The "Retro Game Reviews" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
I was calling out for a Lego: Lord of the Rings game for years before it was released. Years I tell you. Ever since I started playing the movie-based Lego games it was been something I needed in my life.
When I was young the original Star Wars trilogy blew me away. I never thought another film franchise would be able to do that... and then I watch the Peter Jackson LotR trilogy. My joy when Warner Bros announced the game was limitless, but with it came a sense of hesitancy. Would the game live up to the legacy of both the Lego and Lord of the Rings franchises?
Traveller’s Tales did something very clever back in 2005. I must confess to not knowing a lot (read: anything) about Lego video games prior to this date solely due to the fact that I did not play a single one of them. This was about to change, though, when Tt managed to combine to of my best childhood memories into one: Lego and Star Wars*.
With Lego: Star Wars Tt succeeded in creating an action-adventure 3D platformer that worked on many different levels as a video game, while simultaneously allowing the player to play through and enjoy the original Star Wars story as told with a distinctly tongue in cheek manner. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the film-based Lego video game series the format of each iteration is fairly consistent and easy to follow. Note: skip the next paragraph if you this is not your first Lego: ‘Movie’ computer game.
Each game consists of a number of levels that you have to play through in ‘Story Mode’. These levels will usually be based upon a scene or scenes from the film, so as you play through the levels so the story of the films unfolds. Playing in ‘Story Mode’ will only give you access to a limited number of characters for each level, with each character having a skill/trait/weapon that will allow you to reach the end. As you play through the game you will unlock more of these characters which can then be used to replay the levels in ‘Free Play’. Now you can play through the game just once if you so wish but hidden within each level will be a number of collectible items; and to those of us who wish to complete rather than just finish a game** (and I include myself in this list of people) it is the search for these extras that will eat up most our time. You will no be able to get all of these items without unlocking characters with certain attributes and then playing through the levels again (sometimes a lot more often than once).
OK, brief explanation over. So like I say the basic format is pretty much the same, however some things have changed over the years. The older games had a local 2-player option where both of you had to be in the same area of the level at the same time. More recent titles have a dynamic split screen version which allows freer roaming. Older games only had the levels to play, and everything you needed to collect would be hidden within them. Newer games have a fully interactive environment for the player to explore, which will also include some of the extra items they need to find.
Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, the game released earlier in 2012, gave us access to Gotham City. With LEGO: The Lord of the Rings we get access to the full LotR map, from Hobbiton all the way to Mount Doom, via all the places familiar to us from the films (such as Bree, Lothlorien, Minas Tirith, Amon Hen, etc). Alright it’s not exactly to scale. If you were so inclined you could run from start to finish in about 10 minutes, but still that’s a pretty big map for you to explore. And hidden within this environment are all sorts of items to find and unlock.
Minikits are in this game, as they have been in every Lego: ‘Movie’ game I have played. Each level hides 10 of them. There are also thousands of coins to collect that are scattered throughout the levels and the explorable Middle Earth. Same as the previous games if you reach the coin target for each level you will get ‘True Hero’ as well as being able to use them to buy more characters and Red Bricks. This must therefore mean that Red Bricks (the ones that give you special abilities) are still present in this game. However finding them and in some cases unlocking them isn’t as straight forward as it was previously. More on that in just a sec. Gold/Brown bricks have been replaced with Mithril bricks, which like the Red Bricks are a bit trickier to find than in earlier games. Added to this you can now use them at a blacksmith’s in Bree to fashion new Mithril objects, which are better versions of other items and weapons you use when playing the game.
In this game, though, Telltale have added a new layer whereby you will need to fetch specific objects for characters around Middle Earth. Each level conceals three objects, some of which can be returned to the people when you explore the map. When you complete a fetch quest you are then rewarded with a Mithril Brick or a Red Brick. It’s not much of an add on but it does mean there are more things to find within the game itself, and therefore takes longer to complete especially as some of them are bloody hard to find. I recently completed the game (with the help of my son) after clocking up nearly 50 hours of gaming. I’ll admit some of that time was spent running around like a headless chicken, but even so that’s a considerable investment of time into what is essentially a kid’s game.
