The Lord of the Rings Online Shadows of Angmar Preview

One ring to rule them all

Turbine Entertainment, the people responsible for the Asheron’s Call series are currently working on a new MMORPG that is set in a Tolkien world. Initially the game was called Middle Earth Online but now, the developers have acquired the license to name it ‘The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar’ and use elements from the famous trilogy. The game will feature a lot of familiar places, people and enemies including the Orcs, Uruk’Hai and giant spiders. Simply put, for those who haven’t gotten enough LOTR even after reading the book and watching all the three movies, this game should definitely prove to be interesting. However, it looks like Turbine are also taking the necessary steps required to pull in other MMORPG players and not just fans of the fantasy story.

Such Class

That being said, an LOTR fan will be able to recognize the places in the game instantly. LOTR Online will cover almost all the major areas of Middle Earth including the Shire, Bree, Rivendell, Lorien, Rohan and Angmar, the land of the Naz’ghul. Players can choose between four races from the alliance which are the humans, the elves, the dwarves and the hobbits. Some players may be disappointed as they will not be able to fight on Sauron’s side but Turbine have probably intended that with very good reason, quite possibly a storyline that involves fighting against the armies of the eye. Each race will also have different classes to add to the assortment. As of now, the number and names of these classes are uncertain but what is confirmed is that the types depicted in the novels are definitely in the game. An example would be the Ranger class, like Aragorn was in the story. You will also be able to choose your lineage, which may be instrumental in learning special skills and obtaining added bonuses for your character.

Race to the finish

Each of the races have their own city where new characters will start out off. Human players begin near Bree and their first mission would be aiding a Ranger in rescuing a captured female hobbit. After the task is done, she thanks you and opens a dialog tree which lets you continue with the story. Similarly, the other races and their classes provide you with missions where you can learn the game as you play it. Fighting in LOTR Online is the usual MMORPG style where characters have many skills and abilities that players can map onto the number keys on their keyboards for quick recall in combat. As you level up the skills become more powerful and can also turn in to combos. A cool and exclusive feature of LOTR Online is the ability to do group combos with other players from your party or ‘fellowship’ as known in the game. These combos get more complicated as more number of people join forces with you. The maximum number of people in a single fellowship has not yet been decided. Another feature of LOTR Online that hasn’t been seen in too many MMORPGs before is that places can change according to your progress in the game. For example, an experienced player who has reached a stage far into the storyline may find a particular place in ruins but new players may be able to see it bustling with activity. This ability to alter the world should induce a realistic feel into the game.

One ring to find them

Even though the game is nowhere close to a finish and is slated for a 2006 release, the graphics look absolutely gorgeous. With detailed environment, great particle effects for flames, lovely water, enchanting landscape and player models that are beautifully textured and animated, you’d definitely spend the first half an hour of play just looking around in admiration. Turbine insist that the engine scales well both ways to suit players with low-end PCs as well as those with some serious rendering power.

One ring to bring them all

The gameplay is similar to other MMORPGs yet quite different in certain aspects. Healing your character is not so simple in LOTR Online so keep him or her as safe as possible. You cannot be healed by another player in a measly five seconds. Broken bones and deep cuts may require you to pay a visit to a healer at some town. In battles, from what we know so far, characters are not killed but rather defeated only to find themselves waking up at a House of Healing. The reason for this is probably because we have not come across the concept of rebirth or resurrection in the novels. Turbine have also made a wise decision to use instanced content whenever necessary. This allows you to complete a quest independently or as a party without interference from the other players on a server. This system removes kill or item stealing and has been used by developers Arenanet in Guild Wars. Unfortunately, many people argue that this system also gets rid of the ‘massively multiplayer’ bit and therefore doesn’t feel true to the genre. Therefore, in LOTR Online, instanced content will be restricted to about 30% while the remaining 70% goes with the true MMORPG non-instanced style. Guilds in this game will be known as Kinships and can be considered the society of LOTR Online but group play is not absolutely mandatory to play this game. You can have a great time even if you’re the loner type but certain quests will require assistance from others. Unfortunately, Turbine are not including PvP (player versus player) in LOTR Online and this may disappoint a lot of seasoned MMORPG players. However, they say that they definitely will release a lot of regular updates which expand the content as well extend the game’s storyline.

And in the darkness bind them

Since the game bears the Lord of the Rings name, the developers will have a huge task up ahead in living up to it. Attempting to recreate the magic and imagery that the Tolkien novels painted inside our heads is no walk in the park but the developers at Turbine Entertainment seem determined. With a whopper of a storyline, a massive Middle Earth to play in, carefully planned MMORPG gameplay and beautiful visuals to go, Lord of the Rings : Shadows of Angmar could definitely prove to be a game worth checking out for everyone and not just LOTR fans. However, the lack of PvP may create a bit of disregard later on.

Ashwath Ravee