Lego The Lord of the Rings (video game)

Lego The Lord of the Rings: The Video Game
Developer(s)	Traveller's Tales
Publisher(s)	Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3 PlayStation Vita Xbox 360 Wii Nintendo 3DS Nintendo DS
Release	PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS & Nintendo DS PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows & Wii
Genre(s)	Action-adventure, open world
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Lego The Lord of the Rings: The Video Game is a multi-platform action-adventure video game, developed by Traveler's Tales, that was released on Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Vita, Microsoft Windows, Wii, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

Based on The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, the game follows the original storylines of The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King, taking players through the epic story events, "re-imagined with the humour and endless variety of Lego play". The game utilizes music and voice acting taken from all three films of the film trilogy. The developer Traveller's Tales has stated they toned down the slapstick humor found in other Lego-licensed titles. The game follows the events in the films, however like the Lego Star Wars series, some scenes from the film have been altered to become more family friendly or just provide comic relief to the player. The player, as always, can play with family and friends with easy access drop-in, drop-out gameplay option. The game is more like a role-playing game than previous Lego video game titles because the player has an inventory that grows throughout play.

Gameplay

New features

New features are added to the gameplay from the older Lego video games, such as the traveling through Middle-earth in between levels, and switching between storylines of different heroes. Players also collect and use a variety of weaponry and magical items, including the Light of Eärendil, Elven Rope, swords, and bows. New character abilities include magic (Gandalf) and being thrown at things (Gimli). Each character has their own inventory that can be used to collect new and better items.

Free roam

In the "open world" mode, the game features two changable characters following the player (or players in the cooperative mode). The game features a blacksmith, who can be found in Bree, to make tools out of Mithril (represented by silver Lego bricks). There are also various side quests that can be found within the open world map, such as fetching a lost tool for a non-player character. While every area of the map is accessible on foot, the quickest way to get across the large area is to use the "fast travel" mode from within the Map screen (found by utilizing the start menu or simply pressing the select button). Free Roam mode spans the entirety of the films, giving the player the ability to literally walk from the Shire to Mordor. It features a split-screen "free roam" like Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes. 'Open world' mode is not available on either the PS Vita or Nintendo DS versions.

DLC Packs

Lego Lord of the Rings has three DLC packs that are earned with a pre-ordered the game. The first one includes Smeagol, Sauron in his Second Age "fair" form, and three other characters, and the second one includes characters such as Mini Balrog and a Corsair of Umbar. The third one includes only tools, such as the Three Elven rings.. Xbox or PC-version of the game allows purchasing the DLC with Xbox Live points; however, it is still not known whether or not it is available for other consoles like the Wii, which have character slots for the DLC characters.

Plot

See also: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring § Plot, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers § Plot, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King § Plot

The game follows the storylines from the The Lord of the Rings films: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. However, the developers modified the storylines to fit the events into a number of game chapters per film. Notable scenes have been recreated from the films, such as the memorable Moria scenes. Each different character has at least one special ability. The game features a new dynamic for a Lego game, where the characters will be able to acquire new items and weaponry as the story advances. "In contrast to our other games, covering those three films is an epic journey," says TT Games chief Jonathan Smith. "It really is a sense of an adventure rather than a series of stories. You build up your characters as you venture through the world of Middle-Earth. Our hub will be the world of Middle-Earth. As you see that unfold, as you journey through it toward your ultimate destination on this epic quest, that gives it a sense that is completely different to the open world of Gotham of Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes. You're really driving forward on a quest. Practically, in terms of the levels there's a mix between fighting and puzzling as you'd expect. We have some very big battles. We have some cool enemies. And then, for puzzling, if you're a connoisseur of the series perhaps you'll remember something more like Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures where we're picking up and dropping items and there's some inventory-based play as well and customization of characters as they go through the adventure."

Characters

There are more than 80 playable characters, including Frodo, Gandalf, Legolas, and many others to discover and unlock including Tom Bombadil, a character who appears in the books but never appeared in the film trilogy. Players experience the The Lord of the Rings heroes come to life in an all new way, as they deliver original dialogue taken directly from the films. Unlike in the Lego The Lord of the Rings sets, the Hobbits appear barefoot.

Audio

Similar to Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, Lego The Lord of the Rings: The Video Game features talking minifigures. This makes it the second Lego game to feature actual dialogue, the third being Lego City Undercover. However, the dialogue is taken directly from the films unlike the other two. Addtional voices were provided by Eric Artell, Steven Blum, Cam Clarke, Chris Edgerly, Kieren Elliott, Gideon Emery, Crispin Freeman, Bob Joles, Tom Kane, Jennifer Taylor Lawrence, Yuri Lowenthal, Jim Meskimen, Nolan North, Liam O'Brien, Jon Olson, Jim Piddock, Eliza Schneider, Keith Szarabajka, Fred Tatasciore, Anna Vocino & Hynden Walch.

Development and release

Lego The Lord of the Rings: The Video Game complements the brand new, recently released Lego The Lord of the Rings toy collection. The Special Edition of the game comes with a unique Elrond minifigure, and a code to enter on the game's homepage for a wallpaper and designer video. Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes showed a coming soon part for the game. A demo was released for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 3DS and Xbox 360. Upon release, the Xbox 360 version is potentially being recalled for being shipped with demo discs rather than the full retail copy.

The Wii version for Europe has been delayed until 30 November. The game was not brought to WiiU because Traveller's Tales and Lego were busy completing Lego City Undercover, which was already behind schedule.

See also

• List of Lego video games
• Lego The Lord of the Rings
• TT Games

External links

• Lego The Lord of the Rings: The Video Game at Lego.com
• Lego The Lord of the Rings: The Video Game at Brickipedia, an external wiki
• Lego The Lord of the Rings: The Video Game at TolkienGateway.net, an external wiki
• Lego The Lord of the Rings: The Video Game at One Wiki to Rule Them All, an external wiki