LEGO Lord of the Rings

Lego Lord Of The Rings, is quite simply the stand out of all Lego games to date. Not just for the fact that, they've chosen a huge name 'Lord Of The Rings' which in its own right, is a huge success through books and the films.. But it expands everything Lego has done so far to another level. Not just the open world aspect which they implemented into the 'Lego Batman' but they've also added RPG elements that fit perfectly well with the Lord Of The Rings story. It's not 'Skyrim' or any other game that focuses soley on this, but it adds that extra something for the perfectionist to get his/her teeth into.. Here's the breakdown of the game :

Story - Well quite simply it's the original trilogy of the films put into Lego form. That in itself is a winner straight from the off, but the most amazing part of it is... The original voice acting is there to be heard, which really adds a lot of depth to the game instead of mumbo jumbo that most Lego games have. I think they did this not only to sharpen the overall quality of the game, but to also bind all age groups to it, no longer is it fixed on just the younger players, it also grips the adults too. 10/10

Game play - It's pretty much everything you'd expect from a Lego game. It's not technical or difficult. There's an attack button which will take your characters to swing weapons to defeat enemies, knocking their Lego bodies all over the place. The level designs are fun, some are killing hordes of Lego orcs, some need you to sneak past enemies and use distractions, others require teamwork and use of all characters to get through a level, it's not just mindless side screen action. Most of it is fine and enjoyable bar a few glitches, for example the ending level to the fellowship (Borimirs death) the boss got stuck and i had to re-do the level.. A little annoying but didn't ruin the experience, just a minor glitch. 8/10

Audio - This is a huge stand out as you would expect in a Lord Of The Rings game. The music is as stunning as it is in the movies, crisp sound. Added of course to the voices of the cast from the film, it is simply faultless. 10/10

New features - There's a crafting system that will wet your appetite to perfect the game, and have the best weapon / armor. It's all about collecting mithril lego blocks, and also recipes to craft them at a blacksmith. It's a nice touch. Also there are side quests to do in most towns, but unfortunately it's usually based around doing a level you've already done, but finding a specific item in that level to bring back. Which can be a little repetitive.

Overall this is a fantastic story telling game of the Lord Of The Rings. Any fan of the genre buy it, any Lego fans buy it. A real gem!

Just received this today and it's now being tested out by my junior gamester. Initial reaction, is that it's really captured the style and content of the films, with some great sound tracks, effects and dialogue. The game play looks up to the very best standard set by HP Yr5-7, and although its still early days it really does look to be very good.

Update: Two weeks in and it's still proving to be great fun, with so many characters, including 3 DLC packs there appears to be 91 possible (personal favourites are the Uruk-Hai and the Witch King), multiple mini-quests (a little like Assassins Creed), treasure/weapons to collect and areas to explore via a map. I'm assured it only took about ~6 hours play to run through the core of the game before free play was unlocked (which then allows many of the challenges to be tackled), at that point it looked like the game was about 15% completed (from recollection).

As others have said the sound track and dialogue are directly copied from the 3 films, which gives the game a depth and quality not normally heard from Lego games, certainly some of the screams/squarks are really quite realistic.

Although slightly bias as a big LotR fan I have to say this game is excellent.
It has humour and fun to entertain the kids whilst also be true (and big) enough to the films that I think most adults will get mesmerised as well.