JOE has been knocking the blocks off LEGO orcs and giant spiders for the past week as we’ve been playing LEGO’s The Hobbit video game. Check out how we got on…
Fans of the hugely popular LEGO series of video games will feel right at home playing LEGO’s The Hobbit, which follows the same style of gameplay that we saw in The LEGO Movie Video Game and LEGO Marvel Superheroes.
Developed by Traveller’s Tales and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, the game was inspired by the first two films in The Hobbit Trilogy: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug. The game also uses audio from the movies for the main cut away scenes, which is a great touch and makes the game all the more enjoyable for Hobbit fans.
You’ll play as Bilbo, Gandalf, and the Dwarves: Thorin, Fíli, Kíli, Óin, Glóin, Dwalin, Balin Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Nori and Ori, along with Elves and even a confused goblin. Each has their own special ability that can come in quite helpful. For example, Bombur can be used as a trampoline that enables his companions to “belly-bounce” up to higher objects. You will, however, need to find food and feed him first…
Another cool new addition to the game is the ability to collect, combine and forge new items in the Blacksmith Shop using Mithril, the most precious metal in Middle-earth – so keep an eye out for it throughout the game.
If you’re already a fan of the Hobbit movies then you’ll be able to follow the game’s story with ease, but there are a few occasions where LEGO The Hobbit leaves out fairly big chunks of the movie, making it a bit hard to follow what’s going on if you’re not familiar with the series.
While the game follows the events of the first two Hobbit outings, it also adds in its own humour by recreating iconic scenes from the movies and using random LEGO pieces to add a bit of comic relief, with one of our favourites being the barrel-raft scene from The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug that saw Bofur getting bitten by a LEGO shark…
The game can get a bit frustrating at times, but you just have to keep reminding yourself that this game is designed with kids in mind. Sometimes it feels like there’s just absolutely no way of finishing a task, however, we found that, at times, we were expecting to complete a complicated riddle when in fact the solution was as simple as destroying a few bricks beside us. Like we said, you have to keep reminding yourself, this game was designed with kids in mind.
Having said that, LEGO The Hobbit isn’t just a game for kids and adult gamers who are fans of The Hobbit or who are even just familiar with the two movies really will enjoy the game. We absolutely loved it here in the office and it’s now one of those games we’ll stick on when we get home from a long day at work when we just want to relax and destroy a rake of virtual LEGO bad guys.
The story itself runs for around six to seven hours, but you can (and will) spend hours just roaming around Middle-earth as you visit key locations from the films, including Bag End, High Pass over The Misty Mountains, Goblin-town, Mirkwood and Rivendell, to name a few. If you’ve seen The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug then you know how the game is going to end, so LEGO’s The Hobbit is left open for yet another instalment.
You can pick up your own copy of LEGO The Hobbit on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Nintendo 3DS and WiiU from just €49.00 over on Littlewoods.ie. Check out Littlewoods Ireland’s great selection of video games & DVDs here.
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