LEGO: The Lord of the Rings actually manages to tell a (albeit concise) version of the story very well. This is probably, in part, thanks to the fact that Lego games these days have voice acting in the cut scenes, but is also due to Telltale’s ability to trim a story down to its bare bones whilst still capturing its essence and charm. Yes they might play around with the characters a bit: for example I don’t remember the Riders of Rohan being part of a synchronised equestrian team, and nor do I recall Boromir being shot with vegetables. However after playing you are left with a feeling of having experienced the story and that is something I still applaud.
That said I do have a few of grumbles I wish they’d ironed out before releasing the game. My first concerns the opaque coins the game generates for you when you place a location marker on the map for you to then follow around Middle Earth to get to your destination. Quite often I would need to get from the default location, Minas Tirith, to somewhere quite a few minutes run away should I choose not to use the quick travel markers. So I set my destination to one of the fetch quests, let’s say one of the homes in Hobbiton, and then I would quick travel to the nearest statue. Upon arriving the opaque studs would appear, only they would lead me back towards where I came from rather than where I wanted to go. The first time I thought I was being stupid. The second time I thought I was mad. However after six, seven, eight and more times of it happening I knew something was afoot. Believe me when I say that after sinking about 20 hours into trying to complete a game the last thing you want is your time wasted with silly little bugs.
My second irk concerns reaching some of the hard to reach places in Middle Earth. I know by definition they are sort of meant to be hard to reach, but what is frustrating is not being given the control of your character to allow you to reach where you need to go. There are some Mithril bricks that are only reachable after you successfully jump onto a series of platforms across a stretch of water. Judging how far you need to jump each time is nearly impossible as the game simply doesn’t give you enough of a chance to judge each jump properly, and when you fell into the water it would take you back to dry land (i.e. the beginning). Reaching your target is more a reward of battling attrition than skill. I actually swore at the game several times.
And can someone please tell me why they seem unable to get rid of crappy camera angles? And locations that get me stuck so I have to quit the game? #@?%
Believe it or not these are actually little annoyances I had with the game rather than show stoppers. The positives far outweigh the negatives, as my 50 hours of game play will help to attest. LEGO: The Lord of the Rings is a little gem which remains true to the tried and testing Lego universe whilst capturing the magic and beauty of the Lord of the Rings films. In a day and age where the games industry is seemingly overrun with blood and violence it’s certainly a welcome break to step back from it all every once in a while. This is a charming addition to the Lego video game franchise, and I enjoyed playing it very much.
Overall: 7/10
The good:
My dream come true.
The bad:
Some tiresome annoyances persist.
* I would like to caveat that I mean the original Star Wars trilogy. There is still no part of me that will officially recognise The Phantom Menace, The Attack of the Clones and/or The Revenge of the Sith.
** Complete = Platinum on PS3 or 1000 points on 360. Finish = just playing through the campaign or story.
When I was young the original Star Wars trilogy blew me away. I never thought another film franchise would be able to do that... and then I watch the Peter Jackson LotR trilogy. My joy when Warner Bros announced the game was limitless, but with it came a sense of hesitancy. Would the game live up to the legacy of both the Lego and Lord of the Rings franchises?
Traveller’s Tales did something very clever back in 2005. I must confess to not knowing a lot (read: anything) about Lego video games prior to this date solely due to the fact that I did not play a single one of them. This was about to change, though, when Tt managed to combine to of my best childhood memories into one: Lego and Star Wars*.
With Lego: Star Wars Tt succeeded in creating an action-adventure 3D platformer that worked on many different levels as a video game, while simultaneously allowing the player to play through and enjoy the original Star Wars story as told with a distinctly tongue in cheek manner. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the film-based Lego video game series the format of each iteration is fairly consistent and easy to follow. Note: skip the next paragraph if you this is not your first Lego: ‘Movie’ computer game.
