El Hobbit

I know this came out almost 20 years ago now, but it is still very replayable. Game cubes are immortal, we can't seem to destroy ours, and GC had some of the best games ever done. We pull ours out to play this once a year or so, and have since it came out 18 years ago! My then-kids are adults now and they still love this.

The music is great and the voice acting is also well done. The graphics used to be top notch and now they stink, but the design of the 3D world has always been impressive to me. The puzzles are well thought out and game play follows the book well.

It's really easy, and we can complete it in a day. We have yet to 100% it in 18 years though! One day maybe.

The only complaints are the camera is a nightmare, weird glitches sometimes, and Bilbo is a really uncoordinated jumper ! But thats probably me.... It's super outdated now but it is still entertaining.

Reminiscent of the Tomb Raider games, this title gives you a lot for your money. The quests and puzzles are challenging without being impossible, which made it perfect for my two boys who are 8 and 6 years old. I found it was also a game that can be played more than once without the boredom factor setting in. As to the story, the basic "Hobbit" tale is there. Yeah it does take some liberties with the Tolkein version, but (being a big fan of the Hobbit book) I found that these liberties actually fleshed out the original story and gave some background to some of the characters and situations. The music is folksy and catchy and I didn't get annoyed with my kids playing levels over and over again. (If you're a parent you'll know what I mean!) All in all, if you are a fan of Tolkein or of adventure/quest games, this one is well worth it. The only reason I didn't give it a 10 was because once in a while the camera angles freak out on you, but not enough to distract from overall enjoyment of the game.

When this game was announced, I couldn't help but sigh. Here we go, I thought, a cheap and rushed game released only due to the popularity of the recent Lord of the Rings films. As such, I didn't choose to buy it but when I was given it as a gift a was extremely pleasantly surprised.

The game has all the typical features of a platformer, you know jumping from this bit to that, but also has innovation with clever puzzles and (considering this game is primarily marketed at a younger audience) challenging fights, particularly at boss level.

The graphics at the time were so-so which means that nowadays they are at best...charmingly quaint, but it doesn't really detract from the game. The levels themselves are so well-designed one doesn't notice the imperfections. The chapter of the game called 'gathering of the clouds' is particularly magnificent, with a grand open arena to explore lots of different ways.

Where the game is let down however is combat and because there's quite a lot of it, it's a real shame. In essence you have three attacks - melee, jump then melee or throw rocks. As you can imagine, this gets somewhat repetitive after a couple of hours.

I think the very best thing about the game though is the outstanding voice-acting. Having read the book a few times, I think they got the characters just about right. Sure, some characters like the goblins and the trolls have cartoonish monster voices, but both the book and the game are for a younger audience. And inevitably, some of the dwarfs sound suspiciously similar to one another, but it never really matters.

All in all, 'The Hobbit' is truly a very under-rated, high quality, old school platformer.

OK, The Good: The over all feel, while a bit childish, is fun. Good character movement, and the acting, backgrounds and animation are all solid. Lots of fun puzzles to solve to advance. Some of which are quite intricate and long. It is a good natured game, and never gets too gory or nasty, which will disenchant the hardcore LOTR gamers, but make it an acceptable game for most preteens or young teens. Lots of different and interesting levels! The AI is OK, with the monsters getting tougher to fight as you progress. Great game to watch. My wife loved watching because one of the unique things is the telling of Bilbo Baggins and his adventures. She liked that. It's a fun puzzle action game. Simply put.

Now, The Bad: The camera is a bit wonky. This makes a lot of the jumps, (and you have to do a lot of that in this game), quite literally "leaps of faith"! It does tend to get quite annoying at times, as you get stuck, dying, jumping, dying, jumping until you get it right! This is especially painful if you have forgotten to save recently! This is not a sandbox world, and you can't go everywhere you'd like. Other than the beginning, there is no real interplay with other characters. You speak to the dwarfs, and get side quests, but nothing else. I would have liked to see more interplay. It gets lonely out there! Haha!

In Summary: Sure they're not super realistic like the LOTR movies, but this game isn't about the LOTR. There was no Mordor yet. Remember, The Hobbit is a prequel, or the tale of Bilbo Baggins, not Frodo or the fellowship etc. That wouldn't happen for almost another 90 years or so, by Tolkien's story line. Therefore, there are no huge armies of Orc's, Goblins, just what is out and about for what is normal for the time. Which doesn't mean they're not up to bad deeds! LOL! It is a fun game, lots of game play and more that just a hack and slash epic. It is Bilbo's story and it's fun.

If your a Tolkien purist then I suggest you avoid this game. However if you have fifteen bucks burning a hole in your pocket and are at least curious you just might enjoy this.

You play Bilbo, a slightly more active hobbit then what was portrayed in the book. You'll follow the book for the most part and engage in side quests that help fill the game. The game is actually one of the harder platform games I played (mind you I'm no expert with these games).

High points of the game include the voice acting which is top-notch and fit the characters to a tee. The environments fully realized from the book: Hobbiton, The Halls of King Thranduil, Lake-Town and Erebor are all fun to explore. And the climax with the Battle of Five Armies is a great and satisfying ending. Also nicely done is the music and Chapter framing sequences.

The cons are few but notable including a sometimes difficult camera control and some really tough stages. This was rated E but for difficulty it should be a T.

All and all I liked it but would only play it once so buy it cheaply.