Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Mike Repella

The Lord of the Rings Online launched just over a year ago and since its launch the game has received several free content updates and now it has received its first official expansion pack entitled The Mines of Moria.

Since I only began playing Lord of the Rings Online (LoTRO) in early November in preparation for this review, I can’t really comment on how much the game has progressed since its launch. I can tell you that the developer, Turbine, has created a game that not only captures the magic of the Lord of The Rings books but it is also tremendously fun and can compete with any other MMO on the market.

Launched in close proximity to the Wrath of the Lich King and Warhammer Online there is no doubt that the Mines of Moria faces some fierce competition. Read on to find out why the Mines of Moria took over all of the time I had set aside to play the World of Warcraft and its latest expansion.

Computer Specs:

Computer 1:                                         Computer 2:

AMD Athlon 4200 X2                            AMD Athlon 3200

2.5 Gigs of DDR                                  1 Gig of DDR

GeForce 8800GT                                 ATI Radeon 1600Pro

 

Computer 3:

AMD Athlon 3700

1.5 Gigs of DDR

GeForce 7900GT

 

If there is a better looking MMO that runs as smoothly on medium level hardware, then I haven’t played it. LoTRO takes a realistic approach to its graphics and art, as apposed to the more cartoonish style that WoW and Warhammer uses.

Turbine has crafted a game world that utilizes grand vistas that present stunning long range scenery. You can scale a mountain or a hill and see trees and buildings at a very impressive distance. The world itself is highly detailed and utilizes bump mapping, advanced lighting, swaying trees and foliage, shadows and reflective surfaces to great effect. The option to use DX10 effects is built into the game. DX10 makes the water surfaces, trees and shadows look even better than they already do in DX9, but you had better have some beefy hardware to run it smoothly with DX10 enabled.

For Moria, the developers have crafted a setting that is true to the books, but is by no means dull or repetitive. Once inside the mines, players are treated to the indoor Dwarven architecture that they would expect. To light up the game world, each area utilizes light crystals throughout that provide radiating light to brighten things up. There are also indoor lava zones, water zones, and even some indoor zones that incorporate sunlight and flowers through the use of the above mentioned light crystals. What’s more, is that each area is highly detailed from the floor and walls to the ceiling itself. All of these combinations ensure that a player won’t enter Moria and quickly become bored with the indoor setting.

Perhaps the most impressive element of the LoTRO is that the game truly does run well on almost any gaming system built in the last couple of years. My best setup uses a lower end dual core chip and a GeForce 8800GT and I was able to run the game in 1600x1200 resolution with every detail setting maxed. On the lower end I was able to the run the game fairly smoothly on my low end Athlon 3200 CPU paired with a lowly Radeon 1600pro. Granted I had to turn down many of the advanced graphics settings to medium, but I was still able to run the game very smoothly with the viewing distance at its max. Turbine should be commended for the feat they have been able to pull off. In a lot of ways the game looks like the MMO Vanguard, but instead of running like a three legged dog, LoTRO runs like a champ.

 

One area that a lot of MMO's lose focus on is the sound and music. With LoTRO, Turbine has utilized an original sound track that will play throughout your adventures. The music sounds very similar, although not an exact copy, of the soundtrack from the movie.  As a result, the music can play in the background throughout an extended play session and not become repetitive

Throughout the game most of the characters do not utilize voice actors, as most of the story is presented through text. However, LoTRO does set itself apart from other MMOs with its use of several cut scenes and voiced narratives. All of the voice acting is professional in level. For the original release and its free updates the dialogue and story is mostly advanced by Gandalf. For the Mines of Moria the narrator switches over to Lady Galadriel. This move makes sense since Gandalf is presumed to be dead during the time that the events in the Mines of Moria take place.

 

The controls are exactly what you would expect from a MMO. Attacks can be assigned to a hot bar and you can activate them by either clicking on them in the hot bar or hitting the corresponding key on your key board. Overall there is not much to report here since LoTRO essentially copies the button and control layout of most other major MMOs. The only negative here is that there really isn't any innovation in the control department so veteran MMO players shouldn't expect anything new in this area.

For those who have never played LoTRO you need to know that it plays very similar to other MMOs like Everquest or World of Warcraft. LOTR differentiates itself by providing a story-centric playing experience, with quests that actually make sense. Players will understand why they have to travel to point A, collect a certain object, and then us it at point B. This is a major improvement over the old "kill X number of this monster simply because I said so" model.

There is a strong storyline present through the original game that continues in the expansion. LoTRO handles the story by laying out the play areas within a book with each quest chain unfolding to become a chapter. The events of the storyline generally take place either prior to the Fellowship arriving in a destination or just after they have gone through a destination. Sometimes you are even presented with both scenarios. This is thanks to the game’s heavy use of familiar characters who change their locations and habits depending on where you are in the storyline. Completing the storyline quests isn’t an absolute must but it does add a lot to the game’s appeal. For this reason the game reminds me of a mulitplayer Elder Scrolls game. There is a storyline you can follow, but there is also so much more to do and see that many players will find themselves never even touching the story quests if they don't want to.

