Twelve for 2012: Video Games Part Seven – LEGO Lord of the Rings


It’s time for part seven, the one with the bricks, the ring and the famous ‘You shall not pass!’ scene recreated in LEGO. Part seven, LEGO Lord of the Rings!

Release date: October 23

Platform(s): Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS, 3DS, Microsoft Windows PC, PS Vita

THE GOOD STUFF

LEGO Lord of the Rings already comes from a series of almost always excellent games (even if the LEGO video game franchise is essentially made up of very good cash-ins on whatever’s popular at that particular moment), and it’s also coming off the back of what’s been widely considered as the best LEGO game yet (LEGO Batman 2), so LEGO Lord of the Rings will hopefully benefit from the franchise already having form. And in a few ways, LEGO Lord of the Rings is a lot more like LEGO Batman 2, with voice acting being utilized again (even if it seems to be almost exclusively voice acting from Peter Jackson’s movie adaptations) and tantalizingly, open-world exploration is promised… (Yes, I’m a sucker for a good sandbox game, I know.)

Before its announcement at E3 this year (although it can hardly be considered an announcement, as the news of the game was leaked about three weeks before E3), LEGO Lord of the Rings was understandably appearing on quite a lot of people’s ‘most wanted LEGO games’ lists. After all, Peter Jackson’s epic trilogy seems perfect for the LEGO game treatment – they’d done Harry Potter, Star Wars, Batman and Indiana Jones, so why not The Lord of the Rings? (That’s a rhetorical question. But you can probably figure that out simply by the fact that I’m writing about this game.) Fan demand should mean high sales and (probably The Hobbit-themed0 sequels.

The gameplay demo that was shown at E3, showcasing the Mines of Moria level from The Fellowship of the Ring, looked brilliant, with the game managing to keep the tone of the scene from the Peter Jackson movie (Okay, maybe a bit less subtle. Only a bit.) and still be funny. Call of Duty may let you massacre online trolls, Halo might let you make your own world and fight it out, but LEGO Lord of the Rings lets you toss Gimli, and that beats either of those things hands down in my opinion. (Well, not really. You can’t really compare hours of online gunplay to tossing Gimli round, but moving swiftly on…)

THE BAD STUFF

It will be the second LEGO game to be released in four months once it comes out,which stinks a bit of LEGO over-saturation. The LEGO games are great, but you can always have too much of a good thing, (especially with video games) and it looks like we’re having a little too much of this particular good thing. Would one game a year really hurt, TT Games? Yes, it’s a point that was used back in part one to criticize the Mario series, but it’s just as true with the LEGO series. If a release was yearly, then it would be so much more interesting and exciting to get your hands on the new LEGO game. A four month wait between LEGO games? Not so much.

It’s essentially a tie-in for a tie-in, being released near the release of the Lord of the Rings LEGO sets, which in turn tie in with the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in December. LEGO games have always been a little bit cynical, but this seems to be a step up from that. Even if the game’s good, it feels like it’s made to cash in on the renewed interest in the Lord of the Rings franchise and make a ton of money, rather than to entertain fans of both franchises. (I know video games are made with sales in mind, but LEGO: Lord of the Rings sounds like its main purpose is to make money. I might be wrong, I’m not quite sure yet. I’m just guessing from what I’ve seen so far.)

Will it be good?

Despite my gripes about cynicism, I’m pretty stoked for the release of the game, so yes, it should be good. It’s a LEGO game, after all.

Will it succeed?

On a minor level, yes, but it can’t really compete with the triple-A major games that are being released around the same time. It’ll still do decent business, but don’t expect huge sales figures.

Next time

I get into a fight with Medal of Honor 2: Warfighter, as I take a look at the sequel that could just steal Call of Duty‘s thunder.