive. The game's graphics certainly do a good job of portraying this ugly environment -- littered with cigarette butts, trash and copious amounts of blood -- as vividly as possible.

As a newly made vampire, you must bend to the whims of the elder vampires while trying to hold on to your remaining humanity -- a vampire who gives himself over to the beast within is lost, and a loser of this game. So try to be nice to people when possible. You also have to follow "The Masquerade," a code of rules designed to keep vampires' existence hidden. You can't feed in public and should try not to kill your victims, lest you attract unwanted attention from either your vampire masters or human law enforcement.

A role-playing scheme based on the "White Wolf" system used in many paper role-playing games lets you craft your character just as you like; your vampire can be a scrawny computer hacker, a tough brawler or anything in between. An open, non-linear design then lets you act as you choose, so long as the sun is down. -- John Breeden II

Win 98 or newer, $50

KEYHOLE 2 LT, Keyhole

Keyhole 2 puts the world -- or at least many interesting parts of it -- at your fingertips. The program lets you browse 12 terabytes' worth of satellite snapshots of Earth, including most metropolitan areas in the United States and many cities overseas. All of this is presented in extraordinary detail.

The program starts you with a view of the Earth from space. Type in a Zip code or street address, and the perspective jumps up close, allowing you to pick out large landmarks. Zoom in, and you can discern streets, buildings, even finally individual cars and trees.

The oldest photographs for the Washington area date to July 2001, so unless you live in a new building, you'll likely be able to find your home. It's easy to spend an hour poking around the city, scanning neighborhoods.

Then, with the click of a mouse, you can start exploring elsewhere. Check out the Golden Gate Bridge, find Wrigley Field, follow the Grand Canyon, look at the Hollywood sign and locate the Playboy Mansion. Or go global and peer down on the Roman Coliseum, the Tower of London or Tiananmen Square. For anyone with imagination and wanderlust, the possibilities are endless.

There are practical applications for Keyhole too: You can quickly measure distances and import "image overlays" (layers of additional detail, such as satellite weather photographs). A click of a button highlights and names streets and other places of interest, such as hotels, golf courses and restaurants. (Sometimes, though, it's difficult to pick out the spot being identified).

This does cost $30 a year while Microsoft's TerraServer site (terraserver.microsoft.com) is free, but Keyhole (recently bought by Google) is also far more comprehensive and elegant. -- Anthony Zurcher

Win 98 or newer, $30/year at www.keyhole.com