Lego The Hobbit

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Game Title: Lego The Hobbit
Released: April 8, 2014
Game Length: 36 Hours
Grade: A-

An Unexpected Journey

Limiters: Unlike my time in Lego: Marvel Super Heroes, this game seemed bent on making me complete each and every level before making any sort of progress out in the world. I'm still not entirely sure on this fact but it seems you are unable to swap any characters until you complete all the story levels first. This idea was highly detrimental to the way I wanted to play the game. Usually, I like to take some time off and explore some puzzles between levels. Instead, you are stuck with whatever characters are a part of your group for that specific portion of time in the story. You are locked out of anything that requires high jumping since that feature is limited to the elves. There are only two forms of explosives that open up large sections of the game through destroying silver Mithril bricks: Obtaining Saruman or forging the Mithril Bomb Blade. Morgul bricks will require Sauron, his alias as The Necromancer, or a couple of other oddball sources. Although much of this methodology is expected since a quarter of what is required for quests is accomplished by collecting items in Free Play, I would have personally enjoyed a little more freedom in completing individual missions.

Film Coverage: When it comes to level design, a Lego game normally devotes about five or six chapters toward each film. To my surprise, 8 chapters are devoted to each of the films. That makes a total of 16 chapters! If something sounds off, that's because it is. For whatever reason Lego: The Hobbit only covers the first two films. You see, the original intent of the developers - as reported at the London Toy Fair in January of that year - was to sell the game before the final film came out and cover the later events in a DLC. The game was released on April 8, 2014. The film was released on December 4, 2014. Shortly thereafter, Warner Brothers canceled the project. To this day, no one really knows why they made such a decision.

DLC: So instead of getting a full-fledged adaptation, we received three little packs of a bunch of strange things for $1.99 each. The "Big Little Character Pack" includes a Baby Smaug (shoots fireballs), Baby Gimli, a giant snow troll, Bandobras Took, and a stone dwarf. The Side Quest Character Pack has a elk mount, river troll, dwarf soldier, Saruman in his casual clothes, lady dwarf equipped with a frying pan, and Girion (the last Lord of Dale). The Battle Pack (mind the commentary) includes 11 items like the shadow blade, Smaug helmet that occasionally breathes fire, and duck boots.

World Transitions

Fast Travel: Contrary to what was seen in Lego: Lord of the Rings, this game does things a little bit different when it comes to moving about in the world. You no longer need to go out searching for map stones that teleport you around various areas. Instead, you ride on the talons of the eagles. This feature only becomes available after you complete the last chapter of the first film. Wherever you are outside (and not inside a cave or building), you have the option to teleport to one of these locations. Your current character - including ones of very large size - will dangle precariously as the eagle carries you over the landscape to your destination. If it wasn't for all those clouds, looking down onto the world would have been pretty cool. At least it's neat when you land. If you choose a location that is practically right next to you, the eagle does a short circle in the air before dropping you off again. You can slightly lean left or right in-flight and have the eagle call-out pressing the A-button. If you have the Farmer's Flight Fleece, it will turn the eagle into a flying pig! Sadly, it doesn't make any oink sounds.

Time of Day: Both of the Tolkien-based games allow you to switch between day and night cycles. It just so happens that this game complicates the matter. Before where you could simply change from morning to evening while you were teleporting across Middle-Earth, now you will need to rest at any one of the designated campfires. Relax a little as you watch the same cutscene play of your party sitting down and roasting sausages at the end of a stick around the fire uninterrupted as the game slowly makes the transition for about 20 seconds. Now, I'm not quite sure why this had to be implemented. Perhaps they felt that people's eyes needed to slowly adjust to the change, read a few interesting tooltips, take a little break from the mayhem, or have the game take the time to load-in the new light effects that shine through even inside buildings and caves. As much as I do like the transition, your party cooks that same sausage every time you change the time of day. I would have rather liked to see them doing other activities or at least mix things up by cooking different types of food (like marshmallows) around the campfire.

