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The Hobbit

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 54
Date: May 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

"The Hobbit" will be a wonderful video game for the Nintendo GameCube when it is released in stores! It will have great graphics, sound, and game play. It is expected to have a very good storyline and should go by the author J.R.R. Tolkiens book "The Hobbit or There and Back Again", which I have read, very well. Many fantasy characters are to be braught to life in this game. And those fantasy characters will be: trolls, orcs (also called goblins), huge spiders, wargs (another name for wolves), a dragon, a hobbit, a wizard, dwarves, elves, and more. I am going to buy this game the first day it will be released in stores because I am a huge fan of the book and the fact that this game will have a lot of action, adventure, and fun makes it very exciting! "The Hobbit" video game for the Nintendo GameCube will be a brilliant treat for children (and adults as well). Oh! And don't forget that "The Hobbit" book is a prequel to the fascanating "Lord of the Rings" book trilogy by the author J.R.R. Tolkien. That means the "The Hobbit" video game for the Nintendo GameCube will be a prequel to "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. And anything that is, or is based on, "The Lord of the Rings" book or movie trilogy is always something to marvel at!

Zelda, step aside... Bilbos Coming to Town

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 53 / 57
Date: September 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is by far the best game based on any of Tolkiens work I have ever played including The Fellowship of the Ring for PS2/Xbox and the two games based off the movies. This isn't much of a fighting game like the others although it does have its fair share of battles. If you like fights and battles get the movie based games, if you're a Tolkien fan (like me) and want a good game based off the books, this is it. It follows the book chapter by chapter and does a great job of it. Each chapter, for the most part, last about 2 hours each (11 Chapters) so it's a good size game unlike FOTR which was like 5 hours long.

There are a number of quests throughout each chapter most of which are optional but if you do them you will be rewarded with lots of Courage Points which appear in the game as jewels. The more jewewls you collect, the higher your life meter goes giving you more of an edge for later levels. The fun stuff I think isn't really doing the quests cause there's not much to most of em, but trying to find ALL the Jewels and Silver Pennies (your currency) in the level. Most are hidden up high somewhere and require some thinking on how to get them. The farther you are in the game the more difficult and fun these puzzle become. Another cool thing in the game is the treasure chests. Instead of most games where you just walk up and open em, here you either need a skeleton key or you can just pick it by completeing a couple of small puzzles before the time runs out. Then at the end of each level you can buy supplies with the pennies you found.

The graphics in the game are great. Everything is nicely animated and the voices are pretty good. Its cool cause sometimes you can climb up way up high and look back and see the whole valley down below where you just came from. No flat backdrobs or anything like that. The music is great and goes nicely with the game. Another great thing is that, again, it follows the book almost exact (adding on some to give you something to do, for example in Lake Town, you have to investigat some strange things going on and get back Barons (sp?) Black Arrow that was stolen). It is very detailed as well as to whats described in the book. For ex., on Flies and Spiders, you eventually climb to the tops of the trees and see thousands of butterflies before sliding down a hollow tree down into the spiders lair.

If you're a Tolkien fan and like puzzle solving, then this is your game. Its awsome. For those who want a hack and slash game, go ahead and try it out but I warn you, many of the later levels have almost no fighting at all and require you to use your ring and stealth to sneak around and go and solve many puzzles.

Tip: Save the game at the begining of every level in one file and then save throughout the level in another file. This is because near the end in Smaugs chambers, there is block that you can push off the edge that is NOT supposed to fall off. If you dont know what you're doing and save after doing this, you will have to start the game all over because you wont beable to complete the level. Just dont try pushing the blocks off and you'll be fine. (I learned from experience :( )

AWESOME BOOK ADAPTION

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 27
Date: September 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Though I haven't played "The Hobbit" yet, I have seen a large number of screenshots, a few trailers, and a few reviews (such as Nintendo Power), and I think this game is going to rock. You play Bilbo Baggins and you can fight hordes of orcs and goblins, with your dwarven allies and gandalf, and you can also use your walking stick or sword sting. You also fight trolls and smaug, and there are memorable moments from the books, such as the three trolls and Gollum's Cave.

Awesome

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 25
Date: October 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I think this game will be awesome because its got all the charicteristics from the books including the HOBBIT like smaug the dragon i think it will be really cool in the fighting scenes as well as just exploring!!

Great Game!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 14
Date: November 13, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game last (11/12/03) night, and I have to say it's really good. I'm a huge fan of Tolkien's work, and this game is a tribute to his book. The cinematic sequences are fantastic, the in-game graphics are superb, and the game play is loads of fun. The music is great (it doesn't sound repetitive like other games), and the voice acting is spot on. I've been waiting for months for this title to be released and I wasn't disappointed. This game is a "must have" for any Tolkien fan.

