As a solo player, LoTR is immersive and excellent. As a multi-player game, it plays too long. You can set it up mean of course, but then the game loses its appeal imo (same with TSPP...good for solo play, bad for multi-players).
As for those who refuse to give any kudos to anything made after 1998 - some people need the nostalgia aspect of the hobby and just can't get into anything new. This seems to be far less the case these days compared to 10 years ago.
Let's face it, if you can't find fun in Iron Maiden, Walking Dead, Metallica, etc. you probably don't like modern pinball in general.