Overview:
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 4/10
- Offline: 48 [1000]
- Online: 0
- Approximate amount of time for 1000: 20-40 hours
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 2 [story and free play]
- Number of missable achievements: 0
- Unobtainable/glitched achievements: No glitched achievements, but the game is glitchy in general. Check out 'Cheats and useful links:' for more information.
- Do cheat codes disable achievements: No
- Does difficulty affect achievements: No difficulty
- Extra equipment needed: Second controller for "I'm glad to be with you."
Introduction:
LEGO games are always a fun and easy, albeit somewhat time consuming 1000 gamerscore, and LEGO LotR is no exception. The game will require 2 playthroughs: story mode, and free play, which allows you to go back and acquire collectibles. Although it isn't a playthrough, you'll also need to spend a fair amount of time finding collectibles all around Middle Earth, the game's massive hub world - the biggest in any LEGO game yet! An important note: any achievement that has a description that includes '(Single Player Only)' can only be earned on the primary profile of the saved game. (To put it simply, the player/gamertag who made the saved game is the only one who can get these '(Single Player Only)' achievements.)
Cheats and Useful Links:
If you want the 1000 as quickly and easily as possible, cheat codes to unlock many of the characters and extras are your best bet. They DO NOT disable achievements, so use them to your heart's content. To enter a cheat code, press and go to 'Enter Cheat' under the 'Extras' menu. You'll find a list of cheats below.
Also, here are some useful links in case you get stuck in any level or want to know the location of a certain collectible.
- Collectible Guide for every level by SpongebobRoundpants
- LEGO Lord of the Rings on GameFAQS
- IGN guide for LEGO Lord of the Rings
Be sure to also read this post before your playthrough, as even though there are no glitched achievements, you could still be glitched regarding collectibles.
Cheat Codes:
- C19F3A - MADRIL
- PJB6MV - SHAGRAT
- F4M7FC - MOUTH OF SAURON
- A9FB4Q - ELROND (SECOND AGE)
- J4337V - BILBO BAGGINS
- LYQU1F - RINGWRAITH (TWILIGHT)
- 7B4VWH - GALADRIEL
- LG5GI7 - GONDOR RANGER
- R7XKDH - EASTERLING
- 5LV6EB - RADAGAST THE BROWN
- 73HJP6 - HAMA
- AVJII1 - GAMLING
- BU95CB - GRIMA WORMTONGUE
- C2A58D - LOTHLORIEN ELF
- UE5Z7H - BERSERKER
- U47AOG - EOMER
- IH7E58 - KING OF THE DEAD
- RJV4KB - DENETHOR
- HTYADU - BOROMIR (CAPTAIN)
- QL28WB - LURTZ (NEWBORN)
- D49TXY - POO STUDS
- MX26RJ - DISGUISES
- F3H14H - BOSS DISGUISES
- GD35HC - 8-BIT MUSIC
- 1F5YH2 - STUDS X2
- EY4K32 - QUEST FINDER
- A24TVJ - MINIKIT CHEST FINDER
- B72D7E - MITHRIL BRICK FINDER
- PR3V4K - CHARACTER STUDS
- C7FJ7B - ATTRACT STUDS
- T1JM4R - ACTION ASSIST
- A2LU58 - FAST BUILD
- WS68P2 - FALL RESCUE
- 2MCRDN - MITHRIL HEARTS
- H5L6N6 - REGENERATE HEARTS
Playthrough 1:
Start off the game by playing through each chapter in story mode. Throughout LEGO LotR, you will follow the events of all three books/films by traversing Middle Earth and playing chapters that chronicle key events in the plot. This boils down to 6 levels per movie, and at 3 movies, makes for a total of 18 chapters total, plus one bonus level. Follow the blue, transparent "ghost studs" that will lead to the next level if you find yourself lost. Throughout your travels, you will see statues of men looking at maps. Approach and activate these Map Stones with as you see them, for an achievement later, and to make the end of the game faster to complete because of their convenience of being able to fast travel between them. Don't worry about searching for collectibles in this playthrough, because while in story mode you won't be able to find most of them.
After your story mode playthrough, you will have earned at least 19 achievements for a total of 455 . (One worth 25 for each level and "Great! ...Where are we going?".
