A game that makes you want to read the book...in the good way.

User Rating: 7.5 | The Hobbit PC
Ah yes The Hobbit i remember this game back in 2003 i got it for Christmas and was kinda let down at first, oh yay yet another horrible cash in on a franchise that doesn't need it, but i was surprised to see that this game was actually well made a lot of thought went into the development process so much in fact that i found this game to be a worthy sibling to the novel. The graphics is what we'll talk first for 2003 they are great much detail was put into it so when your footing around in the shire you get a sense of being there from the flowing river to the bright colors used, the characters are well done but i found the enemies to be a bit sub par which isn't terrible by any means hardly anything to gripe at. As your getting to the meat of the game you find that more game mechanics are thrown in so it's not just a simple plat former it's now and plat former with puzzle elements and fetch quests not a huge thing to most people specially now days but they did wonders for this game. At first your little hobbit Frodo will only start off with a stick but as you progress you will get much better equipment to use that makes the game much more manageable they will then get power-ups as you go through the story and such little collectables are scattered throughout the game world. The environment is vast but limited you go on a set path which is unfortunate because when you see how big the land is you get the sense of exploration but are never really able to go through with it, there are various dungeons to explore and puzzles to solve with easy to use controls it makes doing such activities fun although i found that sometimes the timing can be a bit sluggish so when you go to attack the enemy will sometimes hit first not a game breaker but definitely annoying,the game offers a tutorial session in the beginning sequence of the game which will help a bit but as before the sluggish controls make it somewhat cumbersome. On a whole this game is definitely better than most games of it's nature if you don't take it to seriously and just enjoy it for what it is you will find a gem that can be enjoyed a few times over.