By Jeb Haught
May 21, 2007

Now that “World of Warcraft” has dominated the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game genre for more than two years, PC gamers are on their own quest to find the next big thing, perhaps one game to rule them all. Midway hopes to answer this call with its first MMORPG, “The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar.”

“The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar” PUBLISHER: Midway SYSTEM: Windows XP/Vista PRICE: $49.99 plus monthly fee ESRB RATING: T REVIEW RATING: ½

After several hours of questing in Middle Earth, “WoW” seems a bit shallow by comparison. Rather than having thousands of players running around as story characters, players are free to play as a no-name human, elf, dwarf or hobbit (no “bad guys”). Throughout their adventures, players will encounter, and sometimes aid, well-known characters from the series, but they must build their skills and reputation from scratch.

While there may not be as many types of characters to choose from as in “WoW,” character customization is vastly more complex and flexible. For starters, players have more equipment slots to fill, and they can also enhance their abilities by earning cool titles, such as “wolf slayer.” In addition, players in groups can combine their skills to perform fellowship maneuvers that can improve attack power, healing and more.

Because of its well-known lore, this game focuses on questing more than fighting against other players (PvP). This means there are thousands of interesting quests to keep players busy for months. As a result, PvP is limited to certain areas, and these locations are the only places where players are free to play as Sauron's forces.

With free additional content slated for release this summer, “The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar” looks to be “WoW's” most serious competitor to date.

 Jeb Haught: ubershogun@gmail.com

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