The LEGO franchise loves to re-tell some of the best and most epic series of fiction, allowing fans of all ages to act out their favorite scenes and live as the hero or villains from popular stories. The massive scale of Tolkien’s world becomes available to wander around in LEGO: The Hobbit. The game is a follow-up to LEGO The Lord of the Rings and is based on the first two Hobbit films An Unexpected Journey and The Desolation of Smaug. LEGO: The Hobbit for Mac was ported by Feral Interactive and was released on December 18, 2014. Get it from the Mac App Store: LEGO: The Hobbit starts at the beginning of An Unexpected Journey. You take the reins of the main characters in the dwarf fortress while playing the story mode as Thorin Oakenshield. From this point on, the game looks, sounds, works, and functions just like any other LEGO game previously released. Pro Tip: Attempting to play LEGO: The Hobbit on my MacBook Pro with the standard keyboard and touchpad is impossible.
The default keys set from Feral make zero sense, and attempting to use different key combinations (even after re-mapping them) to move while jumping or attempting to grab something while running makes your fingers cramp over time. I ended up grabbing a PlayStation 3 controller. The simplified streamlined movements with the standard thumb-sticks and buttons made traversing and collecting bricks SO MUCH EASIER. I literally did nothing else other than plugging the controller into a spare USB port and turning it on. I also tested this on LEGO: Marvel Super Heroes and it worked beautifully too. However, if you’ve seen any of the movies and / or played any other LEGO games before, The Hobbit is virtually identical to its other. This is to me the biggest problem with LEGO games. With the exception of The LEGO Movie and LEGO Rock Band, they’ve all been clones of movies or books. Granted, they are DAMN GOOD clones, but you still portray the main protagonist or antagonist in various works of fiction.
These are games geared towards children and those who prefer a family-style of play will love them. LEGO games are not “must-haves” that many hardcore gamers will wait in a line at midnight in three feet of snow with a handful of other fans to pick up the latest iteration. Yet LEGO games are comfortable in their position. They are games made for the whole family to enjoy. It’s hard to find someone who honestly hates LEGO games. For example, LEGO Rock Band for XBOX 360 was one of my favorite plastic-instrument games, blowing the doors off the Metallica and Green Day releases because it was simply fun and exciting to play. When all is said and done, that’s what we have here: Fun. TT Games, Warner Bros, and Feral make amazing releases easy to grasp for us Mac-heads. Install it, grab your favorite controller, and collect bricks after smashing the living snot out of everything for the times you remember stepping barefoot on a lego. Of course, you can be Gandalf the Grey, so that makes everything a little more awesome.
On the graphics department, the game looks smooth, but it’s still LEGO. Sounds are incredible and I would suggest using headphones to more easily catch all the little nuances taken from the movies. When it comes to Multiplayer, this game was pre-destined to be played with other people and I found myself waiting for my kids to want to play something so I could get them to try it out. I played this on a 2012 Non-Retina MacBook Pro with a dedicated 2GB 650GT video card. As with any other LEGO games, it ran without effort, smoothly and bug free. This is something we have come to expect from all Feral games and LEGO The Hobbit doesn’t dissapoint. The game’s minimum system requirements: The biggest problem I had with the game was the lack of originality compared to other LEGO games. Granted, Warner Bros did what they always do and stuck to their standard formula. If it ain’t broke, why fix it I guess. The best part of any LEGO game is the fact that anyone, regardless of age or gender, can grab a controller and enjoy smashing blocks and completing quests.
LEGO: The Hobbit is no different and in many ways already set up with the source material as a group quest line. Overall, it’s good for family/friendly fun, but it can sometimes feel too casual, lacking enough staying power for more after the first run through. Note from Ric: This Review comes from Chris Tallant, one of Mac Gamer HQ’s most loyal reviewers. If you want to become part of the team, you can find me here.LEGO® The Hobbit™ is activated with a Steam key. You will need an internet connection and a free Steam account. If you do not already have a Steam account, please read the Steam Subscriber Agreement before buying the game. Reclaim the Lost Kingdom brick by brick! Play as the Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, recruited to help a company of Dwarves retrieve their kingdom and their treasure from the terrifying dragon Smaug. Bilbo and the Dwarves barrel down the Forest River rapids in a daring escape from the Wood-elves. Click on a screenshot or trailer to display it in the viewing area
Journey through a magical re-interpretation of An Unexpected Journey and The Desolation of Smaug, featuring a beautifully-realised LEGO version of Middle-earth and a huge cast of minifigures. Ride barrels down rapids as you escape from Bolg’s Orcs, stalk monsters through Mirkwood and uncover the hidden entrance to the Lonely Mountain’s cavernous halls. Wield the powers and abilities of over 90 characters! Turn Bilbo invisible with the One Ring, swing across chasms with Dori’s grapple and bounce to new heights on Bombur’s belly. Bring a friend or family member into Thorin’s Company with drop-in/drop-out co-operative multiplayer. Mac OS X 10.9.5 Mac OS X 10.10 or higher The following graphics cards are not supported: ATI HD2xxx series, ATI X1xxx series, Intel HD3000, Intel GMA series, NVIDIA 320M, NVIDIA 7xxx series, NVIDIA 9400 and NVIDIA 8xxx series. This game is not currently supported on volumes formatted as Case-sensitive.LEGO® The Hobbit™ is activated with a Steam key.