In terms of the environment, LOTRO is something of a mixed bag. Many of the environments in the game are flat out gorgeous. You can actually get lost roaming the Old Forest, searching for old Tom Bombadil. In fact, upon finding his secluded domicile one member of my fellowship couldn’t help but to exclaim, “It looks exactly how I imagined it.” Such is the attention to detail as you wander through the town of Bree or cross the Brandywine River. At times, it’s a beautiful world that Turbine has constructed. Unfortunately, the character models themselves are largely devoid of character. There’s not a ton of detail to faces and the models themselves often come off rigid and too similar to each other.

If you find yourself getting bored with the stock experience, though, you can change it up a bit by taking advantage of the ability to play as a monster. Once your character reaches the tenth level you can use special scrying pools to create a level 50 monster character from one of five different types, ranging from a wolf, spider or warg to a pair of orc specializations. While this is the only mechanism in the game for PvP play it does allow you to immediately jump into the role of a high-level character and take on both other high-level human and AI-driven opponents, complete with your own set of goal-oriented tasks to accomplish.

With all its perks, not the least of which is the opportunity to play a small part in the quest to destroy the One Ring, Lord of the Rings Online overcomes any limitations inherent in the fact that it doesn’t offer any gameplay mechanics that you haven’t seen before. In fact, the only reason for an MMO fan to avoid LOTRO is if they’re simply tired of the World of Warcraft formula and aren’t interested in suiting up (and paying up) for more. For the rest, particularly fans of Tolkein’s work, Lord of the Rings Online offers a grand MMO experience that shouldn’t be overlooked.