Comme ce n'est pas la premi�re fois que j'�cris sur un jeu LEGO, commen�ons en sp�culant plut�t qu'en r�sumant. Donc, avant LEGO Simpsons, LEGO Tortues Ninja et LEGO Ghostbusters, c'est LEGO Le Hobbit qui est attendu en ce premier trimestre 2014 sur PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii U et 3DS, et c'est sur la nouvelle console Sony que nous avons eu un premier aper�u des aventures de Bilbon Sacquet et sa fine (enfin courte plut�t) �quipe. Si au cin�ma Le Hobbit de Tolkien a �t� violemment �tir� sur trois films, LEGO Le Hobbit, lui, reprend les deux premiers long-m�trages de Jackson. Comme d'habitude avec les jeux TT Games, la fid�lit� � l'oeuvre d'origine est totale, avec des briques et de l'humour en plus. Ainsi nous a-ton pr�sent� l'embl�matique sc�ne de l'arriv�e des nains chez Bilbo qui en plus de la qu�te que l'on connait, am�nent aussi dans leurs besaces des nouveaut�s en jeu. Lors de cette introduction, on d�couvrait qu'� la mani�re de ce qui faisait d�j� dans les jeux LEGO pr�c�dents, certaines actions �taient relatives au personnage que l'on contr�le.
Ainsi avait-on besoin du nain au gros marteau pour d�truire une armoire et p�n�trer dans le garde-manger de ce pauvre Bilbo. Le choix des armes ou des objets en possession se fait toujours gr�ce � une petite roue qui s'affiche au-dessus de la t�te de son bonhomme LEGO. Plus surprenant, la sc�ne de chant du film (et donc du livre) �tait ici retranscrite par un ensemble de QTE rythmiques. Pas vraiment folichonne ni tr�s inspir�e mais ce genre de choses peut procurer une petite respiration au d�roulement "classique" du jeu. La prise en mains du jeu nous entra�nait quant � elle dans l'antre des gobelins ! L'occasion une nouvelle fois de constater que la coop�ration est encore le mot d'ordre dans ce nouveau jeu LEGO, les nains pouvant se prendre bras dessus bras dessous pour �tre plus efficace au combat, plus virevoltants, effectuer des attaques sp�ciales, face au gros roi des gobelins par exemple. Leurs capacit�s propres (arme de jet, grappin, marteau) devant �tre aussi utilis�es de mani�re coordonn�e afin de d�bloquer certaines situations, certains m�canismes, demandant parfois de r�pondre par exemple � des codes couleurs.
Mais la grosse nouveaut� qui donne un peu � s'interroger sur l'accessibilit� de ce LEGO Le Hobbit (rappelons que LEGO Le Seigneur des Anneaux ou LEGO Marvel sont des jeux parfaits pour jouer avec un enfant), c'est que les gros �l�ments de d�cor ne se construisent plus tout seul quand on s'en approche, on passe d�sormais dans une sorte de mode de construction o� il faudra retrouver les bonnes pi�ces correspondantes pour monter l'objet. C'est pas tr�s clair dit comme �a, beaucoup plus � l'�cran, mais on se demande quand m�me si �a ne risque pas de perdre les plus jeunes, � la mani�re de certaines actions en jeu pas �videntes o� il fallait faire intervenir successivement certains des nains. Dans le rythme, l'encha�nement des actions, la mise en sc�ne, LEGO Le Seigneur des Anneaux semblait, au stade des impressions, plus ma�tris�. Et graphiquement, LEGO Marvel sur PS4 avait quelque chose de plus impressionnant graphiquement. Enfin, il ne s'agit ici que d'un aper�u, confirmant le doublage des acteurs du film pour le jeu, celui-ci devant compter environ quatre-vingt personnages, et attendu pour le 1er trimestre 2014.