For the Mines of Moria you are tasked with helping the Dwarves reclaim Moria or Khazad-dum as it is called in the Dwarven tongue. The events in the expansion take place just after the Fellowship of the Ring has passed through the Mines and your very first task is to help the Dwarves clear the Hollin Gate. If you remember from the book or the movie, the Watcher in the water has caused it to be blocked off and the Mine is inaccessible until the gate is cleared. Once inside Moria you will discover that not only do you have to contend with the Orcs that inhabit Moria, but you must also deal with the White Hand Orcs of Isengard and another mysterious force that Tolkien referred to as “the nameless ones beneath”. Creating a storyline where the Dwarves and players are thrust into the middle of an orcish civil war.

Tolkien fans will be delighted with how accurately the game world and its locations are presented in the game. Everything from the location of towns in relation to each other and the buildings within each town are exactly as Tolkien described them in the books. For instance the stairs in the side of the mountain leading to the Hollin Gate are present, along with the inability to reach the gate from those stairs due to the swamp being damned up (all of these details are described in the books and are painstakingly recreated in the game). I found myself going back through and reading the books while I progressed through the game and I came away truly impressed as to how accurately Turbine has been able to recreate Tolkien’s vision and lore.

In addition to the continuation of the storyline, the Mines of Moria expansion adds two new player classes. The Warden class is a combination of a tank and heavy damage dealing character. The Warden has four basic attack types, which are the taunt, a basic weapon attack, a shield attack and a javelin throw. What makes the Warden unique is that he has the ability to use those basic attacks in combinations which will trigger a more powerful attack called a gambit. Gambits can deal heavy damage, create additional defensive buffs and even heal the Warden. As the Warden progresses he will have access to more powerful gambits which require longer combinations to activate. This creates a very strategic battle system that will allow the Warden to change their strategy on the fly as the situation demands.

The Rune Keeper is the other new class. A Rune Keeper is a combination of a typical mage class and a healer class. The difference is that the Rune Keeper has a meter that fills up either towards the mage side or the healing side during each battle. The more you use a mage power the farther to the mage side the meter will go and the more effective your magic will be. However, if the mage side of the meter is full then your healing powers will either not be able to work or will not work as effectively. What this creates is a system where the Rune Keeper must decide if they are in a group to heal or if they are there to deal damage, since you will generally not be able to do both effectively.

Perhaps the most innovative new feature in the Mines of Moria is the addition of the Legendary Weapon System. This system can best be described as giving the players weapons that level up and grow in power; much in the same way as your actual character does. By equipping a Legendary Weapon you give it the ability to gain experience as you kill creatures. As the weapon gains experience it will level up and you can then spend experience points to give the weapon new traits and bonuses. In addition, each weapon has the ability to slot artifacts in them that provide stat bonuses and attributes. Players can equip up to five legendary weapons at once and level them all up at the same time. However you can only use up to two weapons at a time during combat. Turbine estimates that there are literally billions of weapon combinations available for players to create. This system gives players who have hit the new level cap of 60 a reason to keep on playing the game since they can continue to level up their weapons and become even stronger.

 

The Mines of Moria contains three new regions with the indoor Mines being just one of them. In total there are 22 new areas to explore, 800 new enemies to fight and several new boss characters to tackle. With the addition of the Mines of Moria and the past content updates, the game’s content is more than double what was present at launch.

The level cap has been raised from 50 to 60, so players at 50 will find a lot of new content to enjoy. The Mines themselves are designed for players level 49 and higher. However, the two new classes can be enjoyed by new players so the expansion adds something for everyone.

In all honesty I had no plans for playing the Mines of Moria prior to being assigned to review it. I was pumped up about the Lich King coming out for WoW and I was gearing up for that expansion. While I did buy the Lich King, I can honestly say that 90% of my play time has gone to the Mines of Moria.

Players who have never played LoTRO can buy the original game and the expansion in one complete package for $39.99. If you already have the original game all you need to do is purchase the expansion through the game’s website for $29.99 and patch your original client. At that price this game is a great deal.

The Lord of The Rings Online: Mines of Moria is a complete expansion and not just an attempt to cash in on an existing franchise. Turbine has worked hard to polish up their game and add a bunch of new content. The expansion not only continues the storyline from the original release, but it also adds two new player classes, 3 new zones, 22 new areas, and a truly impressive Legendary Weapon System.

The Mines of Moria is not only one of the best MMO expansions ever, but it is also one of the best PC game expansions released in the past couple of years. Fans of Tolkien or even just the movies owe it to themselves to play Lord of the Rings Online as they will find a game that really understands the story that J.R.R. Tolkien was telling. Fans of MMO’s also owe it to themselves to try LoTRO as they will find a game that actually tells a story and has tight, well written quests that actually make sense.

Anyone willing to try the game will find a mature player base that is willing to help out and eager to group up, as well as a deep storyline and crafting system that offers more depth than some of its rivals. I highly recommend Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria

Gaming Trend Score

95

1. Graphics: 95
2. Audio: 95
3. Controls: 90
4. Gameplay: 95
5. Value/Replay: 100
6. OVERALL:95