I never played the first one, but I absolutely loved BFME2 as a kid. It was a shame it didn't have the same campaign as 1, following the story of the movies/novel. (Tbh, I don't remember it having any campaign when I was a kid, but looking it up now it seems like it did.)

In 2023, it even received a major fan-made expansion/overhaul: Age of the Ring, which is still being updated (most recent update: May 2025, with comments after that update referencing "a future update").