Each game consists of a number of levels that you have to play through in ‘Story Mode’. These levels will usually be based upon a scene or scenes from the film, so as you play through the levels so the story of the films unfolds. Playing in ‘Story Mode’ will only give you access to a limited number of characters for each level, with each character having a skill/trait/weapon that will allow you to reach the end. As you play through the game you will unlock more of these characters which can then be used to replay the levels in ‘Free Play’. Now you can play through the game just once if you so wish but hidden within each level will be a number of collectible items; and to those of us who wish to complete rather than just finish a game** (and I include myself in this list of people) it is the search for these extras that will eat up most our time. You will no be able to get all of these items without unlocking characters with certain attributes and then playing through the levels again (sometimes a lot more often than once).
OK, brief explanation over. So like I say the basic format is pretty much the same, however some things have changed over the years. The older games had a local 2-player option where both of you had to be in the same area of the level at the same time. More recent titles have a dynamic split screen version which allows freer roaming. Older games only had the levels to play, and everything you needed to collect would be hidden within them. Newer games have a fully interactive environment for the player to explore, which will also include some of the extra items they need to find.
Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, the game released earlier in 2012, gave us access to Gotham City. With LEGO: The Lord of the Rings we get access to the full LotR map, from Hobbiton all the way to Mount Doom, via all the places familiar to us from the films (such as Bree, Lothlorien, Minas Tirith, Amon Hen, etc). Alright it’s not exactly to scale. If you were so inclined you could run from start to finish in about 10 minutes, but still that’s a pretty big map for you to explore. And hidden within this environment are all sorts of items to find and unlock.
Minikits are in this game, as they have been in every Lego: ‘Movie’ game I have played. Each level hides 10 of them. There are also thousands of coins to collect that are scattered throughout the levels and the explorable Middle Earth. Same as the previous games if you reach the coin target for each level you will get ‘True Hero’ as well as being able to use them to buy more characters and Red Bricks. This must therefore mean that Red Bricks (the ones that give you special abilities) are still present in this game. However finding them and in some cases unlocking them isn’t as straight forward as it was previously. More on that in just a sec. Gold/Brown bricks have been replaced with Mithril bricks, which like the Red Bricks are a bit trickier to find than in earlier games. Added to this you can now use them at a blacksmith’s in Bree to fashion new Mithril objects, which are better versions of other items and weapons you use when playing the game.
In this game, though, Telltale have added a new layer whereby you will need to fetch specific objects for characters around Middle Earth. Each level conceals three objects, some of which can be returned to the people when you explore the map. When you complete a fetch quest you are then rewarded with a Mithril Brick or a Red Brick. It’s not much of an add on but it does mean there are more things to find within the game itself, and therefore takes longer to complete especially as some of them are bloody hard to find. I recently completed the game (with the help of my son) after clocking up nearly 50 hours of gaming. I’ll admit some of that time was spent running around like a headless chicken, but even so that’s a considerable investment of time into what is essentially a kid’s game.
LEGO: The Lord of the Rings actually manages to tell a (albeit concise) version of the story very well. This is probably, in part, thanks to the fact that Lego games these days have voice acting in the cut scenes, but is also due to Telltale’s ability to trim a story down to its bare bones whilst still capturing its essence and charm. Yes they might play around with the characters a bit: for example I don’t remember the Riders of Rohan being part of a synchronised equestrian team, and nor do I recall Boromir being shot with vegetables. However after playing you are left with a feeling of having experienced the story and that is something I still applaud.
