It won’t be long before hobbit fans can try their hands at Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar’s upcoming open beta. The planned date for opening up the trial is April 6, with those having preorders getting a bit of an earlier crack starting March 30.

I recently started checking out the closed trial of the game and have to admit I’m intrigued. The game play style is a bit different than what I’m used to after years of EverQuest and the City of Heroes lines, but it’s fun.

While I don’t have as much time in it as I’d like, I can say it’s definitely different than the other MMORPGs I’ve played to date. The classes aren’t quite what you’d expect them to be, but they do feel like they belong in a LoTR style game.
So far, I’ve been most impressed with the character generator, which in my opinion, is an often overlooked feature that’s just vital to giving players a sense of uniqueness. The options for personalization are pretty extensive, and the characters that result look pretty darn good.

The game itself allows players to try their hand at four different races – man, elves, hobbits and dwarves (male only, mind you) – and has seven different classes. With more than 350 different landmarks to see and more than 50 million square meters of Middle-earth to explore, it looks like there’s going to be a lot for players to do.

Preorders are being taken for the game right now, with those who buy in getting special monthly pricing at $9.99 or a $199 lifetime fee. The lifetime fee is a nice touch, especially for those who think they’ll be hooked for a long time to come exploring the world made so real through the literary works of Tolkien.

Check out the preorders here.

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