Whenever somebody mentions Bilbo Baggins, I don't think of the book 'the Hobbit', nor do I think of the movies. No, I think of Leonard Nimoy singing about tiny people while surrounded by pixie-like 60's wenches wearing pointy ears a la Spock. Oh Mr Nimoy, you funny man, one day I hope to own your album "Highly Illogical" but for now I will have to make do with viewing your video for "the Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" over and over again. But no, I must move on to the game about Bilbo Baggins, the Hobbit. Based (oh so very loosely) on the book, and not a single reference to the song contained therein, the Hobbit sees you take control of Bilbo and partake in his first adventure through Middle Earth.

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Bilbo Baggins' adventure starts in Hobbiton deep in the safety of the Shire. A visit from Gandalf soon jolts Bilbo from his idyllic life and places him firmly on the path of adventure, something Hobbits are not best known for. Something else Hobbits abhor is water. Deep water. But fear not, in the world of videogames it seems that the Hobbits have conquered their fear as Bilbo is quite happy to take a wade chest deep in water. And it's these liberties with the license that let the game down far more than its bland gameplay and rotten voice overs. Tolkien-ites are far more snobbish than even the biggest or nerd, and I can hear their collective cries of despair over the liberties taken with the license. Chunks have been removed from the story, and I haven't read the book since I was 12 so they're fairly obvious omissions, and instead overly long combat sections have been inserted. Now I know this is a videogame, but there are alternatives that could have been used. Later in the game we see the introduction of stealth, but it feels shoe-horned in and ends up being an exercise in patience as if you get spotted you are forced to start again from the beginning, again a terrible faux pas in game design.

Predictably the game takes its cues from various 'action' RPG's, most notably Zelda, featuring whacking with sticks and swords, collection of many items, flicking switches and talking to characters and completing tasks for them in order to make progress. To be fair, it's not all that RPG-ish, but there's just about enough there to make it feel less like a common garden platform adventure than it really is. Wrapped up in a twee 'Dungeons and Dragons lite' graphical veneer, the visuals do nothing to inspire, unlike the images the book conjures up. While not in any way poor, they display something of a lack of imagination, perhaps this is because the LotR games have the movie-like visuals sewn-up, or like the book is aimed at a younger demographic, but it still falls short of what one would expect from the lush and complete world created.

Another niggle is the reliance on collection of objects. It was tiresome in the Shire introduction level, and it doesn't let up for the entirety of the game. What's worse is that you have to start all over again once you die. Which you will. And often thanks to a badly implemented camera system and some really unforgiving platform sections. It's not all terrible I will grant you. The base mechanics are far from the worst you can find, the combat is okay, and Bilbo feels pretty sprightly for such a tubby young hobbit, unfortunately the lacklustre level design hinders any enjoyment one may gain from said abilities. All this on top of having to collect all the objects again on death is just not on in this modern day we live in.

The Hobbit isn't a particularly terrible game, it is however a step back to sub-standard licensed materials, something EA have done well to avoid for the past few years and something other developers would do well to take note from. Starting with the predictable handling of the cut-scenes and voice overs, to the flaky level design and oft clunky 'mini-game' mechanics. It's a missed opportunity and something that shouldn't happen in this day and age. Even the most die hard of Tolkienites would do well to give this a miss. For me I shall continue to think of Leonard Nimoy happily singing about our favourite Hobbit.

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By Brad Davey