LEGO Middle Earth: LEGO Lord of the Rings and LEGO the Hobbit

LEGO Lord of the Rings- Relive one of the greatest fantasy adventures of all-time, with dialogue straight from the movie. Play as your favorite characters: like Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, Samwise the Brave, Frodo Baggins, Merry and Pippin, along with characters that you couldn’t care less about like: random orcs, different versions of elves, Gondor and Rohan soldiers, and the really creepy bad guys like: Sauron, the Nazgul, Sméagol, and the Mouth of Sauron.  Some new features in the game are the ability to forge new weapons, armors, and other random items at the Blacksmith shop in Bree with the Mithril bricks that you have collected across the world of Middle Earth. Another thing is that you now have a backpack where your character can store up to 8 items which includes your character’s default items.  One of the annoying things with the backpack element in the game is your weapon default setting – turned off – meaning you have to manually select the weapon when you want to fight or destroy something.  This gets very annoying quickly.  Another really disappointing thing in the game is the fact that all of the swords, bows, and wizard staves all look very generic, and it is impossible to tell the difference between Aragorn’s sword and a regular broad sword used by the regular soldiers.  Gandalf’s staff is just a stick that can shoot light beams, and Legolas’s 2 bows look the exact same.  There are 18 story levels in the game, 6 for each of the 3 movies.  Some of the levels don’t really capture the epicness of the moment in the movie, like the Battle of the Black Gate where you are just fighting trolls and not the whole hordes of Mordor, or the total omission the Battle of Gondor, or the Cleansing of the Shire from the end of the Return of the King book, which could have made an interesting bonus level in the game.

Character Profiles

Aragorn- heir to the throne of Gondor, but Aragorn does not want to accept his birthright because one of his ancestors failed to destroy the One Ring of Power. He spent much of his life (he is 87 years old) in the wild, and living with elves. But once Frodo starts his quest to destroy the Ring, he heads home to Gondor to reclaim his rightful throne, and brings peace to much of Middle Earth. His weapons and abilities in the game include his 2 handed sword that he used for much of his life and his sword Anduril, which was the legendary sword that was broken, that can destroy evil.

Legolas- an elven prince from the land of Mirkwood, who was part of the events of the Hobbit, despite not being mentioned anywhere the book.  Legolas and the dwarf Gimli originally start off as rivals, but eventually become very close friends, even say that they would die for the other, rebuilding the friendship between the races that has not been there for several generations of Middle Earth. His weapons and abilities include, his twin daggers, his regular longbow, his new bow given him by the Lady Galadriel, he able to high jump, walk on deep snow, tightrope walk, and keen eyesight.

Gimli- son of Gloin one of the dwarves who went on the quest with Bilbo to reclaim their homeland, the mountain Erebor. Gimli is a very powerful warrior, and very adept with his axes and hatchets. Like Aragorn and Legolas, Gimli is also a member of a royal family, since his dad, cousin, uncles and other random family members are lords of different Middle Earth Mountains.  It was Gimli’s idea to take the Fellowship of the Ring to try to visit his cousin Balin in the Mines of Moria, but that didn’t end well.  His abilities and weapon in the game include, being able to travel through the small hatches to access new areas, can be thrown by certain people to have Gimli break certain walls with his axe and body mass, and he has only one single bladed axe, instead of a double bladed one like he uses in the movies.  In fact in the movies, he uses several different types of axes and hatchets are completely omitted from the game.

Gandalf- one of the 5 Wizards or Istari, who are stewards over different regions of Middle Earth, Gandalf is given the responsibility to protect the Shire, which is why the Hobbits there are very familiar with Gandalf the Grey and his famous fireworks during such occasions as the birthday celebration for Bilbo (and Frodo). Gandalf is one of the oldest beings in all of the world of Middle Earth.  He was thought to have been killed by the Balrog in the Mines of Moria, but he was brought back in greater power as the White Wizard, being able to tip the scale for the free peoples of Middle Earth in their cause to defeat Sauron the Great Eye. His weapons and abilities for both variants include his staff that can cast magic and act as a light in dark places, his sword Glamdring, which is one of the great swords to fight evil, and he arrives precisely when he means to.

Boromir- son of the steward of Gondor, Boromir is one of the captain of Gondor’s armies who was sent to Rivendell to be one of the members of the Fellowship of the Ring.  Boromir wanted to try to use the Ring of Power against Sauron to protect his homeland from invasion from Mordor, but the Ring is not able to be wielded except by Sauron himself. The Ring nearly drove Boromir to the point where he almost killed Frodo.  Boromir died a hero’s death defending the Hobbits Merry and Pippin from the orcs. His weapons and abilities include his shield, sword, and horn of Gondor that can be used to stun enemies for a short period of time.

