Ever since the release of LEGO Stars Wars back in 2005, its popularity spawned a boatload of other LEGO titles based on popular movie franchises. We’ve seen Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean and Batman have their own LEGO-based video games. Now to coincide with the release of the new Hobbit film out later this month, LEGO The Lord of the Rings is out and its directly based on the famous movie trilogy that came out a decade ago.
There have been many video games based on The Lord of the Rings movies/books but none of them have truly captured their greatness correctly. Does LEGO The Lord of the Rings break this curse? Find out as we take a look at the HOTs and NOTs in our review of the game.
Hot
Captures LOTR Perfectly
If you are a huge of The Lord of the Rings fan (like I am) you will be glad to hear that this game captures the spirit of the movies perfectly and recreates all of the famous moments from the Academy Award winning trilogy. If you have a favorite moment in any of the three films, it’s likely to be included in this game.
The famous fight with the Cave Troll in The Fellowship of the Ring is here as is the Helms Deep battle. Even moments that have never been replicated in video game form before is present in this game too. I literally jumped out of my seat when I got to control Gandalf and was able to battle against the impressive looking Balrog. Even not so famous moments are recreated here such as the time Gandalf had to free King Theoden from Saruman’s spell.
If know all of the scenes from the LOTR trilogy like the back of your hand, you are likely to see them all here in LEGO The Lord of the Rings.
Perfect Blend of Gameplay
When it comes to some video games, the pacing can be quite a bit of an issue. There might be periods of too much action that the game becomes repetitive and boring. Other times, there might be too many slow puzzle sequences that are only included to needlessly prolong a game. None of this really occurs while playing LEGO The Lord of the Rings as there is always a perfect mix of both puzzle and action set pieces that varies and excites you throughout the entire game.
An example of this is when you are The Hobbits and you have to gather food to cook. LOTR fans should know that Hobbits love to eat “second breakfast” and this is exactly the meal you will have to prepare. It’s a nice change of pace that you rarely see in other games which only focus on action. Don’t worry though; you will get to play lots of exciting moments in this game too. The Helms Deep battle from The Two Towers is a stand-out as is the final battle from Return of the King.
Excellent Graphics and Level Design
I’ve played the LOTR games on the PS2 and a few of them on the PS3 as well, but none of them compare to the visual brilliance that this game offers. The LEGO characters look cute and are instantly recognizable. Even some of the minor characters from the movies I could tell who they were supposed to be. The best looking characters in the game though are the monsters such as the Balrog and the Cave Troll.
The levels are great too and everything resembles what everyone saw during the movies. There are too many highlights to name, but The Shire at the beginning of the game looks lovely as does Rivendell. The Mines of Moria level has been replicated to every minute detail as well. Fans will instantly love the epic broken stairwell scene that occurred during The Fellowship of the Ring.