That said I do have a few of grumbles I wish they’d ironed out before releasing the game. My first concerns the opaque coins the game generates for you when you place a location marker on the map for you to then follow around Middle Earth to get to your destination. Quite often I would need to get from the default location, Minas Tirith, to somewhere quite a few minutes run away should I choose not to use the quick travel markers. So I set my destination to one of the fetch quests, let’s say one of the homes in Hobbiton, and then I would quick travel to the nearest statue. Upon arriving the opaque studs would appear, only they would lead me back towards where I came from rather than where I wanted to go. The first time I thought I was being stupid. The second time I thought I was mad. However after six, seven, eight and more times of it happening I knew something was afoot. Believe me when I say that after sinking about 20 hours into trying to complete a game the last thing you want is your time wasted with silly little bugs.
My second irk concerns reaching some of the hard to reach places in Middle Earth. I know by definition they are sort of meant to be hard to reach, but what is frustrating is not being given the control of your character to allow you to reach where you need to go. There are some Mithril bricks that are only reachable after you successfully jump onto a series of platforms across a stretch of water. Judging how far you need to jump each time is nearly impossible as the game simply doesn’t give you enough of a chance to judge each jump properly, and when you fell into the water it would take you back to dry land (i.e. the beginning). Reaching your target is more a reward of battling attrition than skill. I actually swore at the game several times.
And can someone please tell me why they seem unable to get rid of crappy camera angles? And locations that get me stuck so I have to quit the game? #@?%
Believe it or not these are actually little annoyances I had with the game rather than show stoppers. The positives far outweigh the negatives, as my 50 hours of game play will help to attest. LEGO: The Lord of the Rings is a little gem which remains true to the tried and testing Lego universe whilst capturing the magic and beauty of the Lord of the Rings films. In a day and age where the games industry is seemingly overrun with blood and violence it’s certainly a welcome break to step back from it all every once in a while. This is a charming addition to the Lego video game franchise, and I enjoyed playing it very much.
Overall: 7/10
The good:
My dream come true.
The bad:
Some tiresome annoyances persist.
* I would like to caveat that I mean the original Star Wars trilogy. There is still no part of me that will officially recognise The Phantom Menace, The Attack of the Clones and/or The Revenge of the Sith.
** Complete = Platinum on PS3 or 1000 points on 360. Finish = just playing through the campaign or story.
There have been no replies to this thread yet.
I was calling out for a Lego: Lord of the Rings game for years before it was released. Years I tell you. Ever since I started playing the movie-based Lego games it was been something I needed in my life.
When I was young the original Star Wars trilogy blew me away. I never thought another film franchise would be able to do that... and then I watch the Peter Jackson LotR trilogy. My joy when Warner Bros announced the game was limitless, but with it came a sense of hesitancy. Would the game live up to the legacy of both the Lego and Lord of the Rings franchises?
Traveller’s Tales did something very clever back in 2005. I must confess to not knowing a lot (read: anything) about Lego video games prior to this date solely due to the fact that I did not play a single one of them. This was about to change, though, when Tt managed to combine to of my best childhood memories into one: Lego and Star Wars*.
With Lego: Star Wars Tt succeeded in creating an action-adventure 3D platformer that worked on many different levels as a video game, while simultaneously allowing the player to play through and enjoy the original Star Wars story as told with a distinctly tongue in cheek manner. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the film-based Lego video game series the format of each iteration is fairly consistent and easy to follow. Note: skip the next paragraph if you this is not your first Lego: ‘Movie’ computer game.
Each game consists of a number of levels that you have to play through in ‘Story Mode’. These levels will usually be based upon a scene or scenes from the film, so as you play through the levels so the story of the films unfolds. Playing in ‘Story Mode’ will only give you access to a limited number of characters for each level, with each character having a skill/trait/weapon that will allow you to reach the end. As you play through the game you will unlock more of these characters which can then be used to replay the levels in ‘Free Play’. Now you can play through the game just once if you so wish but hidden within each level will be a number of collectible items; and to those of us who wish to complete rather than just finish a game** (and I include myself in this list of people) it is the search for these extras that will eat up most our time. You will no be able to get all of these items without unlocking characters with certain attributes and then playing through the levels again (sometimes a lot more often than once).
