

There’s one blueprint in every level too, plus more secreted around Middle Earth. (A hobbit’s son dropped his toy snake in the Dead Marshes? Why yes, I’d love to go look for it.)įorged items require you to have mithril bricks, which replace the gold bricks of previous games, as well as a blueprint for the required item. (There are three items in each level.) The NPC will helpfully tell you where to find their item, even if some of the rationales lack heft. There’s a minor difference between the two:įetched items are found in-and only in-the regular levels, and much like the minikits that every LEGO game to date has featured, most can only be retrieved on the free-play mode using characters not available during story mode. The open world contains several NPCs, who will give you a mission to either fetch or forge them an item. You can be weary, battle-scarred Sam.”ĭid I mention quests? Oh yes, indeed. Note that there are several versions of some characters, which helps settle ties in co-op mode: “I want to be Sam.” “No, I want to be Sam.” “It’s okay, I can be Sam. As you progress through the game, players can acquire more items, which give them more abilities, which I’ll explain in a minute. Soon, Frodo receives a glowing phial to light dark areas, Sam gets a mithril rope, and Aragorn (still not king) acquires Anduril, which can strike glowing black Morgul bricks. (I always did suspect Sam was the true hero all along.) Gimli can break prescribed areas with his hammer, Legolas can shoot arrows, Gollum can climb special walls (the same mechanic as Robin’s magnet suit from LEGO Batman 2), and Sam has a trowel and the ability to start fires, which means he has the most to do in the earliest levels. It was a terrific way to play a game with someone else while not being constrained.Īs with every other LEGO game, most characters have special abilities. the first book/film), we found ourselves in different parts of Middle Earth, traveling towards two different plot strands at the same time, picking up random studs and accepting random quests on the way. I played this game on co-op with my husband, and once we finished The Fellowship of the Ring (a.k.a. For example, you can follow Frodo and Sam, or you can take up Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas. Once you’ve finished part of the story, you can opt to continue that strand or switch to another one. LEGO Lord of the Rings takes advantage of the fact that there are multiple parallel narratives in the book.
