Ever since Warner Bros. and Traveller’s Tales started churning out LEGO games, The Lord of the Rings has been at the top of the long list of licensed film/book properties gamers and fantasy geeks have wanted to see brought to life in brick and minifig format. Frankly, I’m shocked it took this long to happen, but I guess since Harry Potter and Batman have been in the spotlight with more recent film releases, tie-in obligations dictated those franchises come first.
But now that The Hobbit movie is a comin’, the time is finally right for The Lord of the Rings to claim its rightful spot as the one LEGO game to rule them all. Then maybe once the second Hobbit movie is out we’ll get LEGO The Hobbit. *OK, calm down, Matt, you’re getting WAY ahead of yourself here.*
Scheduled to launch this fall on PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PS Vita, 3DS and DS, LEGO The Lord of the Rings will encompass events spanning the complete motion picture trilogy, from The Shire all the way to the final push up Mount Doom. Families and friends will form their own bonds of fellowship, playing as minifigures modeled after Middle-earth’s heroes, Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas, Gimli, Boromir, Sam, Merry, Pippin and, of course, Frodo.
Online co-op finally? The press release doesn’t say one way or the other, so don’t go holding your breath.
As I’m sure you’ll notice in the teaser trailer, these minifigs, like those in LEGO Batman 2, have English-speaking voices rather than the cute minifig speech of previous LEGO games. In fact, it sounds like the original actors’ lines were simply cut from the film and pasted into the game, which is fine by me as long as the sample and sync quality is high (and it is in the trailer).
Matt Litten is a 28 year old from-the-womb gamer turned video game reviewer/blogger and current editor/owner/operator of VGBlogger.com. Matt got his first taste of gaming as a youngster on the NES and Atari, and the rest is history from there.
In 2004, three years removed from high school and still looking for a career direction in life, Matt landed his first gig in the video game review business writing for the now-defunct website BonusStage.com. After the sad and untimely close of BonusStage, the former staff went on to found VGBlogger.com, and after a short stint as US Site Manager for AceGamez Matt turned his attention to VGBlogger, and to this day is dedicated to making it one of the top video game blogs in all the blogosphere.
Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary. 