The Hobbit

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 14
Date: November 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is pretty cool! The levels, gameplay, story-line, and graphics are brilliant! There is a lot of adventuring and fighting to do in The Hobbit. But be warned!!! This game is not too easy. The Hobbit gets frustrating at times and it is pretty strategic. But I can handle all of that kind of stuff (sorta). I highly recommend you buy The Hobbit for the PS2. It is wonderful!

Love Zelda? You'll like The Hobbit

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: November 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The Hobbit is a third person action adventure game that owes a lot to Zelda. Nothing wrong with that-if you're gonna be influenced by something it might as well be the best. The game feature Bilbo in a mix of combat and puzzle solving that will appeal to all ages. The controls are easy to learn, and the game features something Zelda doesn't have-outstanding voice acting, The pretty graphics really draw you into Middle Earth.

The main drawback with the game is the camera control. It is not as good as over in Hyrule. Bilbo doesn't seem to need the ring whenever the view is tight on him-he already disappears. As well I almost had to push restart were it not for a lucky jump to get me unstuck.

Jumping is something you do a lot in The Hobbit-no auto-jump here. Also the combat system is a bit harder then Zelda. While the targeting sytem is similar, the supporting cast of baddies don't back off when you're locked on a foe like they do in Ocarina/Wind Waker etc. But maybe that's better as one complaint with WW was it was too easy.

But any minor camera issues do not take away from the appeal of this fun, colourful, engaging game that will appeal to all kinds of gamers.

A Brick Foundation with a Hay Roof

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 22 / 27
Date: November 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The game has a lot of potential, but there are a number of little things that are interfering with my enjoyment of the story and gameplay. I am very frustrated by the courage-point/treasure and saving systems in particular.

Regarding courage points and treasures, there are a specific number of each per level. Courage points can be collected to increase your maximum health capacity, and treasures sometimes hold essential weapon upgrades. This sets a challenge which takes away from the story and enjoyment of the game; you have the added pressure of getting every last treasure chest in each level, many of which are well hidden.

Getting every last item isn't a requirement, but judging from posts on various gaming message boards, I'm not the only person who feels inclined to get perfect scores. What's worse, most levels actually set road-blocks along the way so you cannot backtrack if you miss a chest. Plus, once you complete a level there's no going back. This game is unusually linear for an action-adventure title, perhaps due to the designers desire to stick to the confinements of the book. One level is equivalent to one chapter in the book.

The courage-point system is further complicated by the limitations of the saving system. You have to save the game very frequently because it's terribly easy to die, (especially by falling to your doom ... I guess poor Bilbo has a weak bone structure). If you die, you automatically start off at the previous save point, and any progress you had made, enemies you killed, or points you collected are all lost. Thus I find myself acquiring one courage point in a tricky location, and then rushing back to a crystal pedistal and saving the game, and then repeating the process one courage point at a time. It's just not fun playing in such an obssessive manner.

From reading reviews I was expecting more of a Zelda atmosphere, where you could at least backtrack within levels to explore, and you wouldn't have to be paranoid about loosing all your hard work every few seconds by misjudging a jump barely 3 feet off the ground due to the unfortunately-limited control of the camera angles.

If you enjoy the challenge of thorough hide-and-seek, or if you're relaxed enough to let missing treasure chests slide, then do check out The Hobbit. It really has some great elements, combined with a Mario meets Link design of sword slinging and platform jumping. The retelling of the book is an enjoyable touch (though certain artistic liberties were definitely taken throughout), with illustrations and narration bridging each chapter. Plus the soundtrack is one of the most amazing and unique I've ever heard. There are a couple accoustic guitar tracks, some Celtic music, and a bunch of other songs and instruments you've probably never heard in a game before Bilbo came to town. It is fully orchestrated, and well timed with the scenes and events of the game. I wish they would release a CD of the game music!

I hope my ranting review helps,
R.P.

Loved it from start to finish!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 9
Date: December 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is definantly worth buying. I played the PC version but I am sure the GC ver. is just as good. Challanging and extremely fun!! 5 Stars!!

This sword is going up your_ _ _when i'm through with you, -

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: January 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

-Smaug (That finished the title) This is one of the best games i've ever played. The graphics are sweet. (especially right after you get the ring and the wolves surround them around a tree) I read the book and I was so exited when I found out that this was coming out on GCN. My favorite type of video game is action-adventure so I thought that this would be a great game. I was right. This is a really fun and awesome game. It's exactly like I expected it to be. It follows the book extremely well which is what I hoped for because The Hobbit is one of my favorite books. It's also a long and not too easy, un-like some of the games I've played.

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