PC Hardware & Games

Video: 5
Audio: 5
Gameplay: 4

Come see Lobelia Sackville-Baggins’ party at Bag End. Enjoy Butterburr’s fine mead at Bree’s Prancing Pony. Take a long, relaxing walk around Rivendell. Quake in terror as a fearsome Black Rider rides by. Wait, what? It is time for J.R.R. Tolkien fans to rejoice—The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar has finally arrived. It has been quite a journey, as well. Originally announced as Middle Earth Online with rights owned by Sierra On-Line in the late 1990s, production stalled within the first few years. Eventually, Turbine assumed the development and publishing duties. Turbine’s resume, which includes Asheron’s Call, gave hope that the game might actually be completed and worth playing.

There’s a lot to live up to in today’s MMO climate. World of Warcraft dominates the genre, for better or for worse. LOTRO also has to deal with trying to bring to life one of the most beloved, and fiercely protected, fantasy worlds of our time. Sounds like a stacked deck against Turbine.

The game opens on the character-creation screen, where you have four options for races—dwarf, elf, hobbit, and man. You can make further distinction with your character’s gender, except for with dwarves, which can only be male. Dwarf females are highly protected within dwarven society and rarely seen. Each race naturally has its own modifiers—elves get a boost to Agility, while dwarves have decreased Agility—and your race also limits which of the seven classes you can choose, unless you choose man, who can be any of them. Class choice depends heavily on your play style. Do you want to be right in the middle of everything with all enemies’ attention on you? Guardian sounds like the best choice. Do you prefer to stand back buffing characters with your commands and cries? Try being a Captain. Maybe you prefer to stay hidden to distract and fool the enemy while others take them down? A Burglar is for you. Each class has its strengths and weaknesses. If you don’t like the one you’ve chosen, just make another character. You can have up to five characters on each realm, or server, if you so choose.

Once you have created your character, he or she will show up on the character-selection screen. A picture of your character is displayed in whatever they happen to be wearing at the time, along with your name, class, and race. Absent from the list is the location of your character. While you’ll find that out as soon as you log in, I find it’s nice to keep tabs and be able to see where everyone is with one glance.

Your race determines what starting area your character begins in. Each has its own opening story before being put into one of two starting areas—one for hobbits and men, one for elves and dwarves. The starting area acts as a tutorial to get you accustomed to the controls and get you up to around level six. Once you’ve completed all of your quests in the starting area, an NPC prompts you to enter an instance, which you can do solo or with a group, or fellowship—more on these later. If you’re unfamiliar with instances, they are zones that are specifically for you or your fellowship, so there is no outside interference from other players. The opening instances continue the story line, and, when you complete them, they send you to one of four areas of Middle-earth, depending on your race. (Hobbits go to the Shire, for example.) At this point, you are in the main part of the world with everyone else, and you can begin your questing.

Like other role-playing games, MMO and otherwise, there are a bunch of different kinds of quests. Delivery, combat, crafting—all are available, but The Lord of the Rings Online carries another that adds a little spice. Unlike World of Warcraft, which has a broad-based story but not a specific path, or EVE Online, which doesn’t require you to do any missions if you so choose, The Lord of the Rings Online includes a linear story specifically for your character. The story line that began in your opening area continues once you enter the populated land of Middle-earth. While it might not be as important as Frodo’s, things that you accomplish allow Frodo and the Fellowship to continue. And, through these adventures, you get to meet, or at the very least hear about, the characters in the books. Men have a whole story line driven by Strider, who you meet at the Prancing Pony in Bree. It’s a great solution for a game that’s based on one story without being solely about that one story. After all, not everyone can be Frodo.