After completing the final chapter of the last book/film, "Mount Doom", follow the ghost studs (or fast travel) back to Rivendell to complete the Middle Earth bonus level, which involves playing as Sauron and destroying Middle Earth to find 1 million studs. This will net you "The Lord of the Ring", and unlike past games, you will keep the 1 million you earn. A nice little note for gamers with friends who wouldn't mind getting a lot of achievements in the game quickly; you can load up any level in story mode (including the bonus level), save and exit, and your buddy will unlock the level completion achievement.
Playthrough 2:
After playing through on story mode, it's time to tackle all of the level's many collectibles. Certain characters have abilities that will help you in discovering EVERYTHING in every level.
- Frodo - Can use his acquired Phial of Caladriel to light up dark areas, can also use his elven cloak to turn invisible and avoid enemies.
- Sam - Can use his spade to dig up piles of dirt and grow plants, can light fires with his tinderbox, can also use his acquired Elven Rope to pull things or climb to far off areas.
- Merry - Can fish at LEGO jetties (docks) to acquire items and/or solve puzzles.
- Pippin - Can fill his acquired bucket at pools of water and put out fires with it.
- Aragorn - Can track characters using green items, useful sword (explained further below).
- Gandalf - Can use magic from his staff to move purple objects.
- Legolas - Can jump extra high (as can all elves), can use his bow to shoot targets, and shoot arrows to swing from, can climb on tightropes.
- Gimli - Can destroy cracked LEGO bricks with his axe, can be thrown by tall characters to destroy out of reach cracked LEGO bricks.
- Gollum - Can climb walls and can fish like Merry. Other characters can also climb walls if wearing the Mithril Climbing Boots found in the "Mount Doom" level.
You'll also need a character to destroy certain red and black bricks. Once you've beaten the game, Aragorn's sword can do this. Elendil and Isildur from the Prologue also have capable swords, as well as Sauron from the bonus level. You'll also need a "strong" character to pull orange handles. Sauron, Lurtz, Berserker, and Tom Bombadil and a lot of Uruk-Hai characters can do this. Other characters can do this by wielding Mithril Boxing Gloves. You'll need a small character to crawl through small doors. Any hobbit, dwarf (such as Gimli), or Gollum will work. Finally, you'll need a character with explosives to destroy shiny Mithril Bricks. Berserker (found for purchase in Helm's Deep) is the only one to fit the bill. Other characters can use Mithril Fireworks to imitate his explosives, but the Mithril Fireworks won't be able to destroy very large Mithril Bricks, so buy Berserker. Use the minikit chest finder extra to make finding the 10 minikits a level much easier. You'll also need to find a Mithril design and 3 treasures per level. There is no achievement related to collecting all the minikits in this game, but aim for true adventurer in every level to get "Ready for another adventure". If you're having trouble getting there, use any number of the score multiplier extras to make it a breeze.
Exploring Middle Earth (Playthrough 3):
After finding everything in every level, you'll need to explore the various locations of Middle Earth to discover all:
- Mithril bricks - Found hidden or as a reward of puzzles.
- Map Stones - Remember the statues I mentioned earlier? You'll find one of these in each key location. Simply activate them all for completion and to use to fast travel. (Extremely useful!)
- Fetch Quests - Will require you to give the NPC a forged mithril weapon or a treasure found in a specific chapter.
- Red Bricks - Rewards of some forging Mithril item Fetch Quests. You will need to purchase them or simply use the cheat codes to unlock some of them.
- Characters - Will be found wandering in the locations they were encountered in chapters. You must purchase them or simply use the cheat codes to unlock some of them.
- Mithril designs - Just like the ones found in levels, they will be hidden or the rewards of puzzles.
Explore all locations and use all of the characters' abilities to find everything. Use the Mithril Brick Finder and Quest Finder extras to make it easier. While exploring Middle Earth and finding everything, you'll unlock "My Precious...", "There's some good in this world", "I told you he was tricksy", "Of all the inquisitive Hobbits", "Here's a pretty thing!", "Not with 10,000 men...". Once you find everything, you'll have 100% completion and unlock "There and Back Again".
Be sure to also go make a custom character in Frodo/Bilbo's house in Hobbiton, Bag End, as this counts towards 100% completion.
Mop-Up and Conclusion:
At this point, you'll only have miscellaneous achievements remaining. Use the methods in the achievement guide if you have any trouble. Congratulations on your 1000! Here's to a hopefully upcoming LEGO The Hobbit video game!
[x360a would like to thank Nixemo for this Roadmap]