Lord of the Rings Online: the adventure continues at massive scale
The Lord of The Rings trilogy remains in the memory of most Science Fiction fans due to the complex story and the amazing charm of the Middle Earth.
As a side note I must say that the 3 books written by J.R.R. Tolkien in the Lord of The Rings trilogy are even more spectacular compared to the movies, as essential elements from the book could not be put in the movie because of the extreme complexity of the books. This is my impression after reading the 3 books.
The success of Lord of the Rings on the screen is now coming into the game industry through a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) which may be considered a competitor to the famous World of Warcraft. [OFFICIAL SITE]
Gameplay
The idea of the game is similar to the idea of other classical MMORPGs. The player controls an avatar that interacts with many other players in a vast world. Progress is done through the rise of personal level acquired through PvE (Player vs. Environment) battles. In order to remember the books it is based on the game is divided into books and chapters. Until now the game has 15 books and 2 expansion packs.
The player can interpret the role of a man or woman and must choose one of the 4 different available species: human, elf, dwarf or hobbit. Obviously, the available weapons are different depending on the chosen species. So is the clothing, which can be classical, species based, virtuous, or legendary.
The job of the chosen character rises depending on its abilities. Your character will rise from being a cook, farmer, jeweler, scientist, arms producer, clothes producer and so on.
Magic is represented by 5 different wizards, as described by Tolkien, and players need power to go to superior levels of magic.
The classic player vs. player battles from MMORPGs are also present in Lord of the Rings Online, but they are called Monster Play or Player vs. Monster Player (PvMP). This module is activated when you reach the 10th level, and as its name suggests, it involves battles against monsters.
Later Lord of the Rings Online gained 2 expansion packs. Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria is in an underground game. It takes place in a series of mines in the Moria region of the Middle Earth. This expansion pack is also called Volume II and it includes 6 books. The second expansion pack is called Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood and it represents the ending of Mines of Moria, taking place in the south part of the Mirkwood region.
The reason I chose to talk about a game released 3 years ago is that starting the 10th of September 2010, Lord of the Rings Online will adopt a free game version. Few details are known right now about the features of the free version, but I am sure LOTR fans that have not had access to the shareware version will be happy to play the freeware version.
Lord of the Rings Online review and gameplay video:
Ionut is Chief Editor. He has a degree in Computer Science BA and worked in IT since 2002. Ionut is now managing several tech sites, including GadgetRoad. Find me on Twitter
