The Lord of the Rings Online E3 Preview

GameSpot has dished up their preview of Turbine’s The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, after seeing the Middle-Earth MMORPG firsthand during this year’s E3. Check it out:

While players will encounter key characters from the novels, including the members of the fellowship of the ring, Turbine is being careful to respect Tolkien’s lore and is looking for creative solutions to involve players in the world without disrupting the story.

For instance, in The Fellowship of the Ring the original party of would-be heroes visits the elf settlement of Rivendell, though once it arrives, according to the novel, the group stays for several days as its forward paths are cleared out–and several of the game’s story-driven quests in Rivendell will take place during this time. However, Turbine has also added to the lore by resurrecting a new evil to terrorize the realm of Eriador. Apparently, several humans have fallen under the influence of the evil ringwraiths and their leader, the titular Witch-King Angmar, who according to the game’s fiction, has been restored to the world and now presses against the flanks of the forces of good while the armies of Sauron threaten the rest of the world.