''Lego The Hobbit'' is a

Lego Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocking ...

-themed

action-adventure The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a storyli ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by

Traveller's Tales Traveller's Tales is a British video game developer and a subsidiary of TT Games. Traveller's Tales was founded in 1989 by Jon Burton and Andy Ingram. Initially a small company focused on its own content, it grew in profile through developing ...

. The game was released by

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE; also known as Warner Bros. Games or WB Games) is an American video game publisher based in Burbank, California, and part of the newly-formed Global Streaming and Interactive Entertainment unit of ...

on 8 April 2014 in North America, and 11 April in Europe. The game is a follow-up to ''

Lego The Lord of the Rings Lego ''The Lord of the Rings'' is a Lego theme based on ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy. It is licensed from Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema. The theme was first introduced in 2012. The first sets appeared in 2012, to coincide with a rel ...

'' based on the first two ''Hobbit'' films; '' An Unexpected Journey'' and ''

The Desolation of Smaug ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''. It was released on

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international territo ...

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. The W ...

Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...

OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

and

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. On 1 January 2019, all digital sales of the PS3 and Xbox 360 version of the game were halted. This was confirmed a few days later by publisher

Warner Bros. Interactive Warner Bros. Games (formerly Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment) is an American video game publisher based in Burbank, California, and part of the Warner Bros. Discovery Global Streaming & Interactive Entertainment, Global Streaming and In ...

. The game was later re-added to

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

on 27 April 2020 and on console stores on 6 May 2020.

Gameplay

The game shows several features from the previous games, including a feature where the user should locate specific materials to build a big Lego object. When the user selects and input the correct materials a screen is displayed where the Lego machine is built and the player should select the correct pieces in exchange for studs. Also the characters have different actions to perform, making the Dwarf Company a group with different capabilities during the mission, including someone with archery abilities, another that uses a big hammer that can move big objects, another with the ability to extract minerals from stones, and so on. Bilbo improves his abilities as the game advances: when he gains Sting he has the ability to be a more skilled fighter; and when he gets the One Ring he can disappear and build invisible Lego structures. The game, similar to the latest Lego video games, is composed on a large map, rather than a single hub. The player can move among different events where different characters ask the player to retain a specific material from a mission or to exchange materials.

Plot

Much like its predecessors, the game presents storylines from ''The Hobbit'' films: ''An Unexpected Journey'' and ''Desolation of Smaug''. However, the developers modified the storylines to fit the events into a number of game chapters per film, as well as adding the humour the series has become known for.

DLC

There are 4 DLCs that are included with this game. They are The Big Little Character Pack, Side Quest Character Pack, The Armory Pack and The Battle Pack.

Cancelled ''The Battle of the Five Armies'' DLC

It was reported at the London Toy Fair in January 2014 that a DLC would be released covering the events of the final film in ''The Hobbit'' series, to be released around the time of the film at the end of that year. However, no DLC was released. Over a year later, in a correspondence with

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

it was revealed that, despite no actual cancellation of the DLC, there were no longer any plans to adapt the film as a DLC, nor to adapt it as another game.

Audio

Similar to ''Lego The Lord of the Rings'', ''Lego The Hobbit'' features talking minifigures, with their dialogue taken directly from the films. Additional voices were provided by

Tim Bentinck Timothy Charles Robert Noel Bentinck, 12th Earl of Portland, Count Bentinck und Waldeck Limpurg, (born 1 June 1953), commonly known as Tim Bentinck, is an English actor and writer, known for his long-running role as David Archer in the BBC ...

Liz May Brice Elizabeth May Brice (born 8 September 1975) is an English actress. She is known for roles such as the convicted murderer Pat Kerrigan on ITV1's '' Bad Girls'', and Agent Johnson in '' Torchwood: Children of Earth''. Career Brice was born in R ...

, Clare Corbett,

Duncan Duff Duncan Duff (born 1964 in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK) is a British stage, television and film actor who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London 1985 - 1987. He is best known for His role in Not Going out as Pete and for A Quiet Pas ...

, Daniel Fine, Joel Fry,

Jenny Galloway Jenny Galloway is a British actress, and singer best known for her stage career which includes Madame Thénardier in Les Misérables. She has received numerous awards and nominations, winning the 1999 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress ...

, Andy Gathergood, Anna Koval, Jonathan Kydd, Steve Kynman, Jamie Lee, Andy Linden, Sara Beck Mather, James Naylor,

Emma Pierson Emma Jane Pierson (born 30 April 1981) is an English actress. Her appearances in television programmes include the role of Anna Thornton-Wilton in the BBC television drama '' Hotel Babylon'', and ''SunTrap'', '' Days Like These'', '' Beast'' ...

, Jason Pitt,

Richard Ridings Richard Ridings (born 19 September 1958) is an English actor. He portrayed Alan Ashburn in the ITV television drama ''Fat Friends'', Bernard Green in the BBC One comedy-drama '' Common as Muck'', and is the voice of Daddy Pig in ''Peppa Pig''. He ...

Emma Tate Emma Tate is a British voice actress. She is known for many roles including the voice of Perfect Peter in ''Horrid Henry'', Harry in ''Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs'', Raggles and Bluebird in ''Everything's Rosie'', Katsuma and Luvli i ...

, and

Marcia Warren Marcia Warren (born 26 November 1942) is an English stage, film and television actress. On stage, she appeared in '' Blithe Spirit'' as Madame Arcati and '' The Sea'' (2008) at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. She is currently appearing in Netflix' ...

Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimat ...

, who played

Saruman Saruman, also called Saruman the White, is a fictional character of J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel ''The Lord of the Rings''. He is leader of the Istari, wizards sent to Middle-earth in human form by the godlike Valar to challenge Sauron, t ...

in the film series, has an uncredited role as the game's narrator.

Reception

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lego Hobbit (video game), The Role-playing video games Action-adventure games Action role-playing video games Hobbit (video game), The Sentient toys in fiction Split-screen multiplayer games Nintendo 3DS games Nintendo 3DS eShop games Open-world video games PlayStation 3 games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation Vita games Traveller's Tales games Video games based on films Video game prequels Warner Bros. video games MGM Interactive games Wii U games Wii U eShop games Windows games Xbox 360 games Xbox One games 2014 video games Feral Interactive games Middle-earth (film franchise) video games Video games based on adaptations 3D platformers The Hobbit (film series) Works based on The Hobbit Video games developed in the United Kingdom Multiplayer and single-player video games