Toujours tr�s sympathique, la s�rie LEGO nous emballe un peu moins apr�s le premier aper�u du Hobbit. Les m�caniques in�dites ne sont pas tr�s convaincantes et on retrouve peu le caract�re �pique d'une des sc�nes majeures du film dans ce que nous avons pu d�couvrir, en l'occurence le passage chez les Gobelins. Esp�rons que le sens du rythme sera plus convaincant dans la version finale, l'humour et l'ambiance bon enfant �tant toujours bien pr�sents.Jackson on The Hobbit: "I didn't know what I was doing"When I first went to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in theaters, I couldn't help but feel excited that I was finally venturing back to the majestic Middle-earth. After getting my hands on LEGO: The Hobbit recently, those same butterflies returned. I was heading back to a series with a world and characters I already loved from playing LEGO The Lord of the Rings. Even though there are more dwarves than you know what to do with this time around, our demo in The Goblin Town area held a few refreshing surprises along with the silly LEGO charm I've come to adore.
Our demo began in the middle of a fight with the Goblin King, who, just like in the movie, is a bit silly instead of scary. His massive LEGO gullet is just as disturbing, though. LEGO Goblin Town looks just as brown and cavernous as it does in the film and it's incredible how Traveler's Tales once again brings these vast set pieces and iconic characters to life with LEGO bricks. The Goblin King battle was broken in to multiple stages, each showing off a new element of LEGO gameplay. In the first section, Bilbo fell underground and I had to fight off a few goblins using the stalwart Thorin Oakenshield LEGO. Equipped with an Elven blade and shield, he's an excellent fighter. Much to my amusement, the goblins he fought went flying off the screen as he took them out, rather than simply falling at his feet. To make combat more than simply bashing and smashing everything, a few goblins have easy quick time events in place that you'll have to execute to bring down. What's more interesting is how every LEGO dwarf also has a strong finishing attack, and it's funny how they can all smash cracked walls like Gimli in LEGO: Lord of the Rings.
Thorin could knock enemies up with his shield then thrash them down with his sword. Dwalin had a gargantuan hammer perfect for pummeling areas of enemies, Kili could fire three arrows instead of one, and the giant dwarf Bofur could charge up in a ball then go rolling towards his foes with brutal force. Aside from the silly animations, they were useful for quickly disposing goblins. Not to mention an extra added element of LEGO combat is always welcome. Another staple feature of LEGO: The Hobbit is a nod to just how many dwarves there are in the movies. The new buddy-up ability allows multiple dwarves to be used together in combination. After taking out some goblins and dropping a few well-placed blocks on the Goblin King's head, the next step was to run next to another dwarf and buddy, or link, up with him by pressing circle on the PlayStation 4 controller. While linked, I was able to control both dwarves as one unit to execute devastating attacks to finish the Goblin King off. You can buddy-up anytime, but it seemed necessary during the boss fight.
In combat, buddy-up is amazing for taking out large numbers of enemies. One dwarf generally swings the other by his feet in a huge circle, creating a dwarf tornado of death that deals damage to anything they come in contact with. Other puzzles later on down the tunnels had me buddying-up three staff-wielding dwarves to create a sort of totem pole for a fourth dwarf to climb up. Already in this small section of Goblin Town, buddy-up was used in a handful of ways, and and considering Thorin, Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Dwalin, Balin Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Nori and Ori all have different ways of interacting with the environment and one another, I'm excited to see how else the mechanic will play out. As I smashed my way through Goblin Town using a different set of dwarves for each section, to my surprise, I began acquiring tons of loot. Destroying barrels, enemies, and everything else earned me things like planks, ore, rocks, and rope that I then used to unlock a building mini-game. It's always fun to break all the LEGOs in a level, and now loot drops give me even more incentive to do so.
The building mini-game in LEGO: The Hobbit is almost identical to the version in The LEGO Movie Videogame. Basically, you're shown a virtual LEGO playset and have to select the LEGO bricks that are missing. Once you complete the playset, your work of art will be recreated in-game to help you access new areas. These sequences are realistic, and especially neat for those who love building LEGOs in real life as they're all based on actual playsets. The time-based building sections are also terrific for earning extra studs, as the faster you select the correct missing pieces, the more studs you'll be rewarded with. However, for each wrong LEGO you select, you'll lose some bonus studs. I earned almost 11,000 studs from one build, and knowing that I have to save up for things like stud multipliers and other characters, it's great there are new ways to collect the blocky currency. The variety of collectibles to obtain in LEGO: The Hobbit is huge, as the journey will take you through an open-world LEGO Middle-earth from the first two Hobbit films.