Home loving Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit with a simple life, with a simple home who loves his simple possessions. So when Gandalf the Grey invites a party of dwarves to Bilbo’s home, this was the beginning of an adventure that he never expected. Gandalf and the dwarves who are led by Thorin wish to reclaim their kingdom in the Lonely Mountain and take back their treasure of riches. The one BIG problem here is that their home was taken by a vicious fire-breathing Dragon known as Smaug.
The other problem is that Smaug will instantly know the smell of the dwarves and would gobble them up in an instant, also while the dwarves are small, they’re not exactly light on their feet; this is where Mr Bilbo Baggins comes into play. The smell of the Hobbit however is an unknown entity and Hobbits are incredibly light on their feet and no creature is perhaps more equipped to sneak on by under the nose of Smaug then the light-footed Hobbit.
Bilbo is enlisted as the “burglar” and for his troubles he is promised a share of the dwarf’s gold once their home is reclaimed and the treasures are taken back from Smaug. But nothing could ever prepare Bilbo and his merry group what would bestow them before, during and after their journey. This truly is “An Unexpected Journey” all wrapped up in the fun loving humour of Traveller’s Tales Games, could we be in-store for the best Lego adventure yet?
While visually Lego The Hobbit can’t really compete with other AAA games on the market, it still looks fantastic in its jolly kind of way. Much like previous Lego games, fans of Peter Jackson’s movies will instantly recognise each character, even in their Lego form. This became even more apparent when I instantly recognised the dwarf Bofur, who is played by James Nesbitt. The playground that is your open-world aka Middle-Earth is as you might expect is a joy to look at and of course a joy to explore. Having played Lego Lord of the Rings on the Xbox 360, I did wonder back then “how could have make this world look even better?” and even with that generation console reaching its peak, naively I thought that Lego in a videogame couldn’t really get much better than this. I have since been proven wrong with the release of Lego The Hobbit on the PS4 as Lego has never looked as good as it does on the new gen console.
Back with the release of Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, Traveller’s Tales started a new trend by having real voices for its characters. This was a risky move, especially as the mumbling Lego characters that stood before, were very fondly thought of. This new trend excelled furthermore with Lego Lord of the Rings in which every piece of dialogue and its soundtrack was taken directly from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies and this decision paid off even more so, as it added a new level of authenticity to compliment its movie counterparts.
So this progression made its way over to Lego The Hobbit and when I hear the voices of Martin Freeman (Bilbo), Ian McKellen (Gandalf) Richard Armitage (Thorin) and all the supporting cast, I cannot think of Lego games being done in any other way, especially with movie adaptations and especially more so with Lego The Hobbit. So when you throw this in with Howard Shore’s epic soundtrack, you quite possibly have one of the most authentic movie to videogame adaptations that you are ever going to find.
Fans of the Lego gaming franchise are more than familiar with its tried and tested formula of smashing blocks, collecting coins and searching for hidden treasure and they will be please to know that these elements are just as addictive as it ever was with Lego The Hobbit. The bare essential gameplay mechanics are pretty much the same as recent Lego titles, but there are some new additions making their way into this latest instalment. Before the release of Lego The Hobbit, you may have heard of the ‘Buddy Up’ system, this is where more than one character would team up to access certain areas that individual characters might not be able to get to on their own.
Depending on the character and the current gameplay situation, up to three characters will be able to stack on top of one another, allowing a fourth character to use them as a ladder like object, giving them access to previously unreachable areas. There will also be some walls that are simply too strong for one dwarf to smash, but if you double up with another character, then you will have little problems smashing that wall into tiny Lego pieces. Another way in which you can double up is by using characters as an extended rope-swing if you will. Basically a character would use their grapple hook and then fellow characters would attach to them, giving them a little more distance to their swing.
I don’t know whether these new gameplay additions will make their way into future Lego games, as they make sense to be utilised to the tiny characters that feature in Lego The Hobbit. But I certainly welcome this ‘Buddy Up’ system as it adds a little more thinking to progress in certain areas and it certainly would be an extra dynamic when playing with a friend in co-op. If we were to ever get a Lego Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (please Lego gods make that happen), I can see this system working very well in the Lego TMNT universe.
