Lego The Lord of the Rings
Released: November 27, 2012
Game Length: 33 Hours
Grade: A-
Coverage
Basis: Back in December 2018, I picked up this game for free during one of their promotions on Humble Bundle. Probably because they had to temporarily remove them from Steam for a time. I just never got around to playing it. Now that I have played it during one of my gaming marathons, I realized how different it was from the other games Traveller’s Tales came out with. The events from the films are replicated despite the material not coinciding with what happened in the books, but the developers go to such lengths as making sure the weapons, locations, and characters are all properly named. Although you are given the choice of following between two parties as they walk separate of each other through the world, the levels must be completed in a specific order or "the great seeing eye" will impede your advancement. Instead of choosing chapters, you will be walking through Middle-Earth and advance the story in their proper levels as you approach them.
Glitches: The problem with this game is that a lot of elements are merely left unpolished. There is a good chance the platform that must be pushed on the tiles will jump 10 feet into the air. The only way to reset it on the spot is apparently by using Gandalf's staff. Gollum's fish wall clips so badly that I found myself falling through the ground four times, textures went wonky twice, and my character misjudged the jump at least a good dozen times. "Snapping" to single-bricks is so off-balance that you generally have to over-jump to properly land on them. Some of the tree shadows while playing during a night phase jump and stutter so bad that it can be quite disorienting. Clipping is a problem that happened on occasion while riding a horse, running over small objects in the case of Black Rider or Track Hobbits, or fishing up items when an object hasn't been destroyed behind you. Another huge problem is how the game can't decipher between your need to switch between characters and the need to swap to a new character. They both use the same Y-button and it is never consistent. In fact, you are completely incapable of swapping to a new character while the game takes 10 seconds saving after earning a collectable, something that left you completely paralyzed in Lego: Batman. The hollow studs that are supposed to direct you to your destination freaks out anytime you make a transition, forcing you to choose the destination again after you change characters or teleport.
Item System: The biggest change introduced in the big line of Lego games is how items are handled. First, they introduce a (1) quest system where you meet a person somewhere in the world that needs something found in the levels. This can either be a blacksmithing recipe or one of the three goofball items you can wear. This leads to (2) the crafting system. Instead of obtaining gold bricks that gradually unlock certain perks, you now earn "mithril bricks" that can be melted down into various objects that can be used for your ventures. Any of these objects can be worn on any character in a (3) new inventory system. On top of adding a new inventory wheel where you can choose from an arsenal of weapons each character has at their disposal, you can pull out any object from your "Treasure Trove" in any instance outside of Story Mode.
Voice-work: As you may have discovered from Lego: Batman 2, the company has made the decision to include voices to any new Lego game they produce. There is one small problem: the recorded sound files are directly pulled from the films. The vast majority of the conversations translate well into the more brisk abridged version of the three films. However, a few of the action bits that I heard from characters like Legolas or Saruman was of pretty degrading quality. Of course, any of the single lines of dialogue given from the quest givers were obviously made new and distinguishes itself from the rest of the game. The one good thing I can say is that the facial expressions and mouth movements are way better than what I've seen in the past.
Middle-Earth
Open World: As easy as it is just following the main road, there are plenty of things to explore. Much of these things will require characters found and unlocked as you complete the story. The optional route is by obtaining the mithril items that duplicate those required abilities. "Territories" of various collectables can be unlocked by finding a Map Stone. Not only does this allow you to teleport back to the area, but it also allows you to choose between a day and night cycle. This rarely happens, but a few events will require enemies that are known to only appear at night. No character can swim even in the tiniest of streams, but they do provide you a few seconds to jump out before you drown. For the exception of a few black cats in Fangorn Forest, the only enemies you will encounter are of the purchase kind. NPCs will attack you if you choose someone from the opposing faction. There are plenty of hidden areas that can be explored that were not so highlighted in the films, like the area up near Anor and the hidden cave to the south-east of Rivendell. This is where you will find the one bonus level where you play as Saruman and ravage the lands of Middle-Earth for 1 million studs (completely doable without an online guide).
