The Lord of The Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar - Reception

Reception

The Lord of the Rings Online has been received very positively thus far, as reviews continue to appear since the game's initial release.

GameDaily awarded the game 9/10, praising its rich, fantasy-themed universe, well-integrated trait and title system, and a story that remains true to the works of Tolkien. Yahoo! Video Games wrote a review with few negative mentions, awarding the game a score of 4/5, while Computer and Video Games called the game an essential purchase for Lord of the Rings fans, scoring the game a 9.2/10. Eurogamer scored the game a 9.0/10, calling it tough to resist. Gamespy gave it 4.5/5 stars, claiming the game "opened up Middle-Earth to the masses" but commented negatively on its weak PvP content, while GameTrailers awarded it 8.5/10, citing its interesting tweaks to the MMO genre. IGN.com ranked it a similar 8.6/10, praising it for its solid experience, though criticizing it for its lack of major improvements to the genre. GamerNode.com awarded the game an 8.8/10, calling it the best MMO launch experience since Ultima Online. The New York Times called the game "a major achievement of interactive storytelling, the first game truly worthy of the ‘Lord of the Rings' franchise and a must-play for just about anyone with an interest in Tolkien or the future of online entertainment." In a GameSpot review, the product was awarded an 8.3/10, praising its appealing polish and intriguing Monster Play feature. Gamepro.com's review gave it an overall 4.25/5, pointing out how engaging the epic quests are, as well as how faithful to the novels the game managed to stay. GameSpy declared The Lord of the Rings Online 'Game of the Month' for May 2007. Midway announced that the game sold over 172,000 copies in North America during its second quarter.

In April 2007, Salon.com reported that the game had dropped a planned feature for in-game players marriage because of the controversy around the possibility of same-sex and inter-species weddings. One developer stated that the design rule was for weddings to be allowed if examples could be found in the book, as between elves and humans. The online magazine for gaymers GayGamer.net commented that, while Tolkien was a devout Christian, his stance on gay rights isn't known as the topic wasn't a public issue at the time. Video game critic Ian Bogost compared it to the case of The Sims 2, a blockbuster MMORPG video game that did allow same-sex marriage.

In August 2007, Codemasters announced that The Lord of the Rings Online had received five Golden Joystick Awards nominations for the five applicable categories for the game, and in October 2007 that it had won the "PC Game of the Year" at these awards. And again won the same award on October 2008.

In December 2007, GameSpy awarded The Lord of the Rings Online 6th place in the top 10 PC games of 2007. On December 18, Turbine announced it had also won the GameSpy MMO of the Year award.

In January 2009, mmorpg.com awarded Turbine both MMORPG studio of the year 2008, and MMO Expansion of the Year for Mines of Moria.

In May 2010, RPGFan's Adam Tingle named Lord of the Rings Online the best MMORPG of all time in a top-10 countdown.

In January 2011, PC Gamer Magazine chose Lord of the Rings Online as the MMO of the year. Praise was given for treating fans to two new Epic Books worth of quests, two added regions, expansion of in-game events, improved UI elements, and the revamp of the character creation and starter regions. It also notes the success of the move to Free to Play, stating LOTRO is "quickly redefining the way a successful subscriptionless MMO is run."

RPGLand had similar compliments as it awarded the game 2010's "Freebie Award" for being the Best Free-to-Play MMORPG, saying, "Turbine has just plain done an awesome job with turning its subscription games into some of the best F2P MMOs on the market."