Now, you can relive the calm of the Shire, the vastness of the Dwarven halls, the wonders of the Elven spires and face the evil of orcs, wargs and spiders. Welcome to Lord Of the Rings Online, the latest MMOG to hit the shelves. And this one has its own motive--it wants to be the One Game To Rule Them All.

Having played World of Warcraft ever since its inception in November 2004, many players like me have grown bored of the world of Azeroth. The world of Middle Earth offers a very similar yet different game experience. The user interface and game mechanics are in many ways similar to WOW. But what sets LOTRO apart is its storyline and setting in the Tolkien world that has taken the world by storm because of the novel and movie trilogy.

In LOTRO, you can trace the route taken by the Hobbits as they fled from Bag's End to Farmer Maggots farm to the BrandyBuck ferry. You can appreciate why the Hobbits had to pass through the Old Forest and Barrows Down to get to the town of Bree and the Inn of the Prancing Pony when they had to get off the road to escape the Nazgul. There are plenty of monsters to face including goblins, orcs, spiders, wolves, bears, wights from the Barrow Downs and even walking trees in the Old Forest.

You get to create a character from four races: Man, elf, dwarf, hobbit and seven classes--burglar, minstrel, loremaster, champion, captain, guardian and hunter. Matching the right race with the class can bring some interesting benefits. Elves, for example, make great hunters and champions because of their agility bonus. Elves also get a bonus to bow use, again the primary weapon of the hunter.

So far, LOTRO has been a great game for me, but the test, like all MMOGs, is when you hit the level cap of 50. Will it still be interesting at that level? How fast will new content come in? If LOTRO wants to be the One Game To Rule Them All, then it needs to ensure that there are still interesting things to do when level 50 arrives.