Free Download - Lego The Hobbit Game

Lego The Hobbit

Concept

           Following in the footprints of Lego The Lord Of The Rings, Traveller’s Tales gives Peter Jackson’s trilogy adaptation of The Hobbit a Lego twist.

Why it’ll be better than the movies

            Unlike Peter Jackson’s ambitious silver screen retelling of J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel The Hobbit, Traveller’s Tales doesn’t require three individual instalments to tell the tale of Bilbo Baggins and his company of dwarves journeying across Middle-earth. No, it needs two. Perhaps because very little happens in the first film. Set during the events of the first two parts of the cinematic trilogy, An Unexpected Journey and The Desolation Of Smaug, player’s can look forward to the usual blend of Lego adventuring gameplay combined with a smattering of satire that’ll lampoon the po-faced pondering that bogged down the exhausting films.

In fact, we’d go as far to say that the Lego rendition of events might just improve on the films. After all, the source material was aimed at a far younger audience than its sequel, The Lord Of The Rings, a fact seemingly lost amidst the brooding dwarves and bloodied battlefields featured, and overwriting the sequence of events with Lego’s humour might just capture the magic that made the original book so beloved.

1 Adding Personality

One of the fundamental problems with the two films to date is that a significant portion of the huge cast of characters, despite a marathon running time, weren’t given a lot to do. It’s encouraging then that Tales is attempting to inject a little more personality into each member of the company. All of the dwarves have their own unique ability that can be used to get out of various scrapes – for instance, Bombur has a ‘belly-bounce’ move that enables other characters to use his sizeable paunch as a trampoline.

2 A Sound Decision

            Following in the footsteps of Lego The Lord Of The Rings – which was the first Lego title to utilise a film’s original vocal track – The Hobbit will likewise use the voices of the actors lifted directly from the film. That’s great in the case of Martin Freeman’s excellent portrayal of the blundering Bilbo and Ian McKellen’s eccentric Gandalf, but less so in the whiny and exposition-heavy exchanges featuring the major dwarf characters. Still, there’s plenty of humour already present in the existing dialogue.

3 More Middle-Earth

            Even if you’ve battled your way through the majority of games based on The Lord Of The Rings, chances are The Hobbit will feature a few locations you might be unfamiliar with. While it’ll spend plenty of time sucking up the bucolic charm of The Shire and its neighbouring rolling hills, things get more exciting as the game heads into the elven kingdom of Mirkwood, the riverine Lake-town and beneath The Lonely Mountain into Smaug’s domain. Sure, it might just be Lego, but any opportunity to explore more of Middle-earth is a welcome one.

4 It’s Only Two Of The Films

            This will be a sticking point for some fans, as the announcement of Lego The Hobbit comes with the news that it’ll only adapt the first two films in the trilogy, leaving the door open for the possibility of another game based solely on the last act of the sprawling multi-part cinematic epic. It’s an odd choice, and while the announcement specifically states that it’s only the two films being given the Lego treatment here, we’re not entirely convinced that it won’t incorporate the events of the final film given that both are scheduled to arrive in 2014.

5 It’s Lego!

            It can’t be overstated that the inimitable combination of accessibility and compulsion that fuels Lego videogames has given the juggernaut franchise such evergreen appeal. The Hobbit doesn’t tamper with the formula too much, with minor additions made to systems present in Lego The Lord Of The Rings – such as an expansion of the inventory system that includes crafting – but the gameplay staples of harvesting studs and construction objects matched with Tolkien’s world will be more than enough to make it a worthwhile adventure.

INFORMATION

Details

Format: Multi

Origin: UK

Publisher: WB Games

Developer: TT Games

Release: TBA 2014

Genre: Action adventure

Players: 1-2

Developer Profile

            Traveller’s Tales has been operating since the early Nineties with a slew of popular licensed titles, but didn’t find major success until it teamed up with Lego for its now iconic series of Lego Star Wars games. It continues to predominantly produce brick-based gaming products based on popular film franchises.

Developer History

Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2013 [Multi]

Lego City Undercover 2013 [Wii U]

Lego Star Wars: The Video Game 2005 [Multi]

Puggsy 1993 [Mega Drive]

High Point

            While each of the studio’s various Lego titles has capitalised on various fan service, last year’s Lego Marvel Super Heroes possibly gave the most faithful interactive incarnation of Marvel’s roster of superheroes yet.