Comments on: LEGO Lord of the Rings video game rewards perseverance [Review]

By: Ginnymarney

Ginnymarney — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 21:34:38 +0000

Interesting that both 3DS versions of this game we’ve had (original one the day it came out in the UK) and today’s swap freeze during the fight at the top of the tower in the Taming Gollum section. Very disheartening for a 6 year old who is beating his mother at this game. Will see if I can download a patch but really worried that it won’t work… Wherever have we put the USB cable as I can’t get the wireless connection to work – or perhaps need to stop being frustrated at the software error message. Did contact Nintendo in case they had any suggestions but they want us to send the console back to them for a check over… but costs more than a full price game and from comments above may not be worth it.
Lots of other niggles but am not as game savvy as many who post.

By: SirPalinDrome

SirPalinDrome — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 20:33:50 +0000

My biggest complaint is that when you try and switch characters in free play it randomly desides that you also want to change to the other active character. Very, very annoying when you are trying to make it to the top of Helm’s Deep and you are 2/3 the way up.

By: purplemur

purplemur — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 16:01:43 +0000

My wife and I just finished the Dead Marshes and are doing a little Free Play and we really love this game. We have had a few game freezes, which have been frustrating (one froze just as we finished the last task for a chapter in Story Mode…we lost about an hour on that one). Other than that, though, we haven’t seen any real bugs yet, other than a few view glitches that didn’t affect the game.

One note, Tom Bombadil also has strength! I’m not sure why…but I’m glad he does, since Sauron won’t be with us for a while. :)

And I’m with Lyichir with looking forward to Lego City: Undercover. Lots of great potential with an open theme like that.

By: Lyichir

Lyichir — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 15:51:20 +0000

Yeah, I played the demo for 3DS and was hugely disappointed with the voice acting. It worked in Lego Batman 2, since the lines were original and thus could be infused with the classic Lego humor that has characterized the TT Lego games. But in the demo I played of this game, the only humor was in silent background events that clashed with the serious dialogue of the movies. And without the humor, the traditional gameplay used in most of the Lego licensed games goes from tried-and-true to tired and dull.

I’ll pass on this one. What I’m looking forward to is Lego City: Undercover. TT Games’ first game based on Lego’s largest non-licensed theme? That looks like a kid-friendly Grand Theft Auto? With shoutouts galore to both classic crime drama and classic video games? And it’s being developed separately for 3DS and Wii U, meaning both games will both be high quality and unique? Sign me up.

By: dave_lartigue

dave_lartigue — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 13:16:48 +0000

I agree with your take on the game, including the observation that the lack of polish is absurd. My wife and I have been playing this co-op and generally having a good time, but there are just absurd bugs that are constantly popping up. In fact, there are two mithril bricks we can’t get because the things that are supposed to happen to activate them won’t happen. The fetch quests are an integral part of the game, yet the main map lies about what quests you can complete and the pathfinding system on the map will reset unexpectedly. Most telling, we have gotten achievements on co-op that are clearly labeled “single player only”.

It’s pretty clear this game was not finished and was rushed out to make the two deadlines of Christmas and the release of The Hobbit. The game’s a lot of fun, but there’s a level of maddening frustration that simply should not be there.

By: Sjaacko

Sjaacko — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 10:17:32 +0000

Good review! All things said are true and I must agree. I play on Wii and have just finished The Dead Marshes, though without encountering any bugs so far. Taming Gollum for example took me no replay nor did the game crash. The Dead Marshes level was too long. When I had to follow Gollum for the 10th time or so, putting out fire and hiding for the Nazgul was fun but a bit too much.
The way you have to go through the puzzles is linear and a bit too easy for adult players, but I think younger players will have loads of fun. The LEGO models in the game are absolutely great. I’d like to see a set come out featuring the Balrog!
I like the way you have to use special abilities and tools that certain characters have to complete a level. There are some great concepts too like dwarf tossing and playing in the shadow world when Frodo puts on the ring.
All in all a good game and if you are a LEGO or LOTR fan or both, it seems worth it to finish the whole game once you played the story.