by Jayden Leggett, Editor

Another day, another LEGO game review. However, far from being a case of “been there, done that”, LEGO The Lord Of The Rings for iOS somewhat breaks the mould (pardon the pun) of many previous LEGO games that have preceded it, with the end result being immensely enjoyable and a breath of fresh air for this reporter.

Being a Warner Bros. game, LEGO The Lord Of The Rings is based on the epic movie trilogy as directed by Peter Jackson. As such, players take control of LEGO versions of the various iconic The Lord Of The Rings characters such as Frodo, Sam, Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas (or should that be LEGO-las), Gimli and so on.

Like all of the other LEGO games before it, LEGO The Lord Of The Rings has you fighting baddies, solving puzzles and collecting studs in your quest to defeat the dark forces of Sauron and destroy the One Ring in the fires of Mt Doom (located in the friendly suburb of Mordor, Middle Earth). Where I feel this game differs greatly from the likes of LEGO Star Wars or LEGO Batman is in the gameplay. Sure, the controls are the same, the different character abilities still exist, and the constant collecting of LEGO studs and other goodies is still a huge component. But where as the aforementioned games tend to be largely concerned with combat, I felt that LEGO The Lord Of The Rings held much more of a primary focus on exploration and puzzle solving, giving it a greater feeling of being an “adventure” game, as opposed to falling into the “action” category.

Other games in the series such as the console versions of LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes or LEGO Marvel Super Heroes give the player access to a central open world hub (think Grand Theft Auto) that you are free to explore at your leisure. LEGO The Lord Of The Rings differs from this approach by treating its “hub” stages as different levels, set in the various different locations of Middle Earth as made famous by the movies. The exploration and puzzle solving is still there, but is now much more controlled and refined, and left me feeling like I was playing the “levels between the levels” whenever I was in the “open world” of Middle Earth, an approach that I enjoyed immensely.

The sound effects and music all do their job, with voice overs and orchestral scores from the movies being greatly incorporated into the game, and the graphics are of an excellent standard for an iPad game. The game plays extremely well with a virtual button interface, but I found it almost unplayable when using the touch controls (which thankfully can be switched in the options menu). Players of previous LEGO games will be able to switch to the virtual D-Pad controls and pick up the game with no troubles at all.

I was surprised by how addictive and how much fun I found iPad LEGO The Lord Of The Rings to be in terms of exploring the various environments and unlocking new collectables without spending as much time with combat as I initially expected to. Of course, slaying goblins and orcs is still bloody good fun, but I actually gained more enjoyment out of the exploration aspect. I would happily go as far as saying that I really loved the hell out of this game, however there is just one gripe I have with it that really irks me.

LEGO The Lord Of The Rings allows you to collect all of the character tokens, red bricks and treasures as a reward for your game play and re-travelling old levels to reach new areas, but to unlock the characters for play, you are required to spend exorbitant amounts of LEGO studs. While on the console versions of the game, collecting the required amount of studs is fun and feasible, the mobile version makes this task seem impossibly daunting unless you spend real-world dollars to purchase character packs and the red brick cheats. While these micro-transactions are something that is deemed standard fare nowadays in the realm of pocket gaming, it is still a premise that doesn’t sit well with me. Having said that, I was still able to completely finish the game and collect everything without spending a single dime, even if I couldn’t actually use half of the characters that I had worked so hard to “unlock”.

Gamers looking for something radically different from a LEGO game won’t be finding it here, despite the game being somewhat different from previous games in the franchise, but fans of the LEGO series and of the adventure genre in general will find heaps to love with LEGO The Lord Of The Rings, a game which will definitely keep the player entertained for hours upon hours. Just be careful not to accidentally spend a real-world fortune on the numerous unlockables that are available for purchase. You have been warned…

Rating:

ComicsOnline gives LEGO The Lord Of The Rings 4 out of 5 hairy hobbit feet.

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