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The Lord Of The Rings: Shadows Of Angmar Review (continued)
More User Submitted The Lord Of The Rings: Shadows Of Angmar Reviews
Date: 2007-07-03
If you loved the books, you'll dig this game
I've written some extensive reviews elsewhere so I'm not going to reinvent the wheel here... but the short version goes like this:
The game is very true to the books, and really does a great job of making you feel like you are in there. The environments are lush and beautiful with the right graphics card, and the thrill of "seeing" these places you have read about is hard to explain to non-readers of the books.
As for gameplay - its evolutionary, not REVolutionary. They didnt try to make it all-new just for the sake of being different... I feel like they took things that worked well from many other MMO games and sort of blended them in rather nicely. There are obvious touches from World of Warcraft, Everquest, etc. in here - which is really a plus, since it lowers the learning curve for experienced players. If you are a hardcore PvP player, maybe this isnt for you... but even then, you can engage in Monster play which is crazy good fun of a very unique variety.
Overall, this is the game that broke my long addiction to WoW. If you are tired of the same-old in your current game, or you want to see what this MMO thing is all about, give this one a try. You might find its just what you were looking for.
Date: 2007-07-02
Doesn't completely satisfy MMO fans or LOTR fans
I am both an MMO fan(played virtually all mainstream MMOs starting with Ultima Online) and a LOTR fan(having first read the books in the 70's).
I will first look at the game as a LOTR fan. The first thing that disappointed me about LOTRO was how close the initial races were geographically. The game fails to duplicate the epic feel of the books. The Hobbit locations are all packed together. Personally as a LOTR fan I wanted to take the game slow and be able to have to take time just to travel from hobbit town to hobbit town. Even if you walk your character the game fails to deliver the feel of the books. Then on top of that all the race locations are virtually next to each other. And finally the game does not have all the locations of the books yet. These will be added later as expansions. As a LOTR fan this is unacceptable. As a LOTR fan I don't want to wait. I don't mean waiting to level my character because that is actually relatively fast to do compared to other MMOs but I wanted to be able to level one character and explore all the locations the books have to offer. I felt LOTR could have even been used as a companion to the books and thought maybe even schools which have the books as part of their learning could use the game as a companion to. But since the game does not contain all of the locations in the books yet this is impossible. As it is I am leveling many different characters just to keep playing the game while I wait for the expansions.
Looking at the game as an MMO fan I was disappointed to. First off the game has limited content which was the same problem Turbine had with DDO and combined with the relative ease of leveling characters is going to cause a lot of players to leave who like the game instead of having to grind character after character just to warrant the monthly fee until new content is added. There are many elements similar to other MMOs and few things that are unique to LOTRO but don't feel they establish a niche for LOTRO. The rabid MMO fans will level quickly and you better have a lot to do when they do and LOTRO fails because the endgame is stale, although admittedly WOW endgame was stale until they implemented all the PVP elements they wanted so there is hope that the LOTRO endgame will improve also.
Overall I still like LOTRO. Graphically the game is stunning and had all the locations in the books been implemented from the beginning would be amazing. The problem is many fans of the books are not likely to have the high-end gaming machines required to fully appreciate the great graphics. If you do have a superior gaming machine then LOTRO is worth the purchase for the graphics alone. You can play the game on lower settings but that is really a let down.
The crafting and monster play still need some refining but I can see a future where these might be some of the better things in LOTRO. The combat system could have been better and really isn't better than MMOs already in existence but is sufficient for LOTRO. The quests are nice and range in length from short to long and fit in nicely with the lore of the books, and there are a lot of quests. Many of the quests you won't even do with your first or second character but they are still in the same limited terrain. The character creation is better than most MMOs.
In the end I thought Turbine should have tailored the game to fans of the books instead of trying to satisfy both fans of the books and MMO fans. Ultimately MMO fans will move on and LOTR fans will be left and because of that felt they should have duplicated the epic feel and distances of the books. As an MMO fan I honestly can't recommend LOTRO but as LOTR fan I do recommend the game if you have the patience to wait for all the locations in the books to be added. If you are a fan of the books and can't wait for all the locations, I would suggest waiting a year and revisit the game. Turbine has a good reputation for improving on their games and many of the locations in the books will be added by then. Also by that time many people will have the gaming machine to fully appreciate the great graphics.
Date: 2007-06-30
What an opening vid!!!
I started playing this game on Beta only a month or 2 before it came out. It is a great game with story lines and questing that follow the book series. Visit all the places that make The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobit a literary legend. This game also fits well with the movies of this same ilk. I really enjoy all the questing that is done in the game, I did rate it a 4 for fun and overall only because they really don't have a great crafting system as yet, there have been some promises made on improving that part of the game and I hope those changes are sooner rather than later. The Graphics on this game are Mondo!! and your system will have to be a good one just to walk around in town so check the system requirements carefully. Even my 6800 extreme is a little choppy but playable with a p4 prescott core w/ht at 3 ghz. The questing is wall to wall and scenery varies widely from Shire to Bree and beyond the Misty Mountains..ohh.. and there is unlimited ammo for your bow... enjoy!!
Date: 2007-06-30
Disappointed
It's sold as soloable which it is but once you hit later levels there is really nothing to do but group to advance and even most "solo" quests are put in areas making them unsoloable plus experience gained for killing mobs is minimal and need to do quests. Groups usually take forever to form also so...don't buy if planning on soloing unless going to be a very casual player or RPing as I see these as the only people that would enjoy this game with staying at lower levels of advancement.
Here's some random notes I've found since playing for just under a month
combat is BORING with no instant attacks and everything is queued based on your weapon speed so guess this helps the "slow reacting" players but bored me out of my mind.
Graphics are amazing on this game though and probably the biggest plus it has to offer.
Crafting system has little to no ability to make you good money in most professions since quest rewards are almost always better or very close in stats but easily obtainable
It just has so much potential with the obvious story line (although its all group quests too) and the graphics but they fall way short at least for now. Well, at least its still a young game and can improve.
Date: 2007-06-28
Not for Player Versus Player
The game has some unique things for example the conjunctions. You can play against many Non Player Characters and use different tactics. Overall the story line is very interesting and it is great for its book like qualities.
The biggest issue with this game is that eventually, when you have completed the quests and built your character, you will want to try out some Player Versus Player, or in Lord of The Rings Online it is called Player versus Monster Player. It is horrible. There is no reward for loyalty, the only reward is for Players to switch to the side that is winning as fast as they can. Many of the battles degenerate into vast lopsided ganking teams. The Player Versus Player battle is like this typically.
Stealthed player traps you so you can not move from 15 to 30 seconds. Vast numbers of opposing players surround you and you are reduced to zero in about 5 seconds. The forums are filled with the major game breaking elements of PvP.
Play the game if you want to enjoy the story line and the Non Player Character fighting.
I am one who is rather bored with Non Player Character fighting and dont need to pay a monthly fee to do it. 1 Star. overall. But I did enjoy the story.
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