This game is an MMO based on The Lord of the Rings books by Tolkien(includes more than seen in the films) and lets the player explore Middle Earth at the same time as Frodo begins his journey to Mt Doom.
The main story plotline is related to Frodo and his journey, taking place within Epic quests which are fewer in number than the side quests you will be spending most of your time with. The main bulk of the game revolves around helping out the inhabitants of middle earth, quests ranging from killing boar to storming goblin camps. Cutscenes are fairly poor in terms of length and graphics but for an MMO it does well in presenting a story. The main characters themselves hardly look like the ones from the films so fans may find this slightly annoying (if you don't make comparisons the character models are adequate) but apart from that the story is simple and keeps you flowing through the game. Whilst you are free to explore the places seen in the films you may be disappointed by how different they sometimes look in the game although this is a minor gripe as many of the places do exist and are recognisable for the most part.
Once you have picked classes (pretty standard except for the standard class of magician being missing and replaced by rune keeper for lore reasons) you set off and perform quests at each town/village you come across (although you are limited from straying too far due to the level of the quests and monsters that roam the area). Alongise this you will need to pick your crafting class as this will determine what materials you are able to harvest as you travel through the game (such as wood/ore etc). Levelling up is fairly quick and enables the purchase of new skills and abilities to help keep combat fresh. Regarding combat the game involves clicking on skills in the skill bar and waiting for them to be performed, not great for someone wanting a more instant action form of combat. Grinding is pretty much non-existant in the form of killing monsters as the main bulk of experience points comes from the quests and there are always some available at your level so you never really need to purposefully level up. I find the game does tend to get a bit repetitive, an example being to kill a number of bears only to return to the quest giver and then be told to kill a large number of bats in the same place you were sent to before (which I found frustrating, perhaps because I am new to the MMO style of game). Whilst I take it this is standard MMO fare which might appeal to some it can get pretty boring, especially if you are doing these quests on your own.
The larger quests in the game require you to form a fellowship, a group of up to six people to work together. For me these provided the most enjoyable and fun levels (if everyone behaves) of the game and makes up for the more lonesome single player quests, as you work together fighting trolls etc. Enticing features litter the game such as crafting (you harvest materials throughout your travelsand can create your own weapons/armour etc), the auction house (to buy and sell items), the ability to visit well known locations through the films as well as being able to buy a horse once you reach level 35 (currently the level limit is at 60).
The graphics side of the game hold up well, most notably the size and scale of the Middle Earth created in the game is immense, so it feels as if you really are travelling through the world seen in the films. Frequently players are treated to some amazing views, most notably from the tops of mountains and hills at key times such as sunset. A minor gripe I noticed is that sometimes faraway trees can look 2d as well as the fact there is not much 3d grass or foliage but really this does nothing to affect the enjoyment of the game. Whilst the soundtrack is different from that of the movies it does create a suitable atmosphere for the various areas you travel through in game.
The game offers a lot of scale-ability in terms of the graphics and runs fairly well, the only problem I have noticed is the occasional lag when entering some of the busier towns and cities due to the number of people walking around. So far I have not had any real problems running the game except for my character getting stuck and having to wait until a morning restart (it does this for half hour each day) to sort itself out. There are also half-day restarts every few weeks, which can sometimes get annoying if you were expecting to be playing at that time. The patches are pretty huge so be warned for those that have a slow internet connection, although these patches are welcome as they sometimes add free updates known as Books, which add new quests and areas to the game. Despite the few problems I have had the game has an active and supportive community on their website so any problems you might get should be sorted quickly. The game is around £15 to buy and comes with a free 30 days of game time to see if you will like it or not, for me it kept me interested for a good couple of months so far. Alternatively a 10 day trial is available to download from their website. The current monthly subscription cost is £9. For those after a walk around Middle Earth and something to keep themselves busy will do well to get his game.
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The main story plotline is related to Frodo and his journey, taking place within Epic quests which are fewer in number than the side quests you will be spending most of your time with. The main bulk of the game revolves around helping out the inhabitants of middle earth, quests ranging from killing boar to storming goblin camps. Cutscenes are fairly poor in terms of length and graphics but for an MMO it does well in presenting a story. The main characters themselves hardly look like the ones from the films so fans may find this slightly annoying (if you don't make comparisons the character models are adequate) but apart from that the story is simple and keeps you flowing through the game. Whilst you are free to explore the places seen in the films you may be disappointed by how different they sometimes look in the game although this is a minor gripe as many of the places do exist and are recognisable for the most part.
Once you have picked classes (pretty standard except for the standard class of magician being missing and replaced by rune keeper for lore reasons) you set off and perform quests at each town/village you come across (although you are limited from straying too far due to the level of the quests and monsters that roam the area). Alongise this you will need to pick your crafting class as this will determine what materials you are able to harvest as you travel through the game (such as wood/ore etc). Levelling up is fairly quick and enables the purchase of new skills and abilities to help keep combat fresh. Regarding combat the game involves clicking on skills in the skill bar and waiting for them to be performed, not great for someone wanting a more instant action form of combat. Grinding is pretty much non-existant in the form of killing monsters as the main bulk of experience points comes from the quests and there are always some available at your level so you never really need to purposefully level up. I find the game does tend to get a bit repetitive, an example being to kill a number of bears only to return to the quest giver and then be told to kill a large number of bats in the same place you were sent to before (which I found frustrating, perhaps because I am new to the MMO style of game). Whilst I take it this is standard MMO fare which might appeal to some it can get pretty boring, especially if you are doing these quests on your own.
The larger quests in the game require you to form a fellowship, a group of up to six people to work together. For me these provided the most enjoyable and fun levels (if everyone behaves) of the game and makes up for the more lonesome single player quests, as you work together fighting trolls etc. Enticing features litter the game such as crafting (you harvest materials throughout your travelsand can create your own weapons/armour etc), the auction house (to buy and sell items), the ability to visit well known locations through the films as well as being able to buy a horse once you reach level 35 (currently the level limit is at 60).
The graphics side of the game hold up well, most notably the size and scale of the Middle Earth created in the game is immense, so it feels as if you really are travelling through the world seen in the films. Frequently players are treated to some amazing views, most notably from the tops of mountains and hills at key times such as sunset. A minor gripe I noticed is that sometimes faraway trees can look 2d as well as the fact there is not much 3d grass or foliage but really this does nothing to affect the enjoyment of the game. Whilst the soundtrack is different from that of the movies it does create a suitable atmosphere for the various areas you travel through in game.
The game offers a lot of scale-ability in terms of the graphics and runs fairly well, the only problem I have noticed is the occasional lag when entering some of the busier towns and cities due to the number of people walking around. So far I have not had any real problems running the game except for my character getting stuck and having to wait until a morning restart (it does this for half hour each day) to sort itself out. There are also half-day restarts every few weeks, which can sometimes get annoying if you were expecting to be playing at that time. The patches are pretty huge so be warned for those that have a slow internet connection, although these patches are welcome as they sometimes add free updates known as Books, which add new quests and areas to the game. Despite the few problems I have had the game has an active and supportive community on their website so any problems you might get should be sorted quickly. The game is around £15 to buy and comes with a free 30 days of game time to see if you will like it or not, for me it kept me interested for a good couple of months so far. Alternatively a 10 day trial is available to download from their website. The current monthly subscription cost is £9. For those after a walk around Middle Earth and something to keep themselves busy will do well to get his game.
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