While enjoyable, the Lego Movie Videogame wasn’t the strongest in the long running Lego series. Other then the whole world being made from Lego (which is something that I would love to see in all Lego games one day), it also introduced a new way to how some Lego objects in the game would be built and that would be with the instruction manual mini game. While the vast the majority of Lego structures would be built by standing over the individual Lego pieces and holding down the Circle button, with this mini game you would build an object using an instruction manual as a guide.
As it happens, these instruction manuals are the same as you would see in the Lego The Hobbit sets that you would buy from the shops. In these mini-games you would be instructed to match up the missing piece of Lego from the instruction manual. It’s an easy enough mini-game, but the faster you match up the pieces, the more Lego coin bonus you would receive. If you take too long, your coin bonus would reduce and even more should you select the wrong matching piece. I’m happy to see this mini-game make its way into Lego The Hobbit as it adds a little more depth to the gameplay and for fans that collect the real life Lego sets; it’s also a nice touch that I’m sure they would appreciate.
Crafting has also made a return in Lego The Hobbit, previously crafting was seen in Lego Lord of the Rings, but has not been seen since then. When crafting in Lego Lord of the Rings you would have to take the necessary items to the Blacksmith and they would also be an optional choice. In Lego The Hobbit crafting plays a more pivotal role. There will be plenty of crafting items for you to loot from wood, stone, metals, crystals and more. You would then take the items that you need to a workbench and craft away, in most cases the workbenches would appear when in order to progress and during some in optional quests. If you can’t find all the items needed straight away, in most cases the items that you need are usually within the vicinity of the workbench in question.
If I was to have a minor criticism of this game, it would be that the Lego Middle-Earth is starting to feel a little too familiar now, as for obvious reasons its not to dissimilar to that of the Middle-Earth that featured in Lego Lord of the Rings. I do feel a little harsh in saying this, as its no fault of Lego The Hobbit, because it’s not like the game would be set in Hogwarts is it now? But for that reason, it’s probably why I’d give Lego Marvel Super Heroes the slight edge in the best recent Lego game, as it offered a unique story and Manhattan to explore. But again on the other hand, this is a movie based tie-in, so obviously it’s going to feel familiar, along with Lego Middle-Earth setting. Though despite Lego The Hobbit giving me the feeling of slight Déjà Vu, this did not affect my enjoyment for this game what so ever and Lego Middle-Earth is still a joy to explore.
I don’t know if it’s actually possible, but I would very much doubt that you would be able to access all areas during your first playthrough. As always with the franchise you will unlock new characters as you progress, many of them coming with their own skills and abilities and will grant you access to certain areas that some characters cant. As it stands I believe there are 80+ characters in Lego The Hobbit and that number will possibly rise with future DLC, so there’s plenty to achieve in that alone. Then on top of that you have all the Silver and Gold bricks to collect, not to mention a vast array on side-quests to partake.
You could easily playthrough Lego The Hobbit just the once and be done with it, but then you wouldn’t be getting the full enjoyable experience. For me Lego games are something that I will playthrough once for the time being and then I would return to it in spells to acquire all its extras when I want something simple and enjoyable to play. Simply put, there is plenty of replay value in Lego The Hobbit, but how much of that value you’ll get back, will all depend on how much that individual gamer would want to put into it.
As you might expect, Lego The Hobbit is a whole lot of fun. It’s based on the beloved movies and novels; it has the voices and soundtrack taken directly from Peter Jackson’s movies with the signature Traveller’s Tales humour. Despite it having new gameplay additions, at times it does feel like we’re treading on old Lego Middle-Earth ground, so how long can Traveller’s Tales continue with this tried and tested formula before fans demand more? Either way like the games before I am really enjoying Lego The Hobbit and will continue to do so for some time to come and it’s an adventure that I’m sure fans of Lego and The Hobbit will most certainly enjoy and appreciate.