The Hobbit review

Long before the story of The Lord of the Rings takes place, a small hobbit embarked on a long and dangerous journey through Tolkien’s exciting universe of Middle Earth. His name is Bilbo Baggins and now you can join him in his adventures from the Shire and into the wider world.

A reluctant hero

Nothing but peace and quiet in the Shire. No wonder Bilbo has second thoughts about leaving.

Bilbo’s actually just fine minding his own business in the Shire, where his biggest concern is where to take his next nap. But one day a certain wizard knocks on his door and “invites” Bilbo out on a journey. Although reluctant at first Bilbo’s desire for adventure gets the best of him and the story can begin.

The Hobbit is basically a platformer with a good deal of action and adventure added to the mix. In your travels through Middle Earth you are required to jump, swing in vines and defeat all sorts of monsters. For the latter you are equipped with your hard-hitting walking stick and, later in the game, the famous sword Sting.

On his journey Bilbo’s accompanied by Gandalf and a couple of dwarves, among which is Gimli’s father. You don’t see them much while playing, though, since they serve mainly to provide you with tasks at the beginning of levels. For the rest of the time they only appear in the well-crafted cinematics and cut scenes that move the story along.

I have the ring!

Go find someone your own size.

During the course of the game you meet several familiar characters from the films, among others Gollum whom you’ll actually trick to steal the one ring. You can use the ring to turn invisible from your enemies for a while, although some of them can still sense your presence. Overall this system functions quite well.

When you’re not invisible you’ll spend most of your time battling various opponents, along with quite a few powerful bosses. Besides the fighting you need to solve puzzles that range from no-brainers to the more time consuming tasks.

In the early stages of the game you can take on extra missions that don’t necessarily relate to the primary plot. It’s not unwise to spend some time on them, though, since you’ll receive “experience diamonds” for successfully completed tasks. When you’ve earned enough of these gems your strength will increase, ultimately giving you more life.

This requires a steady hand and perhaps a criminal mind.

You’ll also find a lot of chests conveniently scattered all over Middle Earth. These chests can contain extra lives or money, but more importantly you can also find new combat techniques, making you even more proficient with your staff or sword. However, before you can get to the goodies inside, you have to pick the chests open first. This is done using precision and speed and is actually quite fun to fiddle with.

Rough-edged but acceptable

At times The Hobbit delivers beautiful scenery.

The Hobbit cannot hide the fact that it’s a console conversion. The graphics are rough around the edges and at times even a little boring to look at. You’ll experience some huge caverns with lots of action going on at the same time though, clearly displaying the full extent of the graphics engine. But it’s not without its flaws, such as Bilbo going through walls or floors from time to time, which definitely isn’t acceptable. The camera does a good job of mostly staying out of your way but when it doesn’t, you can easily adjust the view.

The sound works altogether well. Background music consists mainly of pleasant harp-music and the voice acting is of an excellent quality.

Decent

Clearly bad timing to have left your spider repellent at home.

The game works well and delivers some good entertainment, but it’s not really outstanding in any way. The conversion has left some rather ugly marks on the game here and there, but it’s far from the worst examples we have seen. Consisting of twelve levels the game has an appropriate length, with a good mix of action and adventure.

Even though the protagonist is a colourful Halfling, maybe perceived by some as being “cute”, the game is not only for the younger crowd. Older players will easily have an enjoyable experience joining Bilbo in his travels through Middle Earth.


Source: Boomtown DK
English version by Julian Henlov (Progrock)