All right, Tolkien geeks. It's time to bust out those credit cards.
The massively multiplayer online game for Windows, "Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar" launched April 24 and, after two weeks of intensive play, we're happy to report that the Shire is safe.
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For a monthly charge, online gamers can take on the guise of a Tolkienesque dwarf, man, hobbit or elf.
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Turbine Inc., the game's developer, has remained faithful to the J.R.R. Tolkien books to an obsessive degree, crafting for online players a world that is as rich and detailed a digital re-creation as any fan could desire.
For more casual gamers, the game will feel like a retread of arguably the most successful PC game out right now, "World of Warcraft," which boasts 8 million subscribers worldwide.
Like "Warcraft," "Lord of the Rings" costs about $15 a month to play in addition to the $50 initial cost of the game (the first month of play is free). Would-be adventurers get to create characters to play in a vast online world, completing quests, exploring graphically gorgeous realms and interacting with thousands of other players. You can choose to be one of the four races of Middle Earth — Man, Elf, Dwarf or Hobbit — and select from classes including Burglar, Captain, Champion Guardian, Hunter, Lore-Master and Minstrel. Each race and class has different strengths, weaknesses and abilities. As you progress in the game, you'll also be able to choose vocations that allow you to create goods that can be used, sold or traded.
For veterans of "World of Warcraft," the game will feel very familiar. The interface includes a chat window, a list of ongoing quests and spaces where you can set up buttons to do specific tasks — casting certain spells or using potions, for instance.
A map is available to guide you as you make your way from town to town, fighting monsters, collecting rewards and completing increasingly difficult quests.
On a well-equipped PC with a fast Internet connection, the game ran very smoothly withfew hiccups. While such massive games can suffer from birthing pains, the first two weeks of "Shadows of Angmar" have been remarkably smooth. I didn't notice any server outages as my hobbit minstrel, Perfuncto, progressed through 11 levels. There were no major bugs or system crashes, and every few days the game self-updates with fixes and tweaks as it's launched.
While the first few levels of the game move swiftly — you feel as if you're a minor character swept up in the story that begins with "The Fellowship of the Ring" — it soon shifts to the grinding, quest-driven gameplay typical of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games.
That'll be a disappointment for some gamers. Instead of protecting the One Ring or fending off Smeagol, you'll be collecting chickens for farmers, slaughtering swarms of gnats and delivering mail among postmasters to earn experience points in the game's early levels.
Many of the quests are easy but involve lots of walking or tedious item collecting. So many of the early quests work this way that it's not necessary to socialize or join a community of other players, one of the chief draws of an online game like this. You'll feel for a while like you're in a single-player game.
By the time you progress to later levels, the myriad professions, crafts, deeds, traits and skills to acquire can be overwhelming. The time to progress at these skills isn't minutes or hours — it's days, weeks, months. Playing such a multiplayer online game is a major time investment.
Where "Shadows of Angmar" shines is in its presentation. The game's locales and landmarks will be familiar to the hardcore Tolkien fans, and they are expertly rendered. Streams are dappled by midday sunlight. Willow trees bend in the breeze. Running into a dark forest induces claustrophobia as the foreboding soundtrack kicks in and you are plunged into darkness.
Turbine's storytelling approach is also notable: Instead of presenting the "Rings" world in full, this is only the first chapter in what will be ongoing updates. The next chapter, "Shores of Evendim," will be made available in June, free to players.
"Shadows of Angmar" will be a treat for Tolkien fans who also happen to like online games. For those who prefer their "Rings" experience to be a little less work, there's always the Peter Jackson films.
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