It's not Middle-earth as Tolkien intended, or even Peter Jackson, but it's endearing in its own way. For LEGO The Lord of the Rings on the Xbox 360, a GameFAQs message board topic titled 'What did LEGO Frodo say when he threw LEGO Sam into the lava'. I took Boromir there, strolled through The Black Gate (still open for pizza delivery), and then found a mission to kill 20 orcs within a time limit so I could unlock a shiny mithril Lego brick. Not only can you simply walk into Mordor, you get an achievement for doing so. An oliphaunt rears up in fear when it sees a mouse. During the siege of Minas Tirith, one of the orcs gets hit with a pig, and another is stepped on by their giant troll. When Sam hits Gorbag with his frying pan, the orc tries to avoid falling down the ladder. It's always a short walk from a swamp where it's perpetually raining to a mountain pass or an elven forest, with Howard Shore's score from the movies hopping from theme to theme as appropriate to each location. Shagrat and Gorbags tug-of-war over Frodos mithril shirt. This Middle-earth feels like it's been reconstructed on a bedroom floor, an open-world that's manageably sized because it's designed for children rather than unemployed adults-surely the only human beings with enough spare time to 100% any modern RPG. You stand in Osgiliath and in one direction see the White City of Minas Tirith, then look over your shoulder and see Minas Morgul, home of the Nazgul.
![lego frodo lego frodo](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/WT0AAOSwUK9epab3/s-l640.jpg)
The road goes ever on and on, but all you have to do is walk round the corner to arrive at another iconic place.
![lego frodo lego frodo](https://img.brickowl.com/files/image_cache/larger/lego-frodo-baggins-with-sand-green-shirt-minifigure-1.jpg)
Part of the reason it doesn't get boring is that the scale's perfect. Sure, there are dopey jumping puzzles and other bits of filler, but at least there aren't 50 towers to climb or smuggler's caches hidden in every stretch of water. You will also find two new custom LOTR pieces with Sam’s cult phrase For more information, you can find a video that details the project here. In the Shire you can race on a pig, and out behind Bree there are skeletons waiting to be assembled so they can burst into dance. In this set, you could find Frodo and Sam accompanied by Gollum and the ring during their final quest for the destruction of the ring. Wander up to the right river bend and you can take control of a tiny sailing ship and blow apart pirates with your cannon.
![lego frodo lego frodo](https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/lego-lord-of-the-rings/images/8/87/MouthofSauron.jpg)
This was 2012, before we got sick of maps full of icons, but even today it remains a nice open world to journey across, with plenty of color and incident. This Middle-earth feels like it's been reconstructed on a bedroom floor.