| |
| Publisher: Sierra |
| Year released: 2003 |
| Platforms: |
I played the GameCube version, but it is also available on
PC, PS2, XBOX.
The Hobbit is a pretty good action adventure with appealing
graphics and a lot of nice features. The game progresses through Tolkien’s
story, with each level representing a location from the book.
What to expect:
 | Although
the gameplay consists mostly of combat, platform jumping, and rope climbing,
there is a fair amount of stealth and even real puzzle solving as well. |
| While
there’s only one crucial timed sequence in the game, there are lots of
little optional ones that can reap all sorts of goodies: Lockpicking is
actually a minigame where you must trigger one or more moving mechanisms on
a locked chest before the time runs out. While some chests won’t fault you
for failing, most chests will injure or poison you if you’re too slow or
make a wrong move. |
| Through
the course of the game you will obtain different weapons, starting out with
the relatively weak but far-reaching walking stick. Other weapons include
the shorter, but more powerful sword Sting, and throwing rocks of various
kinds. |
| You
need every skill you acquire in the game. Different levels focus on
different abilities (sneaking, jumping, fighting). |
| Enemies
and quests become steadily more difficult throughout the game. |
| The
game is just long enough to be satisfying and make you feel you’ve gotten
your money’s worth, but not so long that you get bored with it. |
| At
the end of each level you’re presented with a screen that shows how many
gems, coins, and chests you discovered as well as the total number available
in that level. |
What’s good:
| The
graphics are colorful and intriguing. A decidedly different look from the
live action LOTR films and the older animated ones. |
| Level
design is generally good; each new location has a unique atmosphere and
presents new challenges. |
| Purple
“journey gems” that guide you to important locations. These gems often
appear when you reach new phases in the main quest, and are indispensable at
times- especially during the final sequence, which is timed. |
| There
are goodies scattered all throughout the game, some out in the open, many
hidden or locked in chests. What’s great here is that you only have to
walk in the general proximity of these items and they magically come to you.
(Likewise when you dispatch enemies and they drop loot- even if they’re
across a chasm!) This is much nicer than games where you must make physical
contact with all loot in order to retrieve it. |
| All
dialog is spoken, and the voices are pretty good. |
| There’s
a very nice quest log that clearly identifies optional and required quests,
and checks tasks off as you complete them. |
| After
completing each level you get to visit a store where you can use coins you
collected to buy potions, rocks and upgrades that allow you to carry more
items. |
| Like
most console games, you can’t save wherever/whenever you want; you can
only save at various “save pedestals” scattered around Middle Earth.
What’s nice is there are plenty of pedestals to be found, and they’re
almost always located right before particularly dangerous areas. |
| When
Bilbo does something that affects another area (for example, flipping a
switch that opens a door in another room), the game always quickly cuts to
the other location to let you see what just happened. This feedback is
helpful and important. |
| Some
replay value, in that you may feel compelled to go through the game again
just to find all the goodies you missed the first time. |
| There's
a lot of rope and vine climbing in the game, but Bilbo makes it easier for
you by reaching out toward nearby vines... when he reaches out you can rest
assured that he'll make the jump. (Note that Bilbo will occasionally reach
out toward vines that are way too far away, so make sure you can see the
vine he's aiming for before taking the leap.) |
What’s bad:
| I
encountered a clipping issue where Bilbo became permanently stuck on a
mushroom. I loaded a saved game and avoided that mushroom after that. |
| While
camera control is usually pretty good, there are numerous tight spots where
you simply can’t get the camera at a good angle, or worse- when the camera
keeps moving when you’re trying to do something. |
| Golem
appears in the game- but only in a cutscene. I had really been looking
forward to interacting with golem, so I was disappointed. It’s weird-
seems like this would have been a good opportunity for a stealth sequence. |
My rating (from
Very Bad to Very Good): Very Good
You will probably
like this game if you liked these: American McGee’s Alice, Sphinx and the
Cursed Mummy, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time |
