LEGO The Lord of the Rings (PlayStation Vita, 2012) NEW

Gamers can relive Peter Jackson's version of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic trilogy (albeit with small plastic blocks and vintage Traveller's Tales humor) as they join Frodo, Aragorn, and the rest of the Fellowship in LEGO The Lord of the Rings. All of Middle-earth has been re-created, even portions not seen in the films, but players follow the general progression of the story, travelling from The Shire all the way to the heart of Mordor. As always, gamers spend much of the adventure switching between characters, dismantling foes, and destroying the environments to earn LEGO studs.<br><br>There are more than 80 different characters to unlock, including the massive spider Shelob, the frightening Balrog, and the tortured hobbit Gollum, and the game includes dozens of lines of dialogue taken directly from the films. Players can collect Mithril to forge new items in the Blacksmith Shop, and characters gain new weapons and attacks as the advance through the journey. Special Palantir seeing stones let gamers jump back and forth between storylines, and as always, multiplayer fans can drop in or out of the action any time they please.