OK, brief explanation over. So like I say the basic format is pretty much the same, however some things have changed over the years. The older games had a local 2-player option where both of you had to be in the same area of the level at the same time. More recent titles have a dynamic split screen version which allows freer roaming. Older games only had the levels to play, and everything you needed to collect would be hidden within them. Newer games have a fully interactive environment for the player to explore, which will also include some of the extra items they need to find.
Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, the game released earlier in 2012, gave us access to Gotham City. With LEGO: The Lord of the Rings we get access to the full LotR map, from Hobbiton all the way to Mount Doom, via all the places familiar to us from the films (such as Bree, Lothlorien, Minas Tirith, Amon Hen, etc). Alright it’s not exactly to scale. If you were so inclined you could run from start to finish in about 10 minutes, but still that’s a pretty big map for you to explore. And hidden within this environment are all sorts of items to find and unlock.
Minikits are in this game, as they have been in every Lego: ‘Movie’ game I have played. Each level hides 10 of them. There are also thousands of coins to collect that are scattered throughout the levels and the explorable Middle Earth. Same as the previous games if you reach the coin target for each level you will get ‘True Hero’ as well as being able to use them to buy more characters and Red Bricks. This must therefore mean that Red Bricks (the ones that give you special abilities) are still present in this game. However finding them and in some cases unlocking them isn’t as straight forward as it was previously. More on that in just a sec. Gold/Brown bricks have been replaced with Mithril bricks, which like the Red Bricks are a bit trickier to find than in earlier games. Added to this you can now use them at a blacksmith’s in Bree to fashion new Mithril objects, which are better versions of other items and weapons you use when playing the game.
In this game, though, Telltale have added a new layer whereby you will need to fetch specific objects for characters around Middle Earth. Each level conceals three objects, some of which can be returned to the people when you explore the map. When you complete a fetch quest you are then rewarded with a Mithril Brick or a Red Brick. It’s not much of an add on but it does mean there are more things to find within the game itself, and therefore takes longer to complete especially as some of them are bloody hard to find. I recently completed the game (with the help of my son) after clocking up nearly 50 hours of gaming. I’ll admit some of that time was spent running around like a headless chicken, but even so that’s a considerable investment of time into what is essentially a kid’s game.
LEGO: The Lord of the Rings actually manages to tell a (albeit concise) version of the story very well. This is probably, in part, thanks to the fact that Lego games these days have voice acting in the cut scenes, but is also due to Telltale’s ability to trim a story down to its bare bones whilst still capturing its essence and charm. Yes they might play around with the characters a bit: for example I don’t remember the Riders of Rohan being part of a synchronised equestrian team, and nor do I recall Boromir being shot with vegetables. However after playing you are left with a feeling of having experienced the story and that is something I still applaud.
That said I do have a few of grumbles I wish they’d ironed out before releasing the game. My first concerns the opaque coins the game generates for you when you place a location marker on the map for you to then follow around Middle Earth to get to your destination. Quite often I would need to get from the default location, Minas Tirith, to somewhere quite a few minutes run away should I choose not to use the quick travel markers. So I set my destination to one of the fetch quests, let’s say one of the homes in Hobbiton, and then I would quick travel to the nearest statue. Upon arriving the opaque studs would appear, only they would lead me back towards where I came from rather than where I wanted to go. The first time I thought I was being stupid. The second time I thought I was mad. However after six, seven, eight and more times of it happening I knew something was afoot. Believe me when I say that after sinking about 20 hours into trying to complete a game the last thing you want is your time wasted with silly little bugs.
My second irk concerns reaching some of the hard to reach places in Middle Earth. I know by definition they are sort of meant to be hard to reach, but what is frustrating is not being given the control of your character to allow you to reach where you need to go. There are some Mithril bricks that are only reachable after you successfully jump onto a series of platforms across a stretch of water. Judging how far you need to jump each time is nearly impossible as the game simply doesn’t give you enough of a chance to judge each jump properly, and when you fell into the water it would take you back to dry land (i.e. the beginning). Reaching your target is more a reward of battling attrition than skill. I actually swore at the game several times.
