The Lord of the Rings Online Previews
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Visually, there are a few charms missing from the game, especially when compared to upcoming games like Age of Conan. The textures look bland, hillsides come to a sharp point and creature animations don't seem overly complex, but it's the rich universe of Middle Earth, and not the visuals, that Midway wants to emphasize, so the gentlemen have a plan.
The second is at FiringSquad:
After the game launches on April 24, you will be able to explore only a small portion of Middle Earth (including The Shire) but Anderson said that through content updates more areas of Middle Earth (Rohan, Gondor, Mordor, etc) will be opened up. Some will be opened through free content updates but Anderson did say that commercial expansion packs will also be released.
And the third is at Gameplanet:
The controls are easy to use; this and the combat system will be immediately familiar to any player of current popular MMORPGs. The action skill bars and bags etc. are all located at the bottom of the screen and these can be altered by dragging in more of your learned skills and talents as you progress. The animation while in combat is quite impressive and hints to a very very good looking game once everything is finalised. The beta world graphics were magnificent in places while other areas had a 'work in progress' feel about them. Spellcasting and effects were well detailed - even down to pulling out the reagents from your pouch before casting the spell.
