I thought this would be a let down; a total screw up of Tolkien's lore. I was wrong! It's fun, and true to the books!

User Rating: 9.2 | The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar PC
By NoseArt | Review Date:
Honestly when I first started the game, I was impressed by the character creation area, but when I started playing I was a bit disappointed. I wasn't too impressed with the animations and the models for the elf I was playing didn't look so great; sort of disproportionate. I guess I have too much of the movies clouding my imagination. Well, after having played in the beta and getting used to the game I soon forgot all that and was treated to a rendition of the LOTR books that very much made me feel a part of the land and lore, even in just the beginning areas. Turbine is no stranger to the MMO market and their design of LOTRO is very well done. From the well written quests, to the beautiful graphics, to the stylized art of the world around you, to the unique ways to personalize your avatar, it''s clear that the 3 years development time turned out what's sure to be a very successful and enjoyable MMO.

One thing that stood out from all else (especially coming from Vanguard) is that, for me, this game was rock solid. No bugs, no crashes, nothing. The game scales VERY well graphically and should be playable on any PC 2-3 years old. One thing however, there are queues, so If you create a player on a busy server you're gonna wait. On launch day only 3 servers had a queue and my wait on each was less that 5 min, if that. There are currently 11 servers (if I recall correctly) so there are many to choose from that shouldn't be overpopulated. When you launch the game the launcher app recommends servers for you that aren't overly popluated. I came from WoW over a year ago to start playing Vanguard (no MMO is as frustrating and painful at $14.99/month) and I have to say that LOTRO is a nice breath of fresh air. Yes, it somewhat favors WoW but to me that's a bit of a compliment because I consider WoW to be a very well made MMO as well. Hopefully however LOTRO won't become the timesink of life itself that WoW turned into. If LOTRO truly retains it's solo-ability and balances it with the nice fellowship (group) system, then I believe Turbine won't alienate it's player base based on who has the most time on their hands like Blizzard did.

So if you're looking for a fun MMO and are a fan of the Tolkien books then this is your ride.

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