Game Review – “Lord of the Rings Online (Lotro)”

This is the first article in the latest category to be added to the Unified Terran Community, Games Reviews.  This review was generously submitted by fellow blogger matildascott.  You can find her blog here.

This was my first experience of an online computer game (mmorpg-massive multiuser online roleplaying game, I think that’s what it means!).  To start with I enjoyed creating a character and naming her, I decided to be an elf hunter.  There are a choice of races and classes which fulfill certain roles and are good at certain things.  The hunter is good at dealing out ranged damage (from a bow) but does not do so well at close quarters.  I then started the game proper and died several times before I got the hang of it.  When I say I died I really mean that I got beaten in a fight and ran out of morale, in this game you don’t “die” you just get sent back to one of the many safe points near where you were.  I thought the graphics were pretty good but not at all what I thought middle earth should look like.  The novelty of a new game and one where I could interact with others (once I finally worked out how to do that and had learned a bit of online gaming lingo) lasted quite a while.  I enjoyed the fact that when I killed a monster or completed a quest I would gain experience points which would build up and once I collected a certain amount I would go up a level.  When I went up a level I would get more hit points (morale) and more power points (energy for certain skills) and every couple of levels new abilities.

I could choose which quests I wanted and leave the ones I couldn’t be bothered with which suits my nature.  You can just run about exploring and/or killing monsters but that can get boring.  Most of the quests are either killing stuff, finding items or people or a combination of the two.  I found this got boring after a while.

As you kill things and do quests you pick up coinage and various items, armour and weapons for example.  You can also learn crafting skills which mean that you can make things and with practice (a lot of practice) improve your skill and eventually make some semi-useful items.

There are group quests which if you can find people to join in with can be fun but again get samey.

All in all it was good to start with but I got bored with it.  The graphics are good but in my opinion not really very “Lord of the ringsy”.  Having read the first book and been read all three as a child plus the hobbit I felt it didn’t have the right “feel” to it.  I know this might not be a glowing review but condsidering they overcharged me every month (you have to pay a monthly subscription as well as buying the game) double sometimes triple the fee (they did pay me back intitially but then denied it which is when I stopped playing and cancelled)  I think I’ve been quite fair.

Gameplay

Longevity 

Addictiveness 

Value for money 

Overall