LEGO The Lord of the Rings Preview

System: Xbox 360, PC, PS3
Dev: TT Games
Pub: Warner Bros. Interactive
Release: Q3 2012
Players: 1-2
Screen Resolution: 480p-1080p

by Josh Wirtanen

I've always loved the Lord of the Rings. What I haven't loved so much is the way Tolkien's beloved masterpiece gets treated in video game form. Sure, there are a few Lord of the Rings games that are truly exceptional, but for the most part, they don't generally rise above the curse of the licensed game.

So you can understand my hesitation as I approached the LEGO The Lord of the Rings demo at the Warner Bros. booth during E3 last month. I mean, the LEGO games have their own sorted history, with some truly amazing titles as well as some mediocre "me too" entries.

But, from what I saw at E3, LEGO The Lord of the Rings seems to be doing quite well for itself. You see, it's actually revamping a lot of the stuff that we grumpy game reviewers have been accusing of being stale and formulaic, though it's still keeping all of that LEGO charm we expect from TT Games.

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