Bestest Christmas Gift Guide – LEGO Lord of the Rings
Hooray hurrah hooroo! I cannot tell you just how long we waited for this little plastic square of happy to land on the doormat.
We are HUGE fans of the LEGO computer games franchise, but combining that with lord pf the rings has simply leaped the excitement into overdrive.
Could it possibly deliver when we expected so much?
Why yes. Yes, it could.
And some.
Lord Of The Rings just works when it’s in the LEGO format – small people doing brilliant and fun things, and all that.
The story pretty much follows the events of the three movies, rather than attempting the books, which is a good plan. Naturally you get the usual funny moments, but the storyline is strong enough to keep the harshly-critical teen happy. That can only be impressive.
Over the (long!) storyline, you get to walk through most of the big film moments. I love the fact that the script has been taken straight from the films, so that it is both familiar and weirdly ‘real’ (in a plastic-figured way).
It’s the usual LEGO format, with a range of basic puzzles and a smattering of enemy-bashing. Orks are plentiful (but easily despatched) and importantly in a game for younger players, even if you do die you reappear almost instantly. You can obviously switch between characters too, to use their own skills (Sam lights fires & Merry’s pretty nifty with a fishing rod).
As with all LEGO games, the best fun starts once you’ve finished the game. Exploring is the key – the sheer joy of wandering through Middle Earth has to be seen to be believed – and the open feel to the world is far bigger and better than any previous games in the series (and I love that you can’t get lost – there’s always indicators of where to go for the next mission. SOME parents might need that if they happen to fall into playing once younger (cleverer) children are abed *cough*).
Once you’re in Free Play you gain a much wider range of characters, and therefore unlocking items is easier, missions are simpler to accomplish… and the amazing range and and depth of the game becomes instantly visible (we also love the nod to Minecraft with the crafting meta game that allows you to forge new items as you go along).
For us, this is the very best of the LEGO games series, and if you were a little weary of the franchise and thinking you’d ignore this one? Don’t. You’ll be missing something a bit special.
LEGO Lord of the Rings is available on all platforms for £35 currently on Amazon.
