User Reviews (11 - 21 of 32)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

Game is great fun but "Special Edition" (collector's edition) not worth the money

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: April 30, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Let's get this out of the way first... "I love playing LOTRO". I enjoy it so much I decided to add a second account and thought I'd purchase the Special Edition assuming that the extra items would be worth the additional cost. I must say that I was very disappointed.

It is obvious that they (Midway) tried to copy WoW's Collector's Edition, which is a nice and worthwhile special edition, but Midway did it completely on the cheap.

The Map of Middle Earth that is included is all but useless and printed on very cheap lightweight paper.

The "exclusive in-game item" you get is only useful (+1 hope) at very low levels if at all and takes a full hour before it can be used again.

The soundtrack CD is a real pain! It includes the narration from the game's cut screens so you have to hit "skip" on you CD player almost every other track if you don't want to hear all the game narration over and over. Why didn't they just put the songs on CD like WoW did on their collector's edition? It would have been MUCH better.

The DVD on how the game was made is OK but nothing special.

The back of the box also says... "EXCLUSIVE! FULL COLOR SPECIAL EDITION MANUAL". Translation, it's the same paper manual you get in the regular game but some of the pictures are in color... woot! If you were thinking beautiful color hardback book like in WoW's collector's edition think again.

All in all great game, but don't bother to spend the extra money on a "Special Edition" copy of the game, just get the regular and have a great time.

Hopefully when Midway releases its next expansion later this year it will be more of a class act.

Getting better with practice.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: May 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I had the opportunity to Beta test LOTRO and a previous Turbine game and I have to say that LOTRO is by far better. As with all MMORPGs, one of the best features of the game is the graphics, which can slow down your PC. In addition, there is no crafting skill that stands alone. You will have a hard time making anything without help from friends or secondary characters, but the gameplay and nostalgia are worth it. I highly recommend this game.

Great MMORPG!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: May 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is one of the best MMO's available right now. The game is very polished with virtually no obvious or game-breaking bugs. Great gameplay mechanics, excellent lore, and a fairly nice variety of quests and tasks. This title has a lot of future potential - I am excited to see where Turbine takes it. The only thing missing is a real dynamic world, but unfortunately no MMO's have that yet.

A great game if you are a PVE Player

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: August 15, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is mainly PVE (Player vs Environment), and it is a lot of fun, the graphics are by far the best out there in the MMO Market. Questing is actually fun, and makes you feel like you are part of the story line. Leveling is at a nice steady pace.

Over all this game is a great MMO, and the player base seem to be more on the mature side when compared to other MMOs out there.

Game great, don't buy special edition

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: January 16, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I downloaded the game on line, it is great, and different from WoW. I bought the Special Edition box only because I wanted the "Cloth Map" stated in the description. It does not have a cloth map. Just download the file and start playing tomorrow (it's a big file).

No cloth map, no figurine.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: December 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Otherwise, great, as expected. Good alternative to the "leading" MMO, great for Tolkien fans. I was let down that the map is not cloth, just a simple fold out thats too small to be useful and doesn't have any labels or anything, and there is no figurine. I wouldn't be so let down by this omission if it was not still listed on the Amazon product description. We do get the soundtrack/making of disc it mentions though, so its still better than the standalone game, and the full color manual for this edition is brilliant (and contains most of the info you'd want on the missing map!), especially in todays market of half sheet black and white "reference" books, that usually just say to check a website anyways.

So yeah, fair warning. The game itself is good though.

The Ultimate Alternative to World of Warcarft

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: April 29, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game was a blessing for me! i was growing tired of WoW but had tried many other MMOGs(massively multiplayer online games) but to no avail i was stuck in the realm of warcraft, though it seemingly had everything a fantasy RPG/social gamer could possibly want, there just seemed to be something missing. Thanks to Turbine(developer of LotRO) i have found that missing something! LotRO clears up all my old beefs with WoW. I now get regular almost scheduled free content updates to the game every two months, guaranteed to fix things if needed but always giving new things to do(two whole regions to explore with hundreds of quest have been added since launch), the new things added just seem better thought out than WoWs updates, high levels and low levels get new content and its not always new endgame content, we often get new factions as well as new deeds to enhance our characters. basically the updates touch the overall player base and not just the endgame and PvP crowd. Also my final WoW beef was that with its cartoony visuals and pop culture humor it was a little too immature, for me that is. This is not a problem with LotRO as it is set in Tolkiens mature themed world, where players still know how to goof off but can still feel immersed in a serious world, the balance of those two things is really quite nice. there are of course are many other things to love about LotRO and many things to love about WoW, both are amazing games, at the end of the day it is just a matter of preference. my reason for comparing LotRO to WoW is simply because as of right now WoW has the largest player base of any MMOG and i know that there are some players just like myself, itching for something else, and maybe they will find that something in LotRO just like i did. Hope to see you there!

