LEGO Lord of the Rings - Exclusive Elrond Edition PlayStation 3

Released on 23/11/2012

• LEGO Lord of the Rings - Review

  
  

  

  One Brick To Build Them All

  Though the characters may only be a few centimetres tall, the LEGO games have been getting gradually bigger and bigger each year. LEGO Harry Potter invited players to roam freely around a dinky plastic Hogwarts, and this year's LEGO Batman 2 not only offered the chance to take to the skies as Superman, it offered an entire virtual Gotham City to explore.

  All of those now pale alongside LEGO Lord of the Rings, which fully embraces the sort of open world setting made popular by big boy RPGs like Skyrim. With the whole of Middle-earth at your fingertips, with no loading screens or breaks, you can walk from Bilbo's round green door all the way to Sauron's Black Gates in a single uninterrupted journey, just like Frodo.

  There And Back Again

  Don't worry that this rapid expansion will leave you lost, however. You can use the map to set waypoints to any point of interest, and by default the line of transparent blue studs will lead you to the next story mission. LEGO statues in each key area can be activated, revealing the location of all the bonus quests and items hiding in the scenery, and these statues also act as fast travel points, allowing you to hop from one end of the map to the other in the blink of an eye.

  

  The game understands that its players don't want to be left wandering, but also that they like to explore, so there's always something to investigate in the near distance. Certain characters will offer side quests, asking you to replay story levels and find lost items hidden inside, while hundreds of silver mithril bricks are scattered across the landscape.

  Crafty Hobbitses

  The silver bricks are at the core of LEGO Lord of the Rings' most interesting new feature: crafting. Unlike the gold bricks earned in previous games, mithril is a usable resource. Every story level, and all the main locations in the open game world, contain hidden blueprints for dozens of special items. Find the blueprint, collect enough mithril and you can head to the village of Bree where the blacksmith will forge your bricks into the required item.

  Every item, whether found or crafted, ends up in a shared inventory that all of your unlocked characters can access. Many will offer useful gameplay advantages, such as bows and swords with fire and ice powers. Others are there for a laugh, with weapons that make silly noises, or a trumpet that makes minifigures dance. Some are even drawn from Tolkien's prose. Find the Ent Draught and you can use it to give characters giant heads!

  

  Speak Friend, And Enter

  It's every bit as playful as you'd expect from the LEGO series, so there's always something to find and muck about with, but that doesn't mean that the game doesn't take the source material seriously. Developer TT Games has found room for a few elements from the books that didn't make it into the Oscar-winning films - Tom Bombadil is a secret character, for instance - and it also uses as much of the movie media as possible.

  Howard Shore's sweeping soundtrack makes your journey feel suitably epic, while the decision to use actual dialogue from the films pays off surprisingly well. Previous LEGO games had mute minifigures who only burbled or squawked. LEGO Batman 2 introduced voice acting, but had its own tale to tell. Now, you have serious actors such as Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen and Elijah Wood speaking through funny little LEGO men, and the result is both hilarious and weirdly dramatic. The game still fills the cutscenes with pratfalls and slapstick, but there's also genuine drama and scope to the story. It's a very clever balancing act.

  The End Of All Things

  LEGO Lord of the Rings moves this reliable old series forwards so far and so fast that it's hard to see how we can ever go back to the simple style of the previous games. This is an olyphaunt-sized experience, and one that may seem daunting to very young players. For those who rise to meet its challenge, however, they'll discover a rich and rewarding LEGO world that will remain fresh for weeks - even months - to come.

  GAME's Verdict:

  The Good:

  • The biggest, most ambitious LEGO game ever
  • Utterly true to Tolkien's world
  • Weeks and weeks of gameplay

  The Bad:

  • Some of the platform jumping can be frustrating
  • Younger children may need more help than usual
  • Keeping track of quests could be easier

  Published: 22/11/2012

• UK release date confirmed for LEGO Lord of the Rings

  LEGO Lord of the Rings, the latest in the massively popular LEGO series, will march its stubby plastic legs into Mordor (or the UK at least) on November 23rd, publisher Warner Bros has confirmed.

  The game follows hot on the heels of the critically acclaimed LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, which broadened the gameplay canvas to take in a free-roaming LEGO version of Gotham City. Lord of the Rings will go even further, with a vast brick-built version of Middle-earth to wander and explore. In keeping with the fantasy theme and role-playing overtones, you'll be able to collect resources and craft new items, like a chunky cute version of Skyrim.

  Players can also look forward to one of the largest playable casts of characters since LEGO Harry Potter, as everyone who's anyone in Tolkien's fantasy land will appear in collectible mini-figure form. The game will adapt all three blockbusting movies, and for the first time will use actual dialogue from the film in its story scenes. Are you ready to hear Ian McKellen's voice coming out of a little plastic wizard?

  LEGO Lord of the Rings will launch on (deep breath) Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS and PC. Phew.

  Published: 01/11/2012

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