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hated it!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 17
Date: April 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Perhaps it's because I had just finished "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and was looking for more of the same...but I hated this game.

First I had to install and uninstall it three times to get it to work. That alone was terribly annoying. My system is NOT ancient, but this was ridiculous.

I will admit that I didn't get very far into it. I got immediately bored picking up jewels on the road. I disliked my character's movement. I disliked the environment and what you have to do to move ahead.

I'm not an expert gamer, but this was too much work for so little fun. If I have to sweat, sure would like some decent results.

My advice? Buy Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, instead.

Merely a Poor Console Conversion to make a buck

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 12
Date: November 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

What the company did here is paid big bucks to get the movie name and rights to the characters, then no follow through. Not trusting the company is the reason for a demo. More demo's please. Recall the game, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"? Is was a beta for this game. Now they have better rendering on the characters, but they forgot to put color on the ground and walls. Everything is black. Super annoying. One player. "How do I get up there?" If you hate jumping games, you'll hate jumping games more that they don't finish making. Keyboard - Extra long jump Left-Ctrl key+direction key+jump key+you can't see because they didn't render the ground or the walls in act 2...it's black. Major design flaw (act1) with invisible barriers - If you push the butter churn to the fence near the hay stacks, standing on it to jump over, you can't jump back. You can physcially jump higher than the fence, but they never thought you'd do that and were using an invisible vertical barrier, so you couldn't get there in the first place. If you liked the book, don't purchase this game or you'll even find the book frustrating.

Yuck!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 7
Date: December 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Platform-specific comments:

The controls for the PC version of this game are extremely cumbersome.

If you must get this game, get it for gamecube or xbox.

Non-platform-specific comments:

The game is only very loosely based on the book.

There are no meaningful decisions in the game. Basically, every time one plays through the game, it will be pretty much the same. There's hardly any development or customization of the main character. Also, there is pretty much only one path through any given level. The player is not presented with choices but rather may as well go watch a movie.

Another flop from Vivendi Universal

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 11 / 23
Date: January 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game solely on the reviews of other gamers and I need to wonder what they were smoking.
At first I thought this was going to be a pretty good game until I had to worry about the odd camera controls. Then the game sometimes automatically cuts to a fixed camera and all your movement controls are screwed up.
The complaints about enemies taking 4-5 health bubbles in one hit are true. if you're surrounded, it sucks to be you cuz you're going to the hobbit hole in the sky because theres no way to hit someone behind you and they can just keep hitting you as much as they want.
The complaints about not being able to save is sort of bogus. Most of the time there is a save point just around the corner. BUT...This was a bad move by the game makers because everyone knows it's best to make a game you can save at any point.
I see absolutely no replayability for this game because, as others have said, it will force you to do exactly the same thing you did the first time, with the same character, same weapons etc..
It TRIED to keep with the book but was a sort of shortened, kiddie version of it.
Graphics: Ok. Not stellar but not too bad. This is like The Simpsons Hit & run. Looks good but that's it.
Either play your friends copy or don't play it.

This game is cute but gets boring rather quickly

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: December 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I played this game for hours on end after I first bought it but got soon bored with having to start the same level over and over and over again because the trolls spotted Bilbo or he didn't have enough health to survive a massive troll attack. Downloading a trainer and cheat codes helped for a while, but now I'm getting bored again (I'm stuck in Mirkwood, getting slaughtered by skeletal warriors in spite of The Ring).

The game action mainly consists of jumping/climbing, picking up things, and wacking baddies.

It's an ok game for relaxation after a long work day and I'll continue playing it, mainly because I like the graphics. My only real criticism is that you can't change the camera angle to 1st viewer perspective (looking at Bilbo's back gets a bit annoying after a while) and that sometimes the view changes by itself (for example in the dwarf mines when Bilbo has to jump from one big wheel to the next), making it hard to control his movements.