Server name: Vilya

Characters name: Andalyn(main) and Varomir(alt)

One Game to Rule them All

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 8
Date: April 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The Special Edition is nothing special if it wasn't for the 'making of' and the gorgeous original soundtrack.

Overall I'm very disappointed in the box itself. The box and packaging is extremely cheap. I would be throwing a fit if I hadn't won an autographed SE box at the launch event. GW regular editions smokes this SE.

GW may have superior packaging, but it doesn't have the music of LotRO and though I used to think GWs graphics were excellent, mostly compared to the silly Cartoon graphics of lower-end games like WoW; Guild Wars looks very ugly compared to the spectacular graphics of this game.

This game has a playability factor of 'eleven' ... 'You see 11 is higher than 10'

This game should come withthe warning:
Caution LotRO may impair your ability to HAVE A LIFE, because it is far more addicting than any game currently on the market.

For killing time, not challenge

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 30
Date: May 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Five days into the buddy key and I'm sick and tired of this game.

First, I signed up using the buddy key first. Once that's over, I could register the retail key. That way, I would get 40 days instead of 30. I could also register the retail key AFTER the 10 day period, if I wanted a break from playing. (I don't own World of Warcraft, but they give a 14 day trial for two bucks. You can get cheaper initial play that way. wink, wink.)

On the game, you click on your enemy and your character starts hacking away at them. You just wait til the enemy dies, without doing much more. You can type in certain keys to do more powerful attacks. But all in all, you click the enemy and punch random keys on the keyboard til the enemy dies. You can't block. You can't move out of the way. There is no strategic movement. It's like two dumb cavemen beating each other with a club in turn, and you wait to see who dies first. Me no like you. Me hit you with stick. Of course, you can't beat down someone who's more powerful. In that case, you contact someone else online, and the group of you gang up on the enemy and give him the beat down.

Most of the "quests" in the game are you running errands for people. A person asks you to go talk to someone, and you spend 5-15 minutes running somewhere to do it. When you're done, you come back, and you get points. There's a LOT of deadtime when running, as there's no warp gate. As far as "enemies" go, you encounter mostly wolves, bears, boars, and spiders (and the occasional bandit) when you're running your errands ("quests").

That's the essential of the game. You run errands, with the occasional animal attack. This is while you collect items, armor, and such so that you can become more powerful and do the same thugging against someone more powerful. There are lots of other sidetracks to create the image of fun thou. You can buy instruments to play music. You can eat food. You can drink liquor in a pub and leave without being busted by the cops.

This game provides zero challenge. No strategy involved. No hiding behind a wall, waiting to ambush someone. No jumping from platform to platform. No mini puzzles to solve. Just click to beat with a stick.

This is a game predominantly for children (since there's zero thinking involved) who want to kill time during winter break or summer vacation. Or for retirees who have nothing else to do but watch grass grow. Or for those who should be doing something fruitful, but prefer to annoy their girlfriends by doing nothing with their life. Eh hem. Eh hem. Cough. Cough.

This is not a game to kill half an hour or an hour. This game can easily consume your life, because there's so much dead time traveling all over the humongous map. (And of course, the more time it takes, the more money Midway makes from the $15/month fee.) If you decide to purchase this game, just be careful not to become obese from leading a sedentary lifestyle. This game promotes heart problems. :(

I got tired of the game after five days, and I don't think I'll be activating my retail key. I just don't find being a mindless robot in a game fun.

for now one of the best out there

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 6
Date: May 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

a good game but hard to solo, its a team game or fellowship game.top level is 50, the map in special edition is small and does not show anything. the guide book does have some good maps. special edition not worth the extra money.i would get the regular edition with the guide. it can be fun if you get a good fellowship or group going.after level 30 it gets harder without a fellowship. for the money this game is one of the best out there.a lot like wow, some things better,some thing not so much better. pvp is called monster play, hard to advance as a monster at first. other players don't want to group with you during P v MP,because you will roll on items needed for advancement also you are very weak at the start of monster play and will have a hard time during P v MP. you know you die a lot.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 Next 

Actions