Being the head geek here at The Geek Church, I love Lego, I love video games, and I love Lord of the Rings. Why in the world would I not like a Lego Lord of the Rings video game?

In case you haven’t figured it out, this is one of the many Lego games that have been released in the past few years. The last was Lego Batman 2, which I gave good reviews to, and I will give higher reviews to Lego Lord of the Rings.

The gameplay of Lego Lord of the Rings is pretty much the same as the other Lego games. You essentially take your Lego figures into worlds that are mostly created from Lego bricks. You play different characters who have different abilities, and you smash a lot of Lego objects to get Lego studs. The studs are the money in the game, and you can use it to buy bonuses that make the game easier or more fun to play.

What makes Lego Lord of the Rings work is the same thing that makes Epic Mickey 2 succeed: a large amount of side-quests. In Lego Lord of the Rings, the player meets people along the way that ask for particular objects. Find the object, and you get a bonus. It seems like most video games are all about the side-quests these days.

Lego Lord of the Rings was also able to capture the magic of the films with the movies in between. They synced with the voices from the film. I will have to say that the whimsical way they do it didn’t work, but kids might find it entertaining. For example, there is a scene where the Gimli is crying as he is watching Boromir’s dead body go over the falls. Boromir’s raft gets stuck, so Gimli has to toss a rock to jar the raft loose. Then the raft goes over the falls, hitting rocks on the way down, making pinball machine sounds. It kind of ruins the serious nature of the original story.

Still, I am looking forward to spending a lot of time wandering around Middle Earth, looking for all the treasures. If this appeals to you, head on over to Amazon and lay down about $40-50 to get it.