This is one of the newer MMOs out on the market. LOTRO has been out for just over one year now and has a scheduled expansion pack coming out in the fall of 2008. The trial version lets a person play for ten days with no fee. Although it doesn’t provide every option as does the full version it still delivers a great gaming experience based on a classic novel.
The idea of the game is for a player to pick a race for their character. The choices are human, dwarf, elf or hobbit. After selecting the race of the character the player needs to choose a class. Those available with the original game are burglar, champion, captain, hunter, minstrel, lore-master and guardian. With the expansion pack two new classes will be added. These will be called the warden and the rune-keeper. Finally the player customizes their characters details and looks then it’s off to the adventure.
Depending on which race the player chooses the adventures will begin in one of three different towns. These towns allow the player to begin the fun while providing an easy to follow tutorial.
The details and graphics are what bring this game to live. The main objective of the game is for the character to complete quests given by NPCs who have a bright gold ring hovering over their head. Clicking on these rings brings the player into a variety of stories or situations where once the player completes the quest they will receive awards.
As the player’s character completes quests and defeats monsters the character will gain levels and abilities. In addition it’s a lot of fun running into the main characters such as Legolis, Bilbo and Gandaf. For those that wish more from their games then LOTRO provides interactions with real people by allowing the characters to join fellowships to complete quests or form bonds which may lead to creating a Kinship. A kinship is a group of people that help each other out. Over time a kinship can grow bigger and buy a house for the players to gather in.
Overall this game has many more great qualities. It didn’t take long for me to buy the full version which can be purchased online for download. The game itself costs twenty dollars but there is a monthly subscription fee of 9.99 a month or at least that is what I pay right now.
If you like the Lord of the Rings Trilogy you will surely enjoy this game. I finally progressed by character to level 50 which until the expansion is the maximum limit but even though I reached this plateau there is so much more for my character to do. Free Trial at http://www.lotro.com/anniversary/t/?utm_content=TRY&utm_source=LOTRO_COM&utm_medium=MPU_LOTRO&utm_campaign=TURBINE LOTRO http://www.lotro.com/