Based on DEMO

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: September 29, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is not a "hard-core" gamers dream by any means, but the demo was a lot of fun and I will buy the game based on that. There is a lot of jumping which needs to be done in a synchronized and timed manner and it appears that you can only save at certain points, but there seems to be a lot to explore and some challenges in getting all of the "courage points."

luv this game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: January 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I love this game. the only problems are that you can only save at specific points, and those points are not well placed. for instance, when you are fighting the spiders, when you get to the only save point, there is a giant spider about to kill you. also, the cutscenes get annoying after a while, and there are only 2 or 3 that you can skip. it takes a while to get used to fighting, but once you do, you can get past anything. what i really didn't like, though, was that the Ring has a meter, and once the meter runs out, you have to take the Ring off and wait for it to charge. when you are in the elven palace, it gets really annoying. overall, it is an awesome game, and i highly reccomend it.

move over, EA Games!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: July 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I just saw the game at a book fair and it looked interesting, so I got it and it was worth every penny! You start out in dream world, which is just a tutorial on fighing, jumping, and climbing ladders. then you wake up in hobbiton, which is the easyist level. Then you leave home and encounter three trolls!(i spent like 5 months on this level). Nab the pocket book then explore the trolls home and find sting, then a search for firewood turns into a wild ride to nowhere! get back, only to be ambushed by goblins in the night! Find the ring and rescue the dwarves from the queen spider sisters! sneak through Thurandil elvenkings halls to free thorin and the gang from prison! Save Lake-town from thievs and goblins! defeat smaug and take the treasure! Get the arkenstone of thrain! rescue Beorn the skin-changer as 5 armies battle around you! This game is great! $10 is undercharge! get it now or the kingdom under the mountain will not exist!

Pretty cool....

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: January 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game when I bought my new computer in 12/03. I have to say that the graphics are awesome! It's really amazing how far computer games have come (Zork, anyone?)!

That being said, I agree with the other reviewers who commented on the camera angles (hence only 4 stars). Yes, most of the time the camera angle is under your control - BUT, at some of the most critical times (i.e. jumping to/from the moving platforms, moving through confined spaces, etc.) the camera angle changes to a "default" setting, making it an extra challenge to maneuver Bilbo.

The game's presentation is fairly "cartoonish," but considering that the original Hobbit was also a cartoon (back in like 1978, if I recall correctly) I can't complain too much. The creators did stick with the general story of the book, but to flesh out the game they did take some creative license with some areas (I don't recall reading about Bilbo freeing Balfor in the book!). Was this a good thing? I guess that depends on whether you are a Tolkein "purist" or not. Personally, while I would have liked to have seen them keep more closely to the book the additional "quests" do not detract from the game.

Given the game's presentation, one would think that it was fairly simple to complete. Guess again! This game is deceptively challenging, in that some things that look easy enough to accomplish can be difficult, and take many tries to complete. If you are easily frustrated, you may want to download a demo of this game from the manufacturer's website before purchasing to see if it's something you would enjoy.

All things considered, it's a good game!

Graphics, characters, it's got it all, except....

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 10
Date: January 31, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Now, when you start out in this game, you think 'what are they doing? They start me out in the shire, where nothing happens.' Where is the hack and slash? It comes later, right now, you get familiarized with the theme, which is bogus because 90% of people buying the game have read the book. You have to find your walking stick and steal a few seed-cakes. Exciting stuff, right? That is what I said. Then you realize it isn't so simple. You get caught by a couple of chickens, and you lose the game. Harsh. Not only that, but yoiu have to jump up waterweels and over cliffs to...take a hammer from a kid. Wow. You have to get the hammer so you can fix a bridge over a river that is 2 In. deep. Then after you "beat" that level, you start with the hack n' slash. Once you get into it, the game, you start to realize that combat is a part of the game.

I like the fact that the bodies of the dead creatures are not shown. As the story gets going, I realize something. They didn't put the game in chronological order. Firstly, you shouldn't get Sting in the troll caves, but in Mirkwood. Secondly, the level under the mountain, you run into 3 goblins in the Book, not 3000. Below, I list the pros and cons of the game.

Pros:
1. graphics
2. character depth
3. combat sequences
4. lack of gore.

Cons:
1. differs from book
2. tricky camera angles
3. lack of gore

If you like:

1. RPGs: depends on if you like Tolkiens works.
1st person shooters: must have.

flight sims: stay away.
sci-fi/action: get it now!

I hope I have influenced your decision on whether or not to spend your hard-earned cash on this game.

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