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| Bilbo faces a couple of goblins. |
The game also includes a simple combat element. Bilbo begins the game
with a short staff and a bag of rocks and eventually adds the elven sword Sting
to his arsenal. Lining yourself up to attack an enemy can sometimes take a
little trial and error, and to compensate for this the game lets you lock on to
an enemy. It works well for one on one duels, but makes attacks from
multiple enemies a little hard to manage. Bilbo can also collect rocks
which he can throw at enemies. To aim the rocks the game switches into a
first person free-look mode that works fine for stationary targets but tends to
be too slow to use to attack charging foes.
If you think that The Hobbit looks like it has all the signs of a console
port, then the save system will confirm your suspicions. You can only save
the game at certain special "save pedestals" you come across on your travels,
and if you fall to your death or are slain by an enemy then you will return to
the last pedestal at which you saved your game. While the game tries to be
liberal with the placement of save pedestals, the limited save opportunities
will invariably cause you periodic problems throughout the game. You'll
undoubtedly curse the save system the first time that you fall on the last jump
of a long sequence and are forced to do the whole thing over again (and redo
anything that you did on the way from the pedestal to the jumps).
With its bright cartoony graphics and video game platform gameplay The Hobbit
will probably disappoint mature gamers, especially those expecting to see
a Middle Earth more in line with the one appearing in the films. If it
weren't for the Tolkien characters and storyline, the game would simply be just
another derivative and generic platform game. The
younger set may be more appreciative of the game, although the combat and
jumping may prove frustrating at times.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
66%. An epic story turned into an average platform game.
System Requirements: Pentium III 450; 64 MB RAM; 32 MB
Video RAM; 4x CD-ROM; 1.5 GB Hard Drive
Space; Mouse.
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