Frodo Baggins- the adopted nephew of Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins is given the task to take the Ring of Power to Mordor and the destroy it once and for all to save the peoples of Middle Earth. Frodo’s weapon and abilities include the elven shortsword Sting, an elven cloak to help keep him hidden from the enemy, the Phial of Galadriel to light up dark areas, his Mithril vest given him by his uncle, and go through small hatches.

Samwise the Brave- the gardener, best friend of Frodo Baggins, and the one who never left his side literally or figuratively.  If not for Samwise the Brave, Frodo would have never made it to Mordor and destroyed the Ring.  He singlehandedly took on a tower full of orcs just to rescue Frodo from Sauron’s clutches. Another great moment is when he carries Frodo up the rest of Mount Doom when they are both very exhausted from their journey.  Sam’s weapons and abilities include a frying pan that can be used for cooking quests and hitting with, a shovel for digging and planting, a tinderbox for starting fires, an elven rope, and go through small hatches.

Merry- a cousin, close friend, and member of Frodo’s companions until Merry and Pippin are captured by orcs.  Merry and Pippin are always getting themselves into trouble both in the Shire and on their journey across Middle Earth.  Merry joins the fight with the Riders of Rohan when a mysterious person grabs him and places him and haves him go into battle with them.  Merry has a shortsword, a fishing pole, and can go through small hatches.

Pippin- a cousin, close friend, and member of Frodo’s companions until Merry and Pippin are captured by orcs.  Merry and Pippin are always getting themselves into trouble both in the Shire and on their journey across Middle Earth.  Some of the things that Pippin accidently caused were: the dragon firework in the Shire, unleashing the Balrog in Moria, and using the Palantir to talk to Sauron, but Pippin does redeem himself by saving Faramir and Gandalf during the Battle of Gondor.  Pippin has a shortsword, a bucket, and can go through small hatches.

Sméagol- one of the more complex characters in the Lord of the Rings series, he was originally a character very similar to a Hobbit before he found the Ring of Power the corrupted him and drove him mad. Now many years later, he has no friends, no teeth, no hair, and he hates himself and the Ring. Sméagol acts as the guide for Frodo and Sam so they can get to Mordor and destroy the Ring, since he is one of the few creatures to make there and back again. His abilities are going through small hatches and climbing special walls.

Saruman- once a great and mighty wizard, now a person who only cares about power and more power. Before Gandalf came back from the dead, Saruman was the White Wizard and one of the wisest beings in all of Middle Earth, and before he starting dealing in dark magic and working for Sauron. His abilities is being able to use his staff to light up dark areas and magic.

Sauron- the very personification of evil, and the forger of the Ring of Power, Sauron had a human body until his finger was cut off by one of the great kings of Gondor. Now Sauron is just a creepy looking eye that watches over any realm of Middle Earth that he chooses, usually the realm of Gondor to watch out for the Return of the King.

LEGO The Hobbit- Relive Bilbo’s journey from Hobbit that sits in his comfy armchair at the fire, to Master Burglar, and hero of many songs of Middle Earth. Like LEGO Lord of the Rings, there is the backpack, crafting and Mithril bricks, as well as the ability to collect pieces of loot that can be used to build new items at the blacksmith, progress in the story, or feed Bombur, so you can use his belly as a trampoline.  For some reason this game only covers the Unexpected Journey and the Desolation of Smaug, the Battle of Five Armies is completely omitted from the game, leaving the player at a very awkward ending with Smaug just going out of the mountain with no real wrap up to the story, and the LEGO Hobbit line was discontinued in 2014, 6 months after the game was released.  I wonder if the LEGO team started working on the game when there were only going to be 2 Hobbit movies instead of 3, guess we will never know.  The characters in this game are the 13 dwarves with at least 2 variants each, Bilbo Baggins with 3 or 4 variants, Gandalf the Grey, Legolas, Tauriel, Saruman the White, several random orcs and elves, and that is pretty much the character roster for this game.  Also with characters in this game, it is the first game where you can play as big characters like trolls, in fact you can even customize your own troll, horse, or warg if you really want to.

It really would have been cool if before the LEGO Hobbit line was discontinued if we could have gotten a LEGO Middle Earth game that lets you play through all 6 movies: the Fellowship of the Ring, the Two Towers, the Return of the King, the Unexpected Journey, the Desolation of Smaug, and the Battle of Five Armies.