Yeah they did a great job with KC. The budget for LOTR is 100 million, which is double of what they had for KC2 (or a bit more). Considering the period, I think KC had less graphics and fewer NPC tasks compared to what is possible with LOTR. A huge task nevertheless.
But then again, compared to other games, especially the new GTA which has 10x the budget, it's okay-ish I guess.