IGN:Ask just about any gamer for their thoughts on LEGO's video game franchise, and you'll likely hear the same thing again and again: “You know, they're surprisingly decent.” And it's completely true. Given that the games all sport not one but two product licenses and are generally aimed at kids, the competence with which they are put together is often the last thing you'd expect. But at a certain point, defying your audience's low expectations isn't enough anymore, because its expectations have changed
The very best LOTR games available right now.
VGChartz's Adam Cartwright: "Ever since the advent of full-game downloads on consoles, it seems the market has slowly been shifting towards a digital future where games are delivered through internet connections rather than physical disks. While the convenience this brings is undeniable, and plenty of gamers have embraced having a stuffed memory card in their Vita, there are major pitfalls that are slowly beginning to show, one of which is that games can be delisted without any prior warning, leaving them lost to time unless you bought them before they disappeared."
From GameWatcher: "LEGO Lord of the Rings delisted from Steam, along with LEGO The Hobbit? That what it certainly looks like, as both of TT Games' Middle-Earth LEGO titles have been pulled with no explanation - and fans are wondering if Activision's Ghostbusters game will be gone next.
It's certainly not the only recent Steam casualty of licenses changing hands, but the weird thing about these is - the Middle-Earth license, like TT Games, is still owned by Warner Bros. So why have these games been delisted?"
The middle earth license may be part of WB, but what about the Lego license? There is also the factor of if Lego and WB can be used together and licensed for Video games in this way. Since other Lord of the Ring games aren't being delisted, I think this might have more to do with the Lego license, or the Lego/Lord of the Rings dual license. Or it was always just a short term agreement to use all the licenses together.
So on and so forth. Licensing can be tricky. Ghostbusters is a solely owned IP, so one's first inclination shouldn't be if another WB owned franchise is due for the axe.
I got both of these for free recently from Humble Bundle. I wonder if that was a way of saying "goodbye" or something.
Now we know why they were offered for free twice. I originally thought it was Humble Bundle giving everyone an early Christmas present.
I've a few games that lost their store page but can still be downloaded, so it probably will work the same.
Historically I've only ever heard of 2 games that were delisted and couldn't be redownloaded. PT on the PS4, and some multiplayer-only game on Steam. I'm sure there are plenty of cases, but the 99.99999% case is that if you bought it, you will be able to download and play it for the foreseeable future, Wii Shop Channel closing down notwithstanding.
I am downloading The Hobbit on Steam right now. Seems to be working normally. I figured I better try it to be sure, lol.
Another digital game (in this case maybe three) bites the dust forever. Congrats if you have a physical disc or want to get it used somewhere, because you still can!
Wow, this is one of the more harshly reviewed LEGO entries to date.
I ran through it solo, barring side-missions of course, rather quickly. Similarly, I had the expectation that TT Games would, at the very least, give me a bar-none purely inspired LEGO rendition of the movies, and it did just that.
Everything in IGN's review is spot on, but the words of encouragement, and the concerns of stifled gameplay don't really seem to add up to the score IGN has given it. It seems, at its worst, LEGO LotR is victim to simply not doing too much new, but really...what are the expectations now? Are we supposed to review games based on what we hope they'll do in the next game, or on the merits of what they present currently?
I had fun with it. My son has fun with it. We received exactly the product we expected and are quite pleased. IGN seems misplaced with their concerns and scoring.
Not sure what IGN expects. I think the bigger concern here is the perceptions of expectation, which appears to be the biggest offender. It seems, to me, that IGN walked into this review with relatively high expectations that it would be a radical departure from the foundation of what has made the LEGO franchise so successful.
On the one hand, I get it. LEGO games are due for some reinvention. LEGO City Undercover looks like a step in the right direction, but TT Games never made claims that this would be something new in any other way than its subject.
"LEGO LotR is victim to simply not doing too much new" seems that some games get away with not doing much new and some games don’t.