Genre: MMORPG
Developer: Turbine
Publisher: Midway

The Hobbit and one of the new LOTR movies (which I thought was awful) are my only exposure to the original fantasy realm that Tolkein has created; therefore, I can't easily judge LOTRO's visuals based on authenticity. I can, however, categorically say that the game is aesthetically beautiful, but technically mediocre. The latter point is hardly surprising given the inherent non-graphical overhead of a running MMORPG client. The former is a very fine thing though indeed.

Given the plight of gaming audio over the past five or six years, I was expecting a grating aural experience from LOTRO, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it isn't grating at all-- dynamic music plays depending on which region you're in and whether you're in combat or not. These ditties are hardly catchy or memorable, but do serve to add some atmosphere. Short voice-acted blurbs are spoken when you initiate conversation with an NPC, and a plethora of hack-and-slash combat noises are standard-fare.

Blizzard should keep in mind the old adage "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery", since Turbine shamelessly stole all of the World of Warcraft controls, most of its UI layout, and the majority of its gameplay dynamics as well. Most of the gameplay works as well as if not better than what is found in WoW. Particularly, the Xbox 360 achievement-esque "Deeds" (such as "kill 50 whargs") are neat, and the character trait system is distinct. What doesn't work is the fact that "Fellowship" quests (meaning, quests that are practically insurmountable without a team of players) are the rule, rather than the exception, forcing you into one mode of play.

The genre is still broken: the mundane cliched assortment of quests, the antiquated "experience"/leveling up system, and the queerness of dynamic player involvement within the context of static quests all mean that the MMORPG is long due for an overhaul. Still, if I were to recommend such a game to a friend, I would certainly tell them to pick up a copy of this title instead of WoW; where there is overlap, LOTRO is invariably more fun, and where there are huge shortcomings, both games suffer from them equally.