Lego Lord of the Rings Interview

Sean Gibson / Sep 11th, 2012 No Comments

Lego Lord of the Rings

Lego Lord of the Rings is the latest in the line of a very popular video game series that has spanned other mega-movie franchises, such as Batman and Star Wars. In this upcoming game, you’ll get to re-live the fight to save Middle-Earth in a game meant to be played by the whole family. You’ll get to play as Frodo or any of his companions and join the Fellowship of the Ring on a quest to destroy the One Ring and Lord Sauron. The game will be coming out soon for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, DS, 3DS, Vita and the PC.

We met up with Sten Fender Lysdahl, who works with the Lego team and asked him about this upcoming game.

GI: Sean Gibson, Gaming Illustrated here, right in front of Lego Lord of the Rings booth. Could you introduce yourself and your role with the team?

Sten Funder Lysdahl, Lego: I am Sten from Lego. I work on the marketing side of our video games.

GI: So when we published the announcement for Lord of the Rings Lego, we got a ton of hits. It seems like there’s a lot of interest; that this is a franchise that’s beloved. This is similar to what you do with Star Wars and the Clone Wars that was so successful. There’s a lot of pressure too, right?

Sten, Lego: There is, but this is something we’ve wanted to do for a long, long, long, long time, both TT Games, Lego. Fans, as you’ve mentioned, have been demanding this. The opportunity arose now and we really, really are excited about it.

GI: So this game. Does it encompass all three movies from the trilogy?

Sten, Lego: It does, yes.

GI: What we’re seeing now is the Fellowship is in the Mines of Moria! Are we going to get that experience of really going through all of the major components of the movies?

Sten, Lego: Yes, you are. You’ll be taken through the whole, sort of, story on this epic quest. And it’s slightly different from our other games, because it sort of builds on that. That’s the end goal: you want to throw that ring into Mount Doom at the end. So it has that adventure feel and it builds up to it. You have a backpack; It has those small RPG elements to it that we haven’t done before. Plus we added voiceover from the movie into the game as well. So the dialog from the movie is actually in the cutscenes you see here; it will be the exact same voices.

GI: I’m not used to having dialog. Usually it’s done pantomime and done pretty cute and we see Count Dooku with an ice cream cone… are we going to get some of that cutesy stuff in this game too?

Sten, Lego: Absolutely. Every cutscene. The movies, in general, are a bit dark. So we weren’t sure that the kids would have a good experience with this as well, so there’s a lot of humor elements to it. That’s a key focus for us.

GI: One thing that I like about the Lego games, specifically the Clone Wars—the one I just played– is that I played it through about ten times with my nephew who’s about five, and he’s actually quite good and it was very easy for him to pick it up. Could you talk about what Lego does to make sure that gamers of all ages can enjoy these games?

Sten, Lego: Part of the recipe is that we have familiar elements. Every time you see Lego, you can smash it. We are also starting to add more and more indicators where things are taking place. It is a puzzle game in many ways and we want to help make sure that we don’t give them the answer, but we at the same time also assist them as much as possible. So it’s the same old familiar recipe, but with a new twist to it that makes this game franchise so beloved by kids and fans.

GI: What has been the reception here? I know this is probably the first time anyone’s ever seen it publicly. We are here at the last day. What have your impressions been towards the reaction of the fans?

Sten, Lego: They love it. We get a lot of really strong reactions from those who love the franchise and other things. Franchise, as you mentioned in the beginning; those of course are the strongest reactions. But in general we have really, really good reception. We are also getting some nominations as well. And I think it’s back to what you mentioned earlier. It’s the franchise: it’s a mix that feel’s so natural, it feels so right, and you can just picture it on your inner screen immediately.

GI: Has there been any release date announced?

Sten, Lego: This fall. Fall 2012.

GI: Alright, just in time for Christmas for my nephew, right?

Sten, Lego: Yes, exactly.

GI: Well thank you so much for joining us.

Sten, Lego: You’re welcome.

Gaming Illustrated would like to thank Sten for his time with this interview and would like to thank Miranda Visser for being awesome and transcribing this interview.