In this time of disclaimers and caveats, allow me to reveal something: I really don’t like The Lord of the Rings. I’ve watched the first film and thought it was OK (albeit far too long) but had no interest in the other two. I tried the books, got to the bit where they’re wandering through a swamp for eight hundred pages in The Two Towers and thought there were much better things to do with my time. The Hobbit’s good though. I like that one.
LEGO: Lord of the Rings is a slightly different matter. I squealed like a fanboy when I got to check out the toys in January this year, and immediately it came to mind that it would make for a great franchise to get the Travellers Tales treatment. Surprise surprise, here it is, taking a distinctly non-Peter Jackson approach by covering all three films in one single game. And even for someone who isn’t a fan of the series, it’s pretty good.
SDCC 2012
Having been responsible for creating LEGO games for a while now, you come to expect a certain level of quality from the team at TT, and this latest release doesn’t disappoint on that front. From the moment you fire it up, the game looks beautiful, filled with plastic goodness and fun from the off. Being that it’s ostensibly a children’s game there’s no sprawling introduction; you’re in the action after only a couple of minutes, chopping away at hordes of orcs as the prologue reveals itself.
While you’re getting to grips with the controls (hints and tips appear throughout, meaning that you’re never really that stuck), you may come to think that the voiceover is somewhat familiar, and if you’ve seen the films you’d be right.
The developers have taken the voices of every actor involved in the movies, adding an extra level of immersion that those who love the series will get a kick out of. Hell, even for someone who wasn’t that fussed I thought this was a pretty ace touch. It’s somewhat weird hearing Sean Bean’s voice come out of a virtual minifigure, mind you.
E3 2012
Having consulted with someone who is an avowed fan, I am assured that the cutscenes in
LEGO LOTR are incredibly impressive. While pottering about in the Mines of Moria, sections are actually matched shot for shot and I had to agree that they looked pretty damn awesome. While this attention to detail is something we’re now used to with the LEGO games, it’s still rather fun to spot the links between the two different media. Another really nice touch is found in the fact that the game is split into three ‘films’, meaning you get separate introductions when you start the game depending on where you are in the story.
The trademark humour associated with the series is also found here, even though it does feel that the silliness has been dialled back somewhat when compared to other titles. However, when something happens that is just sheer ridiculous in the extreme – for example, the death of Boromir isn’t exactly treated with the level of gravitas you see in the film – it’s a welcome relief. It’s a family friendly attitude that makes the game accessible to a wide range of players, even those of a young age.
SDCC 2012
And it’s here that I start taking issue with a few elements. This focus on making the game run as close to the source material as possible means I have the usual complaint I do with all LEGO games. There’s just a total lack of peril – Frodo is never going to die, the One Ring will always (eventually) be chucked into Mount Doom.
