Release the river!
Scouring the map for all its collectibles brought some more technical annoyances to the fore, specifically some wonky platforming segments (poor camera angles and/or misleading jump directions) and occasionally iffy character-swap logic. To put a point on it, yeah, LEGO City Undercover feels like it controls better. But these deficiencies are massively outweighed by LEGO LotR's delightful use of the license, and its incredible heft of content.
Plus, it's impossible to stay mad at the game when there's an item that makes characters dance to a movie-dialog remix.
Progress: 100%