Lego The Hobbit (PS4) - not really a barrel of fun

Lego The Hobbit (PS4) – barely a barrel of fun

Warner Bros. tin't even wait for the last film to plow The Hobbit movies into Lego games, merely was there really any need for such a blitz?

The concept of having also much of a expert affair is not one the video games manufacture seems very aware of. This is the second major Lego game released this year, following The Lego Pic in February and earlier that Lego Marvel Super Heroes in November. And that'due south non counting Lego Friends on DS and 3DS, which was also released last week, and a continuous stream of iOS apps. Nosotros love Lego, and Lego games, more than nigh just there are limits and Lego The Hobbit is pushing them virtually beyond breaking point.

Although Lego The Hobbit's release engagement has patently been timed to coincide with the release of the second movie on DVD that means that the third motion picture isn't a part of the game at all, and will have to be added in later as downloadable content.

Given how bunched up the releases have been lately it seems incredible that Warner Bros. couldn't have but waited until the final pic was released this Christmas, which would surely have been a more advantageous matter to coincide with than just the DVD release. Trying to imagine why they haven't have done that, one of the obvious guesses is information technology'south because they've got nevertheless more new Lego games, based on other themes, waiting to come up out after in the year.

Nosotros'd also like to think that the side by side game after this will make some proper use of the next gen consoles, every bit Lego The Hobbit is conspicuously designed with concluding gen technology in mind and often feels like lilliputian more a fan mod of 2012'south Lego The Lord Of The Rings. The all-Lego environments from The Lego Movie game are now just generic video game backgrounds again and the humour has regressed dorsum to little more than than people falling over and dropping things.

You could argue that it's the nature of the films this is based on, but the signature charm and whimsy of other Lego games is at a low ebb here. Seeing little Lego characters speak the dialogue from the films was funny for The Lord Of The Rings; but having less charismatic characters echo less memorable dialogue, in situations that are already less gravely serious just doesn't have the same impact.

It's too hard not to detect that the game has exactly the same problem as the movies, in that many of its sequences are far too reminiscent of The Lord Of The Rings, except never quite as interesting. The showtime part of the run into with rock giants on the Misty Mountains plays out almost identically in fashion to the Misty Mountains level in the Lord Of The Rings game. The flashback sequence with the dwarf rex is handled exactly the same as the flashback at the start of Lord Of The Rings, andso on, and so on.

Lego The Hobbit (PS4) - that's erm... Sleepy and Dopey?

Lego The Hobbit (PS4) – that's erm… Sleepy and Dopey?

Of course all the Lego games are fundamentally the same, and although some take their own unique ideas it's just as much the nature of the licence that dictates how enjoyable they are. A primal necessity is lots of memorable, named characters with unique abilities. That'southward where something like Lego Pirates Of The Caribbean struggled but where Star Wars and the superhero games excel. Centre-earth fits the formula well enough, with all the different dwarves having their own weapons and equipment, merely there'southward a lack of visual multifariousness and the game doesn't exercise enough to assistance you retrieve who has what item.

We're not sure we ever remembered more than one or ii of the names, which meant most of our play time was spent equally 'the fatty ane', 'the one with the bow and arrow', and 'James Nesbitt'. There's even a tacit admission of this in that one of the game's key new features is the ability to 'buddy upward', where you tag a nearby dwarf and then control both characters as one to assail larger enemies and destroy larger obstacles.

That's not exactly pardaigm-shifting stuff though and neither is the thought of collecting loot from defeated enemies and smashed objects. At that place's over a dozen of these, from golden bars to carrots, and you need a certain corporeality to complete many of the game'southward side quests and to create specific objects (using the same spot the missing brick mini-game from The Lego Moving-picture show necktie-in).

Yous could generously phone call it a crafting organization but since yous're constantly bashing the same objects to also become normal Lego studs it doesn't really alter the gameplay focus at all. There's also an expansion of the blueprint system from The Lord Of The Rings that lets you lot forge actress equipment – from the useful to the cool – but again it's the inventory equivalent of busywork.

That means the minute-to-minute gameplay is the aforementioned as always, every bit y'all smash apart everything in your path and solve a series of convoluted but never very difficult, puzzles. The tactile joy of breaking autonomously Lego objects is as addictive equally ever, while the two player co-op remains one of the best ways to enjoy a game with a not-gamer or immature child while still go along both parties entertained.

The other common feature to all Lego games is the large number of bugs and glitches, simply like the Lego Moving picture game the problem is less pronounced here than in previous titles.

Similar near of the recent Lego games there's likewise large open up earth surroundings to explore, although different The Lord Of The Rings it doesn't take in the whole of Heart-Earth – just the parts that were really in The Hobbit. Developer TT Games finish themselves from just copying and pasting the world from the final game just notwithstanding some areas are about identical, with clearly a lot of reused assets.

Yous could argue that was unavoidable since it is meant to be the same world, simply given the nature of the game and the films it just adds even more to the overpowering sense of déjà vu. If y'all've never played a Lego game before, or you really similar The Hobbit movies, then by all means add together some other signal to the score beneath. Simply if this really is your get-go information technology's not difficult at all to find another that's funnier, more inventive, and less predictable.

In Brusk: One of the weakest Lego games of contempo times, and non just because the formula is getting old only considering The Hobbit isn't a particularly good fit for information technology.

Pros: The co-op formula is still equally entertaining equally ever and there's enough of content hither even without the terminal film. Competent storytelling, compared to near picture tie-ins.

Cons: Exactly the same core gameplay as usual, simply with less distinctive characters and a game globe that is familiar in all the wrong ways. Not as funny or clever as usual. Crafting adds little.

Score: vi/10

Formats: PlayStation 4 (reviewed), Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, Xbox One, PC, 3DS, and PS Vita
Toll: £49.99
Publisher: WB Games
Programmer: TT Games
Release Date: 11th April 2014
Age Rating: 7

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