Lord of the Rings Online Trading Card Game
	Developer Worlds Apart Productions Publisher Decipher Version Closed Beta 0.83 Author Kevin L. Kitchens [Feedback] [Author Bio] Date September 9, 2003

Key Points Opens the LOTR TCG to more players. Handles mundane tasks allowing players to play. Allows gameplay any hour with anyone around the world.

Screenshots MORE SCREENSHOTS

The online version is sure to grab hold of gamers who are looking for something a little more intellectual than this week's first person shooter or a so-called online "RPG"

Basically, this is the online version of Decipher's popular card game centered on Peter Jackson's vision of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings". I won't get into the mechanics of the card game itself; you can read our review of that HERE. In this preview we'll cover how Worlds Apart Productions is bringing a face to face game to the world via the Internet.

From buying and trading cards, building decks for a variety of tournament styles, to playing the game, LOTROTCG makes playing this intelligent strategy game a breeze. This in turn is going to open the game to a wider audience than those who have the free time to hang out in comic stores.

This is no easy task. Apart from basic game play functionality, the engine has to keep track of the rules of the game as well as the scripting of nearly 1,200 cards – and that's just the currently releases Fellowship and Two Towers block cards; Return of the King block will be released shortly after the game debuts.

During the Beta, we've been given store credit each night to buy cards. Upon release, the game will include some means to try it out for free. Pricing follows the offline version, with starters running $9.95 and booster packs $3.29. Boosters include the usual 11 cards (7 common, 3 uncommon, 1 rare) while starters have been upgraded to full 71 card legal decks (up from 63 offline). Membership in the "Fellowship" online club will gain you discounts on volume purchases.

While the offline version features bonus foil enhanced cards, Worlds Apart is toying with different options for similar bonus cards. Computer technology opens the door for bonuses of a greater variety than a printed card would.

Worlds Apart Productions is bringing a face to face game to the world via the Internet.

When you buy your cards via the web, they are delivered to you almost immediately in-game. A window pops up to indicate your purchase and you right-click to open them one pack at a time. This pack opening system is still in early development and is still one of the rough spots in the game (you cannot zoom in to view cards for example unless you're in the Deck Builder screen when the cards arrive).

Once you've opened your packs and starters, the cards are moved to your online collection database. This database is stored remotely on the servers with a copy locally. This allows you to view your cards and build decks while offline. When you sign-in to the game, your local card collection is synchronized with the remote to keep things in order.

The Deck Builder interface provides the greatest advantage over the offline game. Your decks are essentially subsets of your collection that you use for a game, but the beauty is you can have one card in multiple decks at a given time. Compare this to the offline version where you either have to keep sorting your hundreds of cards to build a particular deck – or collect and keep many copies of cards necessary for each deck.

In addition you can instantly sort and filter your collection in the online game to find the exact card you need. Looking for a minion? Filter your deck to only show minions. Want just the Hobbit culture? A simple right click on the familiar Hobbit culture icon will limit the display to just those cards. You also have the choice of viewing cards in either card view (miniature versions of cards with key text in bold) or table view (a grid view of the cards with many columns of data).

If the Deck Builder weren't enough, the game play interface removes all the drudgery from playing the game in person. A simple matchmaking/chat area allows games to be created or trades to be initiated. This area is similar to Microsoft's MSN Gaming Zone interface, but with gorgeous LOTR graphics. The game start window takes care of the bidding process as well as the choice of player position.

The game table screen provides everything necessary for one to six gamers to play. A zoom window provides an up-close view of any card on which you hover the mouse cursor. The current Free Peoples and Shadow cards are shown in miniature and each player, of course, sees their current hand. A summary area provides details such as burdens, cards left in the draw deck, and cards in the discard and dead piles. Shadow points are shown in the game as simple number in a circle – rather than depicted as stones (for those who have played the CD-ROM tutorial, also developed by Worlds Apart).

The Deck Builder interface provides the greatest advantage over the offline game.

To aid players, cards that can be played at a given time have a bright green outline to hint this. This is slated to be an optional feature as it removes some of the mental errors that could make or break a game. If a card has a specific ability and the player forgets, why should the game remind him? Finally, a dialog in the bottom right of the screen provides instructions for the current phase or action necessary. This feature might be more effective (and less game delaying) as a popup dialog as needed rather than tucked away with less prominence.

Some testers have complained that playing a game online is slower than the real life version. This is primarily because of new players learning all the cards on the fly – but the interface and mouse clicks may actually be slower overall than slapping down a card face to face. However, the time difference is negligible and as players learn the game and the interface it should reduce even more. But the advantages of the online interface and community will far outweigh any increased time per game. Now you'll be able to play a game at two in the morning against a player half a world away. Try that at the comic store – better yet, don't.

Obviously, LOTROTCG is not without its problems at present. But that's why they call it a beta. And based on the speed in which issues have been resolved over the past few weeks, Worlds Apart will have the game ready to go by release. With proper marketing, the online version is sure to grab hold of gamers who are looking for something a little more intellectual than this week's first person shooter or a so-called online "RPG".

The Lord of the Rings Online Trading Card Game will be available this fall for PC and Mac (for those of you with toy computers).