This also includes the emotionally driven Hollywood score, giving the game much more gravitas than any LEGO game to come before it. Much like Batman, all the characters speak, including some fantastic narration all lifted directly from the movies. Once you start the game you are in for an authentic cinematic experience, at least as far as the audio goes. I sat there for at least ten minutes just watching all the little random animations taking place just on the title screen. You know you are in for a magical adventure the moment the game begins and Gandalf rides up to Bilbo’s house with a wagon full of fireworks.
Much like the most recent outing with the caped crusader, Lord of the Rings follows an open-world design with specific levels fixed to certain locations on the map of Middle-earth, allowing up to two players in drop-in/out co-op to experience all their favorite moments from the movie trilogy and everything in-between.
With so many popular gaming franchises out there, LEGO has probably become more famous in gaming circles than the plastic toy building blocks that inspired them, and now Lord of the Rings joins the growing family of classics like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Batman.