90

You shall not pass on this delightful game

Lunk | Feb. 12, 2013 | See all Lunk's reviews »

I hope you'll pardon the cheesy title, but (a) I couldn't resist and (b) it's advice you really should take.

Lego LOTR is a mostly faithful retelling of the Lord of the Rings story (the movie version, anyway) with some minor departures for the sake of brevity, comedy, and gameplay. This was my first experience with a Lego game and aside from the fact that the story was always amusing and at times downright hilarious, I was shocked at how well some of the more epic moments and large battles in the story translated to the more cartoony Lego medium. The sound is also excellent, with almost all of the voice acting and music taken directly from the movies.

The game is not without its flaws. It's incredibly easy, with no real consequences for the rare deaths you do suffer, and even the puzzles tend to spell out pretty explicitly exactly what you need to do before you've even started on them. Combat very rarely means anything more than "mash X until everything is dead," and on the few occasions when it does deviate from that it does so in a very repetitive way, requiring you to perform the same action 3 or 4 times to defeat a boss and then recycling that same mechanic with different props on subsequent bosses. However, these flaws all fell into areas that weren't critical to what I was looking for in the game and were mild enough that they didn't significantly detract from the experience, and I suspect others will feel the same.

The game lasted me about 10 hours from start to finishing the story (in other words, about as long as the movies), but I should note that my final completion percentage according to the game was only about 30%. There's a metric ton of unlockables, crafted items, and secrets to explore if you're so inclined. That content focuses more on the pedestrian gameplay than the excellent story though, and most of the collectibles are hidden in such a way that rewards not thorough exploration of a level, but replaying that level much later after you've acquired new characters with necessary abilities. That didn't really appeal to me, but if you find yourself loving the game and desperate for more, you can squeeze a ton of gameplay out of it.

This review has gotten a little long-winded, so allow me to summarize: if you like Lord of the Rings and laughter, I can't imagine how you'd have anything other than a great time with Lego LOTR. Highly recommended!

80

A match made in heaven

Scorpy | Dec. 28, 2012 | See all Scorpy's reviews »

LEGO and Lord of the Rings are two things that just go so well together. LEGO's tongue-in-cheek humor and LOTR's trademark lore are a fantastic combination.

This is by far the best LEGO game I've played to date, and also the best port I've played. There are many graphic options and it even supports Steam achivements and controllers.

Pick this up if you're a fan of either series, you won't be disappointed!

85

Play it with a friend!

Coolicy | Dec. 7, 2012 | See all Coolicy's reviews »

If you're a LEGO game fan, you'll like this. If you're a fan of the LOTR movies, you'll LOVE this. Like all of Lego's previous games, this is a game that is designed for coop. I love this part the most as the dialogues are taken from the movies, so Gimli and Gandalf sound identical to their awesome movie-counterparts.

This game has a surprisingly deep unlock system, it takes a while to unlock every characters, and you'll need to be smart about which character to use to access all the secrets. This was my 2nd LEGO game played, and I'm surprised at how much I like this game. As a 25 year old male, I was concerned that this game would be too kiddy-focused for my taste. I came out pleasantly surprised.

Sure, being a huge LOTR fanatic helped this game's case. It was awesome to relive my LOTR nostalgia through a cute, funny and still epic journey.

The most important point to enjoy this game, however, is to play it with a friend. It adds much, much more enjoyment to the game.