Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, isn’t a game for someone looking for a completely new MMO experience. It is, however, the perfect game for those that want to see the World of Warcraft (WoW) formula successfully adapted to the world of Middle-earth.

In Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) you get your hobbit on by choosing from among the game’s distinct character classes, such as Burglar, Hunter, Captain and Lore Master, and its less distinct races (Hobbit, Elf, Dwarf or Man). Once you choose a homeland appropriate to your race you’re whisked off to a special starter area that serves as a tutorial to the game world and its mechanics. Dropping you off in a separate starter instance of Middle-earth for your initial round of questing isn’t the smoothest route developer Turbine could’ve taken when designing the game, especially given that you spend your first several hours of play there. It would be preferable to start in the same chunk of server real estate as everyone else, but after a few introductory quests and a bit of roaming about you eventually find yourself in the “real” game world. Once you do, the experience gets better and better.

Although the game mechanics of Lord of the Rings Online play like a carbon copy of World of Warcraft, the experience of playing this game makes it stand out. Where most games, even those based on a mega-license such as this, have the difficult challenge of creating a fresh story for players to immerse themselves in, Turbine took full advantage of the fact that they had one of the greatest epics ever committed to print right there for the taking.

Rather than stick you into Middle-earth an epoch or two before or after the destruction of the Ring of Power, you start out at the beginning of the events as detailed in The Fellowship of the Ring. But rather than foolishly trying to put a few hundred thousand players into a starring role, Turbine has you working from the shadows as a supporting character, a cog in the grand design. It’s a role that allows you to make a character of your own, explore the length and breadth of Middle-earth and at the same time, feel like you’ve got a hand in the story of The Lord of the Rings as it unfolds. Whether you’re driving off a rather too-well organized band of brigands or tracking down Nazghul in an attempt to divert their attention from the Ring-bearer, the quests you take on in LOTRO make you a part of the story without actually interfering with or altering it. Considering the monumental pitfalls inherent in bringing the Lord of the Rings license to the digital domain, the balance Turbine has struck in implementing it borders on genius.

The novel take on back story also helps distract from the fact that –in terms of gameplay – LOTRO could easily be pegged as a re-skinned World of Warcraft. Any WoW player would be right at home with the LOTRO interface. Characters are trained in new class-based skills based on their level and when those skills are used each has a set period of re-charge time necessary before they can be used again. Each character can choose a profession that involves the use of crafting skills like mining, weaponsmithing, woodworking, carpentry and cooking. As WoW proved, the mix can work very well, but if you already find it stale, that probably won’t change here.

Regardless of whether you’re a raw noob or a wily MMO vet, the social aspects of LOTRO offer a good mix of quests that can be done solo and those that require a group – called Fellowships. During the open beta it was usually fairly easy to find a few friendly companions to help tackle more challenging quests and that hasn’t changed in the finished product. And, refreshingly, there’s a surprising lack of Griefers in the game. In fact, aside from some inane chatter in the “out of character” chat channel, you rarely encounter anyone playing in such a way that would ruin the experience for the casual or dedicated player and few calls for help go unanswered. The worst type of encounter you’re likely to experience is someone swooping in to mine a resource or “steal” a quest-related character out from under your nose. But even on those rare occasions it’s usually no bother to move on or wait for the re-spawn.

If you’re looking for the large extended familial experience you can also join a kinship (clan) of like-minded players. Kinships don’t really change the gameplay at all, but joining a good one does give you a support mechanism when you’re lost trying to find a quest location, require goods for your crafting ambitions or need some help tackling a particularly difficult quest.