Story: For a Lego game, I will admit that they did a wonderful job recreating not only the events told but scenes that were rarely shown in the films. The names of each of the characters are visible when you switch to them. Even the names of their weapons like Sting, Anduril, Hadhafang, Glamdring, and Herugrim are all listed when you select them. Sting will glow blue when an orc is near (even your ally). Anduril will glow when nearing Mordor bricks. Frodo's cape will transform you into something appropriate of the environment, like how only your feet are visible when chased by a Black Rider, a bush when crossing the Dead Marshes, or a crate when trapped in Cirith Ungol. As mini-figures go, the elves long ears take some getting used to and how the hobbits feet are shown (contrary to how the actual real-life figures are made). Idle animations are less impressive than I hoped for but still hold a bit of personality true to the characters. Although they skipped over some important events like Bilbo's party, they surprisingly included a ton of scenes I did not expect them to expand on - a playable prologue, first-person perspective battle with Saruman, fighting the Balrog while falling into the pits and on top of the frozen tower, and traveling through the tower of Cirith Ungol. Though, do expect Lego humor in spots like how Pippin actually gets caught in the well in Mines of Moria. The one Lego scene that I do recall regarding the characters disarming in Edoras ironically didn't come from the game. If you have subtitles on, you will even see Elvish translation of scenes like Arwen calling forth the river which I believe stated "Let the rivers take the ringwraiths" at the bottom of the screen. I also like how your vitals are taken into consideration with Frodo having mithril shielding his hearts and Boromir having only a single heart when a banana gets shot into his chest.
DLC: Many of the characters, including their various outfits and disguises, are included in the game. They even added The Mouth of Sauron from the deleted scene. They did not, however, provide a PC version of the DLC characters. I'm starting to feel like they didn't care about the PC community. This is pretty sad when you consider some of the things in the package. Not only do the character packs include a Mini-Balrog, but the weapon bundles include usable rings that are featured in the new Rings of Power series. Even the cake can be used as an explosive, something that is highly rare and sought after in the game.
Gameplay
Characters: It's pretty amazing all the little intricacies they added to the game. Take example the ability to throw characters. Any tall character can take and carry a smaller one and toss them to another character, throw them onto a platform, or into large breakable stone fragments if your character is equipped with an axe. This helps in several ways when smaller characters have issues passing through small streams of water or piles of snow. Elves can also straddle on top of rope and jump higher (not double-jump) than anyone else. Although you can't fire more than one arrow at a time at multiple targets (even if you are using the tri-bow), you can queue them up like the batarang from Lego: Batman and chain-fire. You can switch between multiple characters, open up a character wheel with 7 default characters that will refresh the more you use other characters, and an 8th circle that will allow you to pick any unlocked character (outside Story Mode). If you equip yourself with a shield, you have an additional option of "putting it up" and moving slowly to guard by toggling the B-Button. Enemies will also lose armor (first their chest piece and then their helmet) when you attack them. Unfortunately, the wizard's staff is very limited to which you cannot aim and fires very slowly. Also make note that Frodo will gain different gameplay modifiers as the story gets closer to the end. He will be "pulled" towards the enemy in one sequence and lose the ability to jump due to extreme exhaustion.
Puzzles: You can ride many different kind of animals including horses, goats, sheep, and wargs. These creatures are bound to the area they are found in and will knock you off when you try to leave. You can jump, but you still are unable to swim. While some items like the mithril bow will remain equipped while on a horse, other items may be automatically removed from your character. The game has improved on previous puzzles by adding timers to the races and smashing five objects mini-game. You can generally find one golden treasure chest in a completely cut-off section of the level with an entirely elaborate underground puzzle to solve. You do not need to manually equip every item as the game will provide prompts like in the case of Sam's tinder box lighting fires or Frodo's Phial of Galadriel automatically being equipped when entering dark places. The occasional puzzle will require you to lay down firewood or combine certain elements like in the case of making breakfast on a frying pan. These items will always be highlighted in purple and shown above the character currently holding it. You can "throw" the object onto the ground for others to pick-up as well; there is no "trade" option between characters. When it comes to obtaining items for quest givers, make sure you don't confuse similar named items like "mithril gloves" and "mithril boxing gloves." Aragorn's tracking ability is identical to Jack Sparrow in Lego: Pirates of the Caribbean. Although you can select your destination and follow the guide studs, things would have gone a lot smoother with some sort of mini-map, radar, or even a compass that told you which way was north. You cannot cheat by using your bow on the whack-a-mole mini-game.