And can someone please tell me why they seem unable to get rid of crappy camera angles? And locations that get me stuck so I have to quit the game? #@?%
Believe it or not these are actually little annoyances I had with the game rather than show stoppers. The positives far outweigh the negatives, as my 50 hours of game play will help to attest. LEGO: The Lord of the Rings is a little gem which remains true to the tried and testing Lego universe whilst capturing the magic and beauty of the Lord of the Rings films. In a day and age where the games industry is seemingly overrun with blood and violence it’s certainly a welcome break to step back from it all every once in a while. This is a charming addition to the Lego video game franchise, and I enjoyed playing it very much.
Overall: 7/10
The good:
My dream come true.
The bad:
Some tiresome annoyances persist.
* I would like to caveat that I mean the original Star Wars trilogy. There is still no part of me that will officially recognise The Phantom Menace, The Attack of the Clones and/or The Revenge of the Sith.
** Complete = Platinum on PS3 or 1000 points on 360. Finish = just playing through the campaign or story.
When I was young the original Star Wars trilogy blew me away. I never thought another film franchise would be able to do that... and then I watch the Peter Jackson LotR trilogy. My joy when Warner Bros announced the game was limitless, but with it came a sense of hesitancy. Would the game live up to the legacy of both the Lego and Lord of the Rings franchises?
Traveller’s Tales did something very clever back in 2005. I must confess to not knowing a lot (read: anything) about Lego video games prior to this date solely due to the fact that I did not play a single one of them. This was about to change, though, when Tt managed to combine to of my best childhood memories into one: Lego and Star Wars*.
With Lego: Star Wars Tt succeeded in creating an action-adventure 3D platformer that worked on many different levels as a video game, while simultaneously allowing the player to play through and enjoy the original Star Wars story as told with a distinctly tongue in cheek manner. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the film-based Lego video game series the format of each iteration is fairly consistent and easy to follow. Note: skip the next paragraph if you this is not your first Lego: ‘Movie’ computer game.
Each game consists of a number of levels that you have to play through in ‘Story Mode’. These levels will usually be based upon a scene or scenes from the film, so as you play through the levels so the story of the films unfolds. Playing in ‘Story Mode’ will only give you access to a limited number of characters for each level, with each character having a skill/trait/weapon that will allow you to reach the end. As you play through the game you will unlock more of these characters which can then be used to replay the levels in ‘Free Play’. Now you can play through the game just once if you so wish but hidden within each level will be a number of collectible items; and to those of us who wish to complete rather than just finish a game** (and I include myself in this list of people) it is the search for these extras that will eat up most our time. You will no be able to get all of these items without unlocking characters with certain attributes and then playing through the levels again (sometimes a lot more often than once).
OK, brief explanation over. So like I say the basic format is pretty much the same, however some things have changed over the years. The older games had a local 2-player option where both of you had to be in the same area of the level at the same time. More recent titles have a dynamic split screen version which allows freer roaming. Older games only had the levels to play, and everything you needed to collect would be hidden within them. Newer games have a fully interactive environment for the player to explore, which will also include some of the extra items they need to find.
Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, the game released earlier in 2012, gave us access to Gotham City. With LEGO: The Lord of the Rings we get access to the full LotR map, from Hobbiton all the way to Mount Doom, via all the places familiar to us from the films (such as Bree, Lothlorien, Minas Tirith, Amon Hen, etc). Alright it’s not exactly to scale. If you were so inclined you could run from start to finish in about 10 minutes, but still that’s a pretty big map for you to explore. And hidden within this environment are all sorts of items to find and unlock.
