The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria

As a hairy-footed short-arse himself, Rob Power has always had a keen interest in Hobbits and their plight. So he was the most obvious candidate to take a look at the new Lord of the Rings Online expansion pack...

There was a great moment in the first of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films where everything stepped up, where for the first time you felt genuinely frightened for those wee hobbit chaps and their other-worldly companions.

That was the moment when, after a suitable piece of hobbit slapstick, drums began to sound from somewhere in the bowels of the mighty underground city the fellowship has entered, and the viewer was aware for the first time just how threatening and, well, numerous the foes mounted against the heroes of the piece are.

This all happened in the Mines of Moria, Tolkien’s imagining of the great Dwarfish kingdom under the misty mountains, meaning that players of Lord Of The Rings Online are in for a mighty treat with this latest expansion.

For folk lacking the patience, literacy or imagination to grapple with Tolkien’s masterpiece in its paper form, the film trilogy and latterly the hugely popular online imagining of Middle Earth, has been a revelation, revealing a rich and varied world as fractured as our own and populated with enough orcs and the like to make it even more fantastical. As the first expansion to the title, Mines of Moria has been highly anticipated, and it is easy to see why.

First up, this expansion gives players a whole new chunk of Middle Earth to run around in. “This vast, seamless, underground city of the dwarves offers brand new areas to explore, with unique art direction, atmosphere, and a wealth of content,” says Codemasters’ Sam Cordier.

“As the story unfolds players get opportunities to battle some of the most iconic foes ever conceived including the Watcher in the Water and the Balrog. As if that’s not enough there is more – the expansion pack also sees the introduction of Lothlórien where the Fellowship and players can meet Galadriel, the Elven queen, and not forgetting Eregion, yet another area for players to venture through.”

Any Lord of the Rings launch generates huge amounts of hype thanks to the size and nature of the fanbase, and this expansion, long-awaited and full of promising new additions for fans and newcomers alike, is no different.

“The hype for Moria is growing fast with successful pan-European press preview events, a massive pre-order campaign now live, online and print advertising beginning this month and integrated point of sale materials available shortly,” confirms Cordier.

“In addition to this, there is a wealth of community-focused activity including the current ‘Spend Summer in Middle Earth’ campaign where players get the chance to win weekly prizes such as iPods. We are also putting together the finishing touches on a ‘Welcome Back Weekend’ and will be introducing our new player referrals scheme shortly.”

This is a title with a large and dedicated following chomping at the bit to get themselves into the new areas and take advantage of the player upgrades, so expect plenty of excitable hobbit-lovers crowding out the shopfront. Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria will pique the interest of a quite a few gamers who have yet to be pulled in to the LOTR MMORPG.