Items
Description: Each area and each level will contain a blacksmithing recipe where you can mold mithril bricks into the specific item. These can range from entirely cosmetic to multi-purposed. In addition, there are three "fun" items you can find in each level. Although the quest givers give you a clue to what these items do when you come to them, it would have been more helpful if the item database had some sort of detail attached to the items before equipping them. Early items will cost maybe 3 or 4 mithril bricks while the latter ones will cost upwards to 16. Since there are so many items, I've decided to merely list out the ones with any useful functions for your characters.
Treasure: Stop Wand - stops enemies, Ent Draught - Enables "Big-Head" mode for any character hit, Sure-footed Greaves - imitates the elf's ability to walk on top of rope or snow, Golden Axe - imitates the dwarf's ability to smash stone, Toy Snake - imitates Sam's golden rope, Luminous Stone/Glowing Shield - imitates Frodo's Phial of Galadriel, Magma Rock - can be used like Sam's Tinderbox or Frodo's Phial, Decorative Horseshoes - increases running speed a little and makes horse sounds, Wooden Bucket - collects water to put out fires, Fishing Rod - pull objects out of water, Calcium Armor/Magma Armor - gives you super strength to pull orange handles.
Mithril Objects: Fireworks destroys mithril bricks, Shovel imitates Sam's trowel to dig and plant, Rope climbs up or pulls down hooks, Tinderbox lights fires, Bottomless Bucket douses fires, Boxing Gloves gives super strength, Carrot Bow shoots out carrots instead of arrows, Climbing Boots allows you to climb up walls, Cluster Bow shoots three arrows at once, Fire Bow shoots fire, Fishing Rod pulls up objects out of water, Gloves blocks arrows, Hairbrush changes hairstyle of other characters, Horn forces people to dance, Ice Bow freezes people, Music Boots plays the melody while you walk, Shield deflects attacks, Shockwave Axe breaks stone, Skeleton Sword/Skeleton Bow turns people into skeletons, Spring Boots allows you to jump as high as an elf, Squeaking Sword makes a squeak sound when you hit people, Stud Mallet gives you studs when you strike enemies, Camouflage Tome imitates Frodo's elven cloak, Whistling Sword makes the most annoying sound when you swing it in the air, Disco Phial gives you the best thing in the world by forcing people to dance (in step if you are another player) and plays music while shining rainbow light inside dark places if you wish.
Red Bricks: Sadly, the hardest part of the game should not be unlocking the red bricks. Let's take the example of the x2 Stud Multiplier you see in almost every Lego game. This is essential for getting enough for all those half a million characters out in the world. First you need to (1) Get the beserker from Helm's Deep or obtain any other source of explosive, (2) Replay the Warg Rider level to unlock the blacksmith recipe, (3) make sure you have enough bricks to forge it, (4) visit the blacksmith in Bree, (5) Find the Quest Giver in Rivendell and (6) make sure you have 250,000 studs to buy the power brick once the quest is completed. None of these things are explicitly spelled out to you and the whole experience wasn't fun in the slightest. Though, I guess it is funny to equip bosses with disguises and listen to the one 8-bit music song.
Summary
Review: While the general mechanics of the game could have been worked on further, there is a lot of new stuff to take in. There is an expanded world out there filled with people to talk to, animals to ride, and items to craft and find. They included some older tactics like having day & night cycles, territories, fast travel between points, and a bonus level. They were very careful with the lore by making sure certain things only happened at night, naming all the various equipment in the series, and having items properly react to the situation at hand. Unfortunately, some puzzles were downright broken and there were minor annoyances like the inability to touch water even on a horse. The additional content was, again, locked to the console version only. Despite the lacking quality of life additions in their new features to the game, there was enough passion poured into the project that left a lasting impression. I would definitely recommend this game.
3-2-2023