LOTRO: Shadow of Angmar Review

I have been waiting for this game for almost a year. Hearing the rumours fly around that it would be out soon. The open beta was an interesting opportunity to try the game before I made the decision to buy it. Considering I am a LOTR fan from before it was really popularized by Peter Jackson in the cinematic realm. Over all I was really impressed with this game.

The Good:

-Character Creation:
The character creation option on this game was great! The Character models were well developed and the features of you character varied greatly by the selection of your hometown.

-Beautifully created world and animations:
The backgrounds in this game are just awesome. It has a realism to it that can't be reached in the other MMOs I have played.

-True to Middle Earth.
What I mean by that is the names of the races, classes, and locations are strait from the pages of LOTR. Instead of the tired term Human they used Tolkien term Man. I was impressed how well this was put together.

-The interface was comfortable and familiar...
Well you should recognize this game if you are familiar to WoW it has a very similar interface system.

The Bad:

-What?! Not Licenced!
You have to be kidding right?!?! The actors likenesses can't be used... This upsets me. I thought Mr Smith played a hell of a Elrond! Anyhow if you really don't care for the movies that much then I guess it wouldn't bother you. Although it was nice how they integrated the main characters into the story so you struggled along side them.

-Unoriginal:
I was hoping for some sort of innovation in this area and was disappointed that it was a recycled WoW. The hotkey bar is in the same configuration and the minimap etc etc etc. To be honest that is about the only issue I had with this game except the excessive wait time to log into your server, and the lag time once in game. Those issues I assume will be corrected before the actual release of the game.

Final Thought:

Well if you love WoW you most likely will like this game. I think if marketed correctlythis could possibly lure away some of WoW's player base. The subscription cost is less $9.99 compared to $14.99. The interface is so familiar and simple to any WoW players. Plus it was a rather enjoyable game to boot! I am still on the fence about switching from WoW but I am really considering it. The only reason I might not is that my friends are all on WoW. I really can't wait to see what the future holds for LOTRO: Shadows of Angmar.

So it goes...

Kurt Vonnegut died yesterday at age 84 after suffering brain injuries after a fall a week ago. Today we lose a great thinker of our age. He was always pushing the bounderies in various schools of thought. Always willing to play devil's advocate if you will. I have seen blogs and blogs dedicated to the tell of his passing. I refuse to go on and on about him so if you want you to know here is the link to his wiki. I will however leave you with a few qoutes from his own mind and works...

"I have been a soreheaded occupant of a file drawer labeled "Science Fiction" . . . and I would like out, particularly since so many serious critics regularly mistake the drawer for a urinal. "

"I was taught that the human brain was the crowning glory of evolution so far, but I think it's a very poor scheme for survival."

"Just because some of us can read and write and do a little math, that doesn't mean we deserve to conquer the universe."

"I am not only from the richest country in the world, but the dumbest country in the world"

"One of the few good things about modern times: If you die horribly on television, you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us."

Sending Our Love to Naboo

Well it is time for you to vote on your favorite stamp in the Star Wars Collection produced by the USPS. They even have new limited edition priority mailers. Check them out and may the force be with you!

F'ed Up Ebay!

Whoo hoo it is back! Yeah I know you missed it so let's get down to it. I searched out Easter on Ebay and here is what I found:

What you want me to pay that much for an easter egg?

The looneys continue!

Hey Look it is Joe!

OOOO Spooky!

What a crock...

Well I guess nothing too strange but all in all still F'ed up...

Animarathon V

Coming next Saturday April 14th to Bowling Green Ohio is Animarathon V. It is a one day Anime Convention. It starts @ 10am and runs till Midnight! The best part is that it is a free convention! There will be three or four screening rooms for your uber anime enjoyment. There will be various speakers and panels covering a variety of anime interests. I plan on attending and bringing a few friends. I hope to see you there!

Oh, wicked, bad, naughty evil Blackrose! Oh, he is a bad person, and he must pay the penalty!

Well people I keep disapearing for days, weeks, sometimes months at a time. I guess I just have been distracted with all the new toys lately. Between my xbox 360, a new pc and the games *drool, the games... I have been keeping myself somewhat unavailable. Plus playing the uber crack known as WoW and Final Fantasy XI, and now the Beta for LOTR online. More on that in the coming days (the beta opens April 6th). I plan a plethera of new content to come to my few loyal readers, and hopefully some new ones.

Here are just a taste of some of the features I have planned for some soon to come reqular posts.

*I am planning on bringing back F'ed Up Ebay.

*I am going to start er... or should I say revamp my Anime of the Week and Manga of the week to a monthly feature. Sorry I just don't have time to keep up with that as a weekly feature. If anyone would like to help with that let me know.

*I have planned quite a few trips to various cons this summer.

*I plan on starting some sort of Xbox 360 Corner or something really soon.

*I also plan on starting a weekly post relating to Magic: the Gathering. We are always playing tourneys and different formats of this wonderful CCG.

*We here at the Random Humans Network have been tossing around the idea about starting a web comic. Most likely it will be posted on our sister site RandomHumans.com.

Updates on all these and much more to come!