LEGO LOTR proves that this franchise is capable of more than just lighthearted fun.
THE GOOD
-Expansive free roaming world to traverse
-Fantastic dubbed in movie dialog
-Plenty of unlockables to discover
THE BAD
-Depth perception irritations
The brand name LEGO has made quite an impact not only in the toy industry but also in the video game market. The more notable installments in the franchise have been based on movies and comic books like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Batman. These family-friendly games offer good wholesome fun with simple controls and a lighthearted story loosely based on the content material. The next brave development by the block fanatics takes place in the fantasy world of Middle-earth and closely follows The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The story starts with a hobbit named Frodo Baggins in a small village called the Shire. Frodo has just inherited a mysterious and powerful ring from his cousin Bilbo. After a short introduction to the immense evil that lurks inside this fine piece of jewelry by the all-knowledgeable wizard Gandalf, Frodo with his pals Sam, Merry, and Pippin set off east bound. After a few tense moments Mr. Baggins and company arrive in the elven town of Rivendell where our hero's ragtag group, called the Fellowship of the Ring, is formed and the epic quest to destroy this evil golden trinket begins.
The first aspect that stands out, right from the get go, is the dubbed over voices from the movies. The cut scenes are more than just grunts and gestures used in previous LEGO games. Snippets of dialog from the silver screen with voices from famous actors like Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, and Viggo Mortensen bring these block characters to life. With this entire journey closely referencing the superb film you'd be very hard pressed to find any faults here. That's not to say that this game has completely turned to a serious tone because there are still plenty of quirky LEGOisms to keep things fun.
LEGO The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) is a hack and slash adventure with an extensive world to explore. From the beginning only the Story Mode is available. As you traverse through the three LOTR movies you'll get to experience plenty of major events like the Battle at Helm's Deep, for instance. Whether you are fighting hordes of orcs by yourself or with a buddy, this epic campaign is filled with many hours of fantastic LEGO entertainment. A dynamic standout in the Story Mode occurs when you are playing with a friend and at a point where your party splits up into two groups. In this unique scenario both players can control each group separately and simultaneously to progress the adventure in real time. Upon completing this epic tale an additional Free Play Mode becomes unlocked. The Free Play variant gives you the freedom to examine all those nooks and crannies this game has to offer and the split screen multiplayer lets each adventurer traverse different areas of the world separately.
The LEGO version of Middle-earth is a vast place filled with many puzzles to solve, enemies to dispatch, and studs to collect. The large, expansive world is quite intimidating at first but thankfully the developers added a helpful map tool to aid you along the way. All your main and side quests appear on the map and toggling these locations will trigger transparent blue studs to appear which guide you to your destination. This nice feature plus the ability to instantly travel from one major location to another ensures that you never get lost and don't waste time.
The simplistic control scheme ensures that anyone can get up to speed fairly quickly. The excessive single button-mashing strategy will suffice for most enemies but the occasional boss may require a bit more finesse. Characters have unique skill-sets and are useful in certain circumstances. This is purposefully intentional so that none of our block friends feel left out. Unfortunately, platforming in LEGO LOTR has a few heartaches. The annoyances occur when excessive jumping is required because the depth perception in trying to accurately pinpoint your character in 3D space is challenging.
LEGO The Lord of the Rings is an enjoyable, family-friendly adventure. The story closely follows the events of the LOTR trilogy and the spliced in movie dialog was a nice touch. The bright and colorful atmosphere is expansive with plenty of areas to explore, collectibles to discover, and puzzles to scratch your head over. Depth perception setbacks and funky camera angles can make more of the heavy platforming elements a challenge but the simple controls and easy navigation system ensures that anybody can pick up, play, and have fun. Most of the LEGO games in the franchise have been lighthearted and entertaining but LEGO LOTR shows that this series can be that and so much more.