
<MAP NAME="boxmap-p8"><AREA SHAPE="RECT" COORDS="14, 200, 103, 207" HREF="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm/privacy-policy.html?o=1" ><AREA COORDS="0,0,10000,10000" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/thearmchairem-20" ></MAP><img src="http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/rcm/120x240.gif" width="120" height="240" border="0" usemap="#boxmap-p8" alt="Shop at Amazon.com">	Platform Playstation 2 Genre Action Publisher Sierra Developer Inevitable Entertainment ESRB E (Everyone) Released Q4 2003

-Based off Tolkien’s novel of the same name -Lots of quests -The ability to turn invisible -Good music -Beautiful environments -Good voice acting

-The story alteration might bother some of the loyal fans of the book -Character models are plain and simple -Side quests can be VERY annoying -Overall a simple platformer

Review: Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Xbox) Review: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Xbox) Review: Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring (PC)
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The Hobbit

Score: 6.7/10

The Hobbit is a story about a young hobbit named Bilbo Baggins of the Shire. Bilbo is the son of the responsible Bungo Baggins and the adventurous Belladonna Took. Bilbo, like his father is an easy going hobbit but all that is about to change. One day Bilbo is persuaded by everyone’s favorite wizard, Gandalf the Grey, to leave the Shire, and accompany Gandalf on an adventure to the Lonely Mountain along with 13 dwarves. Their goal? To reclaim stolen treasure, and take revenge upon an evil dragon ‘Smaug’ who burnt down the dwarf kingdom.

An action adventure, The Hobbit holds a lot in common with The Legend of Zelda. Now, most everyone loves Zelda, but will everyone love The Hobbit? In my opinion, no… even though The Hobbit sometimes borrows from Zelda, there is just no comparison. The Hobbit just doesn’t get the job done the way Zelda does. Throughout the game, Bilbo will have to go through many quests, side quests, tracking down treasure chests, finding upgrades, and more. Bilbo will start off using his walking stick and throwing stones as a weapon, but as player’s progress through the game, Bilbo will learn some new combos that are a bit slow and basic. Eventually Bilbo will obtain his trusty sword Sting. He will also confront the infamous character Gollum, and obtain the one ring of power that will enable Bilbo to appear invisible to his enemies.

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The main quests themselves are not that bad and can be fun, but side quests quickly get annoying especially when it has no relevance to the actual storyline. Controls aren’t great but are manageable. Jumping on ledges or other things like crates or boxes can be very annoying at

first because it’s sometimes a bit difficult to predict if Bilbo will land on the spot you want him to or if he will miss. A good example would be jumping onto the top of a box to get to, let’s say, a ladder that you can’t reach. Sometimes it might take three times just to jump onto the stupid thing.

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The graphics in The Hobbit are definitely arguable. To person ‘A’ it may be good, but to person ‘B’ the graphics especially character models and designs can seem childish and cartoony. Personally I like the designs of some characters like Bilbo and Gandalf, however some characters like the orcs or the trolls aren't so appealing. The environments sometimes can be dazzling. Scenery can be very impressive and even beautiful at times. Sometimes it’s the complete opposite, the environments might seem simple and bland.

Musically, the Hobbit is very good. It’s at its best during enemy encounters. It really suites the mood and fits into the game very well. Sound effects unfortunately don’t reach the high standards of the music and are mediocre. However the voice acting in the game is very good (gasp!) which makes up for the games sub par sound effects.

Overall, The Hobbit will either appeal to fans of the book or disappoint them depending how forgiving they are to its artistic liberties. The story isn’t entirely accurate which is a bit of a downer, the source material truly demonstrates a lot more potential then this. In the end The Hobbit is a platformer which will appeal to those who are fans of the book but don't mind the altered story and a basic dry interactive experience, though there are definitely better action adventures in the same vein out there.

Jay Tonello

(February 23, 2004)