It was only a matter of time before LEGO made construction sets based on Tolkien's Middle-Earth, and a Travelers Tales game to compliment them.

In past LEGO games, characters communicated using grumbles and phantomimes,
but the Minifigure inhabitants of Middle-Earth use the voice dialogue from the movies.

The whole world of Middle-Earth is open for exploration (albiet on a smaller scale for convenience, but it isn't bitesized).
To play new levels, one must journey to their respective locations, rather than simply walking into a doorway like in LEGO Star Wars 1 & 2.

Aside from the levels, there are oodles of side quests to do and things to find in Middle-Earth.
The inhabitants of Middle-Earth will give you Mithril(used to forge special items one could use anywhere except in the main campaign),
or unveil an unlockable Extra (cheats such as Invincibility) if you find for them a one-of-a-kind item or a Mithril-forged item, respectively.
One thing I find odd about the side quests is that you keep the quest items afterwards. I know for sure this is not a glitch.
It would've made more sense if you had to buy back the treasures from the quest-givers.

However, the PC version of LEGO LOTR is not without glitches.
It is common for the keys to freeze, so I'd have to Control+Alt+Delete+Task Manager to unfreeze them.
There are two small invisible walls in the bonus level that prevent me from completing two minor objectives.
When completing a side quest as Legolas, there is this common animation glitch of him giving his bow to the quest-giver instead of the quest item.


If you are a Tolkien fan, I think you'll enjoy playing this with your family.
There is tongue-in-cheek humor, but it doesn't distabilize Tolkien's story.
I think you'll enjoy the unlockable characters who weren't in the movies, such as a merry fellow with a coat bright blue and boots yellow.

If you're a gamer who wants to get a Travelers Tales LEGO game to play with your family,
who also likes exploration and collectibles, I recommend either this or LEGO Batman 2.
As I said before, there are oodles of things to do and collect throughout the open world.