The Lego franchise has taken many popular movies from the big screen to your console, but never have they attempted anything like Lego Lord of the Rings.
One thing was made very clear during my hands on time with the demo on the show floor: this is a massive undertaking. Fully voice acted with a story that spans across all three movies (nothing on the Hobbit is planned) and contains an open world to explore, Lego Lord of the Rings is shaping up to be the biggest Lego game ever.
Don’t let that fool you into thinking that Telltale Games is changing up how the game will play; this is still the same Lego game we all know and love, featuring drop in and out co-op, puzzle solving, and dungeon crawling. Everything is just on a far more massive and cinematic scale, including such moments as to where I was quite impressed to see Lego Gandalf fall off the ledge in Moria and dive down to his epic battle with the Balrog, resulting in one of my favorite moments from the first day on the show floor.
Expanding on the traditional gameplay the Lego franchise is known for, switching between the entire fellowship (yes, entire) is vital for puzzle solving, whether you need a hobbit to dig a small hole needed to advance, the precision of Legolas’ bow, or if you just need to throw Gimli to clear a path, swapping characters is a vital process that’s thankfully easy to perform.
While it wasn’t on display, as the build was still in pre-alpha, which showed, the traditional Lego hub is still in tact, featuring dozens upon dozens of characters to play as, though walking from door to door has been replaced with the overworld of Middle Earth.
Lego Lord of the Rings is shaping up to be more than just a Lego game; it’s looking like a full fledged action RPG. We’ll see how it shapes up as the year progresses before it’s release on Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii, 3DS, and Vita.
