As you can clearly see from these screens, The Hobbit follows a light-hearted approach to Tolkien's story that was written for his children, and quite right too. Back then, the legendary One Ring wasn't the threat to Middle-Earth it turned out to be in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. It was all smiles, songs, butterbeer and stories of treasure guarded by the almighty dragon Smaug atop the Lonely Mountain.
As super-reluctant explorer Bilbo Baggins, you get plucked out of your nice, cosy home in the Shire to be whisked away by Gandalf and a pack of dwarves to steal Smaug's impressive pension fund. Once you've closed the door to Bag End, there's no turning back as you set off to meet the dwarves and get this adventure started.
But before you even reach the bottom of the hill, you have the chance to speak to a variety of local NPCs who each have a little quest ready for you. These include everything from 'find my hammer, so I can build a bridge' to 'look for the children in a game of hide and seek'. Don't worry though, this is where the sub-quest madness ends and it's entirely up to you what you do or don't - as will more likely be the case - take on. And yes, it will remind you of the Zelda series but don't let that put you off. It's all good.
Each area of Middle Earth you wander across is huge at first contact, but you'll quickly realise that things are a lot more linear than they seem, which is great. You won't get lost or find yourself walking round in circles thanks to the blue gems that litter the way forward. The scenery even changes when objectives are completed to allow your journey to continue. You'll be looking for the way out of a cave and all of a sudden notice a ladder that wasn't there before, again with little blue gems along it. This really is no-brain gaming at times but if it saves hours of aimlessly roaming the hills of Middle-Earth, it's fine by us.
Combat is also on the simple side. Pull out your weapon of choice and rapidly hit the A button. You'll need to time your Hobbit-sized combos and use the jump function to reduce the risk of Bilbo getting beaten like a Gollum. Some form of blocking should definitely have been included though! A little bit of stealth is required in certain sections, especially when you acquire the One Ring.
Controlling little Bilbo is easy and this is important, as there are plenty of platforms to jump onto and ropes to swing and climb. There's nothing worse than a platform game that controls like a tank when you have to get to those hard-to-reach places to continue. Thankfully, Bilbo moves with the grace and co-ordination of a ninja, which isn't bad for a Hobbit with huge, fat, hairy feet... and Ben should know. All in, The Hobbit is pleasing to the eyes and soothing to the ears but most importantly it's fun to play - simple fun, but still fun.
1st January 2004
