Lord Of The Rings: Shadows Of Angmar Special Edition

List Price: $29.95 Discount Price: $9.70

Features:

• The only MMO based on the extensive and beloved fantasy universe of J.R.R. Tolkien, and the first MMO to provide a compelling story behind players' actions
• Unique Combat and Advancement Systems -- game mechanics surpass skills and levels to include accomplishment, traits and titles to help you gain experience in a variety of ways
• Fight alone or with other players - Follow the storyline on your own or form a fellowship with other players for epic battles against creatures like Orcs, Wights, and even Balrogs
• Cinematic technology and an expansive, open world help further the storyline with movie-like sequences
• Epic challenges like the depths of the Great Barrow, the siege of Fornost and the battle to retake Weathertop

Accessories:
PC Gamer (1-year)	Games for Windows: The Official Magazine	The Lord of the Rings Shadows of Angmar Prepaid 60-Day Game Time Card

Customer Reviews:

Amazing Game [Posted on 2008-03-11]
When I started playing MMORPG games the first game I heard of was of course World of Warcraft. When I finally started playing I realized that these cartoon graphics sucked. So when I heard of Lord of thee Rings Online I saw that it didn't have the cartoonish graphics I was amazed.Because most MMORPGs that I have played have cartoonish graphics. When I started playing the starting instance was a lot of fun. After that when I leveled up more there was an even distribution of thinngs unlocked over levels. I like the monster play aspect and even though you start at level 50 you still need to work to be as strong as the other level 50s'. This is probably one of the greatest MMORPGs to come out at this moment. Also even though it has only been a year since this was released it has almost double the amount of accounts created than World of Warcraft does, and World of Warcraft has been out for around 2 and a half years now.

A Must for Tolkien Fans [Posted on 2008-04-15]
I've played Final Fantasy Online, WOW, and Tabula Rasa and am a big fan of the MMOs. If you like MMOs and are a JRR Tolkien fan, then this game is a must. The game content is very accurate to the Tolkien world and the attention to detail is amazing. You can also run this game on DX10 which makes the already awesome graphics look even better. The deeds and trait system makes the customization of characters more unique than other MMOs. Pretty easy to solo and there's some pretty cool epic quests that follow the story of the LOTR story. Give the 7-day trial a shot and you won't be disappointed.

The Ultimate Alternative to World of Warcarft [Posted on 2008-04-29]
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)

Game is great fun but "Special Edition" (collector's edition) not worth the money [Posted on 2008-04-30]
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.

Should have started this last year [Posted on 2008-05-06]
I wanted to pick up LOTRO at launch but hesitantly did not. After a while, I lost interest. Flash forward to one year later, and I am now playing this amazing game. The character classes are all very well implememted. If you love questing and exploring, then this is the game for you. PvPers, should probably stay away. With the release of book 13, Turbine has added hobbies the first one being fishing.
Oh and the fact that it is Tolkien's world is just icing on the cake.

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