3.5/5 ★ – Endless_backlog's review of LEGO The Lord of the Rings.

What can I say about Lego Lord of the Rings that I haven’t said about all of the other Lego games. As usual it helps being a fan of the IP and having some experience of Lego games gives you an idea of what to expect. Much of the controls are the same, rotating between characters who all have their own skillset to solve minor puzzles and progress, destroying and rebuilding things to make something new and expecting some silly humour to play off of serious moments in the movies. It was also one of the first Lego games to have both voice acting and more of an open world. Being a huge fan of the LOTR trilogy and enjoying half a dozen Lego games so far I knew I couldn’t really go wrong with this. Although, after playing Lego The Hobbit it was such a relief to play the entire trilogy in one game and just reminded me how crazy it was for them to not do the same for that. Imagine no Return of the King here? Because of this there was a huge selection of fun movie moments to play through and the campaign never went stale or resorted to filler missions. Instead we get to experience iconic locations like the Mines of Moria, Helms Deep and Shelobs Lair. The game starts strong, playing as Isildur against a huge Sauron in a level I was so happy wasn’t just a cut scene. What I did really enjoy was the moments of variety in the level design, like fleeing Mordor in the same manor as Crash Bandicoot does from that boulder, running towards the camera not knowing what obstacles you will face. Fighting the Balrog was also a great set piece but just made me wish they had made an option to play a whole game through the villains, as characters like Sauron, Lurtz and the Witch King are some of the best looking mini figures. The roster was actually smaller than most Lego games with around 80 playable characters, but I don’t think there was many glaringly obvious omissions. Playing as the Ents and experiencing the game mechanics of something other than traditional Lego sizes or Hulk size ones was a good change of pace. Lego lord of the rings does a good job of taking a fairly serious trilogy filled with death and despair and turns it into a lighthearted adventure that suits all age groups. The characters have a good selection of skills to keep progression engaging, the level choices were satisfying for fans of the trilogy and the score is as sensational here as it is in the movies.