Lego Lord of the Rings: The Video Game Review

Platforms: PS3|Xbox 360|PC|PS Vita|Nintendo DS & 3DS|Wii

Developers: Traveller's Tales

Publishers: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Now then, it's been a fair few years since I played a Lego video game. In fact the last one I played was Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, and that came out 5 years ago. But when I heard that Lego Lord of the Rings was coming out, I was brimming with excitement. See, I'm a huge Lord of the Rings fan, and while Lego games are fun, I don't really play them a lot. But this, this brings out the best of both; all the fun of a Lego game combined with the epicness of The Lord of the Rings. What's not to like?
Well I'll tell you; not a whole lot. Having only played the Lego Star Wars games, I was used to the grunts and groans in place of dialogue. But you know what? It worked. You knew what was going from the characters' actions, and that was enough. So you can only imagine my surprise when the game's intro played with Lady Galadriel's voice narrating it. But they didn't just get voice actors to come in and read the lines, oh no - they used the actual dialogue from the film. It's genius and it's integrated perfectly. Dialogue isn't the only thing that's been taken from the film - the music has too. The fantastic soundtrack of the films only adds the brilliance of the game.

The level design is great, it mixes Lego objects with realistic looking backdrops. From the smokey ashlands of Mordor, to the bright peaceful village of Hobbiton; it all looks amazing. The game has a more "open world/RPG" feel to it than the Star Wars games, as in between levels you get an open area to explore and you can pick up quests from random NPCs. I should note though, the open areas, or "free roam", are not available in the PS Vita or DS/3DS versions. You also get an inventory which continues to grow with items that you find throughout the world. And there's also a blacksmith, who'll make you new items from the Mithril bricks you collect for completing level and finding secrets.

It's behind you!

                             
                     
Perhaps the best part of this game - and any Lego game - is the option to go back to each level in "free play"  with the option to control any character, and try to get all the collectibles in each level. Different characters are unlocked by first playing through each level in story mode. Not only does this unlock characters, it also makes other characters available to buy, so get collecting those studs! Combat remains relatively the same, with it still being "attack button to win", nothing majorly complicated. But hey, it's aimed at kids, so what do you expect? You do get hit more often in melee combat than in previous games, but you can now take more than one hit before you lose one of your four hearts.

Warning! Pain imminent

The game still retains it drop-in drop-out co-op system, allowing for easy link up if you want to play with family or friends. You can probably guess that the story follows the events of the three films, but with some parts changed to keep it family friendly. It was also stated that Traveller's Tales would tone down the humour of previous games, but not too much. And from what I've seen, it's still present in just the right amount.

So to sum up, this game is pretty darn awesome. I, for one, am very glad that I picked it up. With over 80 characters(one of whom was exclusive to the books and not present in the films), tons of unlockables and even more secrets, this game will keep a casual gamer occupied for hours on end. Perhaps avoid it if you're a hardcore gamer who enjoys a real challenge, because you won't find it here.  I think perhaps most crucial to me, is that they kept the humour that makes these Lego games fun; without it, it just wouldn't be the same. There's really not much bad I can say about this game. I think my biggest gripe is that sometimes when you need to jump across things, the camera angle can be a little awkward and make you misjudge the jump, meaning in some cases you'll fall to your death and lose some of your hard-earned studs. Other than that, a very solid product from Traveller's Tales. I'd give this game...

8.5/10