Lego The Hobbit
PlayStation 3
Nostalgia Factor:
I remember the days when I'd get excited each time a new Lego title hit store shelves. Alas, those days are distant memories. Now I find the games to be too repetitive with a formula has definitely grown a bit stale over the years. If you've been paying attention to this blog, my review scores for Lego games have been going down more and more with each title I play.
Still, I was willing to give Lego the Hobbit a chance. For some reason I thought that The Hobbit and that good ole Lego formula would be a match made in heaven. Plus, it's been a decent amount of time since I'd last played a Lego game. Maybe this would be the game that would finally let me ease off my Lego hate for a little while. Would it? Read on to find out.
Story:
This game follows the events of the first two Hobbit films. If you are expecting a long-winded recap, I suggest going elsewhere. Why they didn't wait for all three of these movies to come out before releasing this game, I have no idea. It feels incomplete without the events from the third movie. I did a little research and apparently there were plans to release DLC for The Battle of the Five Armies, but it was cancelled and never saw the light of day.
In the words of the immortal Stephanie Tanner: How rude!
Gameplay:
Just as I refuse to recap this game's story, I am going to refuse to recap its gameplay too. If you have played any Lego game ever created, you know what to do here. And if by chance you have never played one of these, just scroll to the bottom of this page where I have linked my reviews for all the other Lego titles I have played.
What does this game do differently from all those other titles? The only thing I can really think of is the crafting. As you destroy things you will pick up boards, ropes, ore, and other things that you need to craft key items. Every once in a while, you'll run into a situation where you need to use a crafting table to create an item you need to advance the game's story. If you don't have enough crafting items, you have to come back later when you have enough. The crafting is super simple. All you do is look at an opaque series of Lego pieces bouncing around on the screen and pick a match for those Lego pieces from a menu on the left side of the screen. Make these selections quickly and with no mistakes and you get a reward. If you screw up and make mistakes, you can still craft the key item you need, but don't get a monetary reward attached to it. Womp womp.
Otherwise, this is the same old same old as far as Lego games go.
Graphics:
This game's graphics are pretty good. I rarely complain about the graphics for Lego games because I always know what I am going to get. It is always a treat to see the Lego versions of my favorite characters on screen, and this game is no exception. The environments are a ton of fun as well. It is awesome seeing all the locations from these movies Lego-fied for the game. In particular I enjoyed the spider scene, the "barrels down the river" scene, and the showdown with Smaug in the giant treasure room.
Sound:
I enjoyed this game's sound too. The movie The Hobbit has so many great musical tracks and most of them are ported over wonderfully to this game. The main theme for the first Hobbit movie seemed to be missing from this game, however. I kept listening for it and I am pretty sure it never played even once in this game, which is very disappointing. Or maybe I just missed it somehow.
The voice acting is on point. Everything is lifted right from the movies, so it better be!
Overall:
I've complained a lot about the Lego games over the years but I had a decent time with this game. I enjoyed watching all the iconic scenes from the first two Hobbit movies recreated in Lego form. The scenarios you play through are fun. I rarely got frustrated by obscure solutions or hard to find answers to the game's puzzles. I enjoyed the graphics, I enjoyed the sound effects, I liked the crafting. I even took the time to explore some of the open-world Middle Earth segments, which I rarely take the time to do in these Lego games.
Overall, this is a fine Lego game. If you are a fan of the series, I don't see why you wouldn't like this. On the flip side, if you are burned out by the series you aren't going to find much here to change your mind. Knowing what to expect coming into this title is going to be a big key in determining your enjoyment of it. My major complaint: where is The Battle of the Five Armies? Leaving this segment of the Hobbit trilogy out of the game is a big mistake in my opinion. I might have been able to bump this game's final score into the B range with it. Without it, a C+ is all this game is gonna get.
Final Score
C+
My other Lego game reviews:
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