Based on The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, the game follows the original storylines of The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King, taking players through the epic story events, "re-imagined with the humour and endless variety of Lego play". The game utilises music and voice acting taken from all three films of the film trilogy. The developer Traveller's Tales has stated they toned down the slapstick humor found in other Lego-licensed titles. The game follows the events in the films, however like the Lego Star Wars series, some scenes from the films have been altered to become more family friendly or just provide comic relief to the player. The player, as always, can play with family and friends with easy access drop-in, drop-out gameplay option. The game is more like a role-playing game than previous Lego video game titles because the player has an inventory that grows throughout play.