Lord of the Ring Online Game Review - Essay Example

Lord of the Rings Online Game Review Table of Contents I. Introduction 3 II. Game Review/Critique 3 Works Cited 7 I. Introduction The Lord of the Rings Online is a massively multiplayer online role playing game or MMORPG by the game development company Turbine. Its latest iteration is Riders of Rohan, which is differentiated by its combats in mounts feature, as well as large zones for exploration, together with the other known and established features of the franchise game. What differentiates the Lord of the Rings Online game is that it has transitioned from a subscription-based game to a free-to-play game, with the games essentially free for the first 20 levels, after which one can either pay a monthly subscription to continue to play, or else to play by essentially purchasing additional quest packs.

There are advantages to each of these two options to continue play, with the quest packs not being time-bound and can be played at the convenience of the player, and the monthly subscription offering the player the ability to really concentrate on the game in an intense fashion. The latter comes with space for storage, so-called Turbine points that serve as purchase currency, and additional slots for characters (Johnson; Senior). II. Game Review/Critique There are many favorable reviews of the way the free for play works out in real terms.

Free as it is deployed in the game does not mean being shortchanged at all, because, as one review notes, the free part essentially contains what also is to be found in subscription and quest pack play, if not more. The first 20 levels of free play is not watered down in any way, and if anything the reviews are mostly very glowing with regard to the engagement factor of the first 20 levels, coming as they do with a lot of gifts in the form of packages that enhance player attributes in some way or other, or improve the way the player is able to navigate through the game for a certain amount of time, and many others.

After the first 20 levels though, the gifts essentially run out and the player does have to make a purchase of either a monthly subscription, known as the VIP mode, or quest packs that unlocks new levels of play and extends the adventure, as the name suggests. Judging from the features versus price and format comparison, the two offer their own sets of advantages. The quest packs are essentially pay as you go means to continue with the Lord of the Rings game. The VIP subscription on the other hand is essentially the usual subscription model for other MMORPG games, and it is here that the developer also packs in other goodies that improve the gaming experience and act as come-ons for players to consider.

Where the other subscription modes are handicapped in terms of functionality and access to levels in one way or other, the VIP subscription service essentially is the unbridled, full throttle version (Johnson; Senior; Ness): The sub costs about ?10 a month and gives you more character slots, storage space and 500 Turbine points a month to spend. It also removes all chat, mail and auction limitations: free-to-play players have limits on how often mail can be sent, and can’t send gold and bound items through the system.

In chat they can’t send more than one tell every five seconds and while they can bid and buy items in auction houses, they can’t post any items themselves. It makes the VIP subscription the ideal choice if you’re planning to join a Kinship (Lord of the Rings Online’s equivalent of a Guild). It also unlocks all of the quest packs, and the game’s player vs player mode, Monster Play, which lets you create a monster at level ten and battle other high level players in the Ettenmoor region (Senior).

There are reviews that say this arrangement seems to be detrimental to the interests of players on first examination, but on further examination really gives players more options with engaging the game after the free levels are used up. The quest packs essentially give players the option to continue their adventures on their own time, minus the pressure of having to play because of the running tab in monthly subscription-based arrangements for the VIP. On the other hand, for those intent on engaging the game in an intense fashion, then the monthly subscription mode affords them access to all of the nuts and bolts and the full functionality of the game, including chat and access to all of the quest packs at once, in a cost-effective manner (Senior; Ness; Johnson).

The game play itself is very engaging, and as some of the reviews note, the engagement is all the more enhanced for those who are in the know with regards to the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the characters. This is because the game engages the content of the trilogy and indeed all of the Middle Earth lore via thoughtful and sometimes very brilliant references to those. The incorporation of the content from the literary work into the game is what really differentiates the Lord of the Rings Online game from other similar MMORPG offerings.

This differentiation is profound and cannot be replicated in other games, and is what really makes the game stand out from the rest. It is a game catering to lovers of the Lord of the Rings. On the other hand, one can also see, from a technical point of view and from the point of view of story and game structure, that the game can stand on its own merits in those scores and also compete well with other MMORPG offerings (Senior; Ness; Johnson). The game play is unique, and so are the renderings and implementations of some of the play’s newer aspects, such as the implementation of the steeds used for war, and steeds that have been crafted for differing abilities in combat (Johnson).

With regard to the networking, and the chat features, as described earlier there are some handicaps for those features in the free to play portions of the game, in the first 20 levels to be exact. Chat posts exclude the ability to post items for auction purposes. Chat tells are limited to one with five second intervals between chat tells. There are curbs with regard to the number of emails allowed to be sent via each player in this free to play mode too. Likewise, the network disallows the transmission of gold as well as items that are bound through the system in free to play mode.

Of course in the VIP subscription mode all these handicaps are removed, and the limitations lifted for chat and for networking (Senior; Ness; Johnson). Works Cited Johnson, Leif. “Lord of the Rings Online: Riders of Rohan Review- Risky Business in the Riddermark”. IGN. 26 October 2012. Web. 14 December 2012. Ness, Daniel. “Reviews// Lord of the Rings Online: Free”. Spong. 31 August 2010. Web. 14 December 2012. Senior, Tom. “Lord of the Rings Online Review”. PC Gamer. 2 February 2011. Web. 14 December 2012.

< http://www.pcgamer.com/review/lord-of-the-rings-online-review/>