The Lord of the Rings Online Reviews

A trio of new reviews for Turbine's The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar kick off the weekend. The first is at GameSpot with an overall score of 8.3/10:
All the nitpicks don't detract from The Lord of the Rings Online's greatest asset: It's fun to play. And it's not often you can make such an unequivocal statement about an MMOG. It is also incredibly stable, so playing is never a struggle, and you can put all your effort into killing monsters and bashing hobbits rather than fiddling with settings or relogging. With plenty of familiar landmarks as well as a few original to the game, it's got plenty of fan service without ever resting on the laurels of a famous franchise. If you're looking for a new online RPG, The Lord of the Rings Online is a great choice.

The second is at Game Industry News with an overall score of 4.5/5:
LOTR online obviously has a readymade audience keen to don their cloaks and nibble on lembas bread and diehard WoW players may not find enough here to lure them away. However, role-players, if you're not jacked-in already, then do so now. Fans of the movies, fans of the books buy it now! Nuff said.

And the third is at Bit-Tech.net with an overall score of 9/10:
Whether the game is strong enough to defeat the mighty World of Warcraft remains to be seen, and we are somewhat doubtful that it will. LotRO has a dedicated fanbase and is instantly recognisable as a franchise, but whether it'll attract players away from WoW is another matter altogether. But if there ever was an MMO that could snatch the MMORPG crown from Blizzard and claim it for itself, then this is it my precious; this is it.