Minikits are in this game, as they have been in every Lego: ‘Movie’ game I have played. Each level hides 10 of them. There are also thousands of coins to collect that are scattered throughout the levels and the explorable Middle Earth. Same as the previous games if you reach the coin target for each level you will get ‘True Hero’ as well as being able to use them to buy more characters and Red Bricks. This must therefore mean that Red Bricks (the ones that give you special abilities) are still present in this game. However finding them and in some cases unlocking them isn’t as straight forward as it was previously. More on that in just a sec. Gold/Brown bricks have been replaced with Mithril bricks, which like the Red Bricks are a bit trickier to find than in earlier games. Added to this you can now use them at a blacksmith’s in Bree to fashion new Mithril objects, which are better versions of other items and weapons you use when playing the game.
In this game, though, Telltale have added a new layer whereby you will need to fetch specific objects for characters around Middle Earth. Each level conceals three objects, some of which can be returned to the people when you explore the map. When you complete a fetch quest you are then rewarded with a Mithril Brick or a Red Brick. It’s not much of an add on but it does mean there are more things to find within the game itself, and therefore takes longer to complete especially as some of them are bloody hard to find. I recently completed the game (with the help of my son) after clocking up nearly 50 hours of gaming. I’ll admit some of that time was spent running around like a headless chicken, but even so that’s a considerable investment of time into what is essentially a kid’s game.
LEGO: The Lord of the Rings actually manages to tell a (albeit concise) version of the story very well. This is probably, in part, thanks to the fact that Lego games these days have voice acting in the cut scenes, but is also due to Telltale’s ability to trim a story down to its bare bones whilst still capturing its essence and charm. Yes they might play around with the characters a bit: for example I don’t remember the Riders of Rohan being part of a synchronised equestrian team, and nor do I recall Boromir being shot with vegetables. However after playing you are left with a feeling of having experienced the story and that is something I still applaud.
That said I do have a few of grumbles I wish they’d ironed out before releasing the game. My first concerns the opaque coins the game generates for you when you place a location marker on the map for you to then follow around Middle Earth to get to your destination. Quite often I would need to get from the default location, Minas Tirith, to somewhere quite a few minutes run away should I choose not to use the quick travel markers. So I set my destination to one of the fetch quests, let’s say one of the homes in Hobbiton, and then I would quick travel to the nearest statue. Upon arriving the opaque studs would appear, only they would lead me back towards where I came from rather than where I wanted to go. The first time I thought I was being stupid. The second time I thought I was mad. However after six, seven, eight and more times of it happening I knew something was afoot. Believe me when I say that after sinking about 20 hours into trying to complete a game the last thing you want is your time wasted with silly little bugs.
My second irk concerns reaching some of the hard to reach places in Middle Earth. I know by definition they are sort of meant to be hard to reach, but what is frustrating is not being given the control of your character to allow you to reach where you need to go. There are some Mithril bricks that are only reachable after you successfully jump onto a series of platforms across a stretch of water. Judging how far you need to jump each time is nearly impossible as the game simply doesn’t give you enough of a chance to judge each jump properly, and when you fell into the water it would take you back to dry land (i.e. the beginning). Reaching your target is more a reward of battling attrition than skill. I actually swore at the game several times.
And can someone please tell me why they seem unable to get rid of crappy camera angles? And locations that get me stuck so I have to quit the game? #@?%
Believe it or not these are actually little annoyances I had with the game rather than show stoppers. The positives far outweigh the negatives, as my 50 hours of game play will help to attest. LEGO: The Lord of the Rings is a little gem which remains true to the tried and testing Lego universe whilst capturing the magic and beauty of the Lord of the Rings films. In a day and age where the games industry is seemingly overrun with blood and violence it’s certainly a welcome break to step back from it all every once in a while. This is a charming addition to the Lego video game franchise, and I enjoyed playing it very much.
Overall: 7/10
The good:
My dream come true.
The bad:
Some tiresome annoyances persist.
* I would like to caveat that I mean the original Star Wars trilogy. There is still no part of me that will officially recognise The Phantom Menace, The Attack of the Clones and/or The Revenge of the Sith.
** Complete = Platinum on PS3 or 1000 points on 360. Finish = just playing through the campaign or story.