RELEASE DATE: April 8, 2014 PLATFORM: PS4 (Reviewed), PS3, PS Vita, Xbox One, Xbox 360, 3DS, Wii U PUBLISHER: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment When you are as bereft of puzzle solving skills as I am, the “E for Everyone 10+ Up” label on Lego: The Hobbit’s box can feel cruel, condescending, and smug. Every time I buy these games, a thick fog of frustration rests over me, for I am a plunderer and a warrior who smashes through walls, not one who collects colorful baubles so I can construct a catapult to fling me through a barrier of tinder. This is the lie that I tell myself. The truth is, I am just plain bad at these games -- of which I have owned a half dozen -- but my aptitude for these games isn’t the point. Everything doesn’t have to be results driven -- how far have I progressed, how quickly did I beat it, how many bricks did I collect -- joy can also come from the journey. So, while my journey through Lego: The Hobbit slit the achilles of my soul to watch me crumble to the ground thanks to my shocking lack of cognitive reasoning abilities at times, overall, the game is fun, and that’s what keeps me coming back to these titles.
Cobbling together a gripping story from the first two Hobbit films - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (with DLC coming in the winter to add levels from the upcoming third film) - Lego: The Hobbit begins with the dragon Smaug’s siege on and destruction of Dale and Erebor. His homeland decimated, Thorin leads his dwarf forces to Moria and a battle with the evil Orcs and their leader Azog, whose hand is severed by Thorin in one of the first reminders that this heavy tale will be occasionally undercut by lighter moments, like the sight of Azog chasing after his bouncing hand. Though a thrilling adventure in its own right, the game’s central journey doesn’t really begin until the story makes its way to Hobbiton where Gandalf recruits Bilbo Baggins for a quest to Erebor with Thorin and his dwarves. Though there are occasional diversions from the main trail and mini-games, like Radagast’s sled, none are as enjoyable as the button mashing attempt to adapt the “Chip the Glasses and Crack the Plates” scene.
From Hobbiton, Bilbo, Gandalf, Thorin, and the dwarves cut a path across Middle-earth, encountering stone trolls, the aforementioned Radagast and Azog and the Orks (great band name), the Goblin King, Stone Giants, Gollum, Bard, and Smaug, among others. Of all the “boss” characters, if you can call them that, the Stone Giants represent the most visually stunning as their mountain-sized rock bodies tussle, leaving you to scramble and jump from pedestal to pedestal, though it’s hardly a challenge. None of the combat really is, though it can be occasionally frustrating when the Orc hordes are segmented off, allowing only a couple through at a time, though I suppose 1,000 charging marauders might grow to vex most gamers in the same way as I was vexed for an hour trying to figure out how to climb the trees after Azog chased me in the forrest. With regard to the visuals, Hobbiton possesses a natural beauty -- with inviting streams and grass that looks incredibly real. There’s also an interesting effect when it rains in the mountains and you see water beads drip down the lens of the camera.
Rivendell is also amazingly detailed and beautiful in an almost ethereal way. A lego person looks like a lego person, but the PS4 really allows Traveller's Tales to flex their muscles with the environments. Just walking through this game is a significant part of the fun. Unfortunately, though, that’s not exactly the easiest thing to do. Yes, you can free roam a bit as you walk through Middle-earth and the shire, using the lingering “Guide blocks” and the small map to find your way back to the path if you get lost or confused, but one feels as though they are being corralled more often than not with inaccessible waterways and fences. I’m not asking for "Fallout: New Middle-earth" (actually, maybe I am asking for that) but it would have been nice to be able to explore a wider area than we are allowed, though I feel like that’s a selfish complaint considering the lushness and detail of what we are free to climb through. Gameplay is on par with the rest of the Lego games.
Kids of the appropriate age will take to the controls, but they may need some help with the puzzles, because we’ve already established that I did. The easy multi-player (which you can jump into with ease) is a help there, allowing you to team up with friends but the AI team-ups are rather deft as well when you need to seamlessly switch playable characters to jump on another character’s shoulders for an attack or to climb. As for asides, there are the occasional mini-games where you have to choose Lego pieces off a wheel to assemble larger items, like the aforementioned catapult. There is also a sort of in-game currency called “Loot” that you can trade for other goods that can be used to activate said mini-game. As for the sound, the score is both familiar and appropriate and I quite like the use of dialogue snippets from the films, though it sometimes sound as if someone popped in a Desolation of Smaug DVD and recorded those snippets on an iPhone, so basically, the quality of the transfer could have been a bit better.
With that said, the snippets don’t overwhelm and neither do the in-game cutscenes, though the final level pushes the line a bit as we come full circle -- that is until the release of the DLC. The primary knock on Lego: The Hobbit is the same one that plagues every Lego game: after a while, the sizzle fades and the majesty of playing along to the story of your favorite film character is diminished. These games are very elementary with similar objectives and gameplay. Those licensed worlds and characters distinguish them from each other, save for a few minor variations, but after awhile, that matters less, compromising the replayability. The easy answer is that this Lego game will tide us over till the next one, but the MSRP on these games isn’t a bucket full of air and at a certain point, it feels like we’re just supporting a whimsy addiction that could be more economically satiated with a copy of Minecraft and an active imagination.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. The role-playing game features that helped LEGO: Lord of the Rings stand out as more than just a platformer, like questing and mithril brick crafting, have been greatly expanded upon as well. Hopefully this means completing and unlocking everything, from good and evil characters, to stud multipliers, to new and improved wacky disco flasks, will lead to a lengthy but incredibly charming adventure. As far as LEGO games go, I walked away from this demo feeling good about how LEGO: The Hobbit is coming along. The interplay between dwarves is fantastic, and the loot and build features help make it feel like the series is continuing to evolve.