Lord of the Rings Online - Previews @ LotroSource & 1Up

Two new previews of Lord of the Rings Online from the recent press event have popped up on the 'net.  Let's head to LotroSource first for some criticism:

Character Creation – I am still deeply disappointed in Turbine’s offering in this area. One would expect something more advanced for a game title based on the works of an author who filled hundreds of pages with even the minutest details. The player can only choose from a dozen or so hair styles, noses and facial features. Most of this wont matter once a character dons a helm or a hood, but players will still want more. Want to customize your avatars height? You can’t do that either. Turbine doesn’t want any Hobbits to be taller than any Dwarves as it just wouldn’t be appropriate in this setting. Having said all that, I realize that once the actual creation is done with, the most players see of each other is armor and weapons and facial features are hardly noticed. I guess given the choice, I would have spent funds on other areas of development as well. I do hope this whole system gets some love before release next year but I don’t expect it will. I quickly roll up a Human Captain and click ‘Enter Middle-earth’.

...and then off to 1Up:

LOTRO will indefinitely prove that the rights to a movie license are vastly overrated. Even with only the books to pull from (the core trilogy as well as The Hobbit), Turbine's take on Tolkein's world is as vivid and as stylized as we've seen from EA's titles, if not moreso. Taking into account the sheer, massive size of Middle Earth, LOTRO is currently limited to one region of the world: Eriador. With the other regions of Middle Earth planned to be dolled out in due time, this gives Turbine the opportunity to give each region the type of care it deserves, thus giving off a handmade feel to the world. The region by region nature of LOTRO also allows Turbine enough time to roll out the ongoing story, which is intended to involve players in famous events from the Lord of the Ring series.