Quests: When I completed this game, I had a total of 92.1% Completion: 148/160 items, 31/32 red bricks, and 238/250 mithril bricks. Not counting the characters you can unlock and the 4 mithril bricks you gain from each levels, this means there are 186 Mithril Bricks to obtain. Add the red bricks, and that gives you 218 missions! Some of these will involve racing through obstacle courses, breaking down hidden passageways, or reaching hard-to-reach areas. Others will include riddles and songs. A great number of them will require bartering treasured items or forging mithril objects out of recipes. Others will require you to fight off enemies or help in assisting in the local townsfolk. There are quite a bit of these quests that will alert you if you need to change the time of day by presenting a sunny icon for day, a moon for night, or a notification when trying to click on the icon to bring up the guide system. The biggest thing to be aware of is that a lot of these quests only become available after you complete a level and several of them are chained one-after-another in a semi-story format. Some of these might take you all the way back to the Shire.

Customization

Characters: Creating your own characters has been a staple of every Lego game. Some have allowed you a whole alphabet of blank slates while others have given you two capsules to slot whatever you wanted from your current roster. Every now and then they would try something different, like "cloning" a combination of characters in Lego: Marvel Super Heroes or having you simply cycle through parts in Lego Move Videogame. Almost every game has allowed you to use codes for the designs, provide you the option to rename them, and create a completely random make-up. Although you can cycle through what is available by pressing up or down on the selected part of the mini-figure, Lego: Hobbit provides a few new features by lining up all the parts for you to see visually with their appropriate tooltips. Nearly every color is represented and unique pieces are properly named if they exclusively hold to certain characters. You can customize up to 8 different characters and see each one on a rotating clothesline, similar to the one seen in Lego: Pirates of the Caribbean. This area becomes available late in the game when you reach Lake-Town. But wait, there's more! About a dozen quests will ask from you to put together a creature or being from a number of pieces that need to be purchased and constructed. Pictures will be shown both on the NPC and the Character Creation area of what you would need to complete the quest. So have fun making a gorilla, chicken, peacock, or a number of other weird characters.

Mounts: I would have been satisfied with just the new options for character creations, but the developers go one step further by establishing customizable mounts inside the Beorning home after completing the chapters of the first film. You can create two different kinds of three different mount types: horses, ponies, and wargs. They line you up with 17 different colors from 6 different crazy designs that can be displayed over your mount. You can choose from a good number of colors that changes both the mane and saddle of your mount. And like mentioned above, you can input the code and change the name of your new animal friend. Equipping a mount is as easy as pulling up your character wheel and selecting the left slot. But wait, there's more! You might have discovered a fourth stall (perhaps locked if you don't meet the requirements). You can even customize your very own trolls. However, do make a note that this is more of an extension of the character creation and less of a potential riding partner. Unfortunately, I did discover one major bug - the Attract Stud red brick option causes nearby studs to instantly disappear while riding without counting towards your total.

Impressions

Options: The main menu has about everything you would typically expect from TT Games. You have your long range of video effects, gameplay controls, and sounds. But I noticed something new: You can stretch or shrink the boundary of the screen through adjusting the Safe Zone. If you want to adjust things how the minimap rotates, how the split screen reacts with two players, inverting camera controls, or turning vibration off, those options have to be accessed after loading the game. The light & shadow system is as strong as ever with clear color stretches seen from magic-users: blue from Radagast, red from Saruman, white from Gandalf, and yellow from Sauron.

Christopher Lee: The voice actor behind Saruman joins the team as the narrator. You'll hear him speak of the adventurers before and after every level. This might not seem significant enough by itself, but it did provide him the world record for oldest videogame voice actor at the age of 91. Although I could not find any evidence to buttress my belief, I think the developers must have also recorded his voice for the yodelling shield, which references the Yodelling Saruman Meme. You can hear him say a bunch of random lines when hitting mini-figures (not objects) with the mithril catchphrase mallet. It was only about a year later after the game came out that he died at the age of 93.

Additions: There is so many little things in this game that makes me happy to see when they appear. Something as simple as being able to chain hooks (seen in Lego: Indiana Jones 2) brings a smile to my face. They made it so you can continue to move while gaining a mithril brick and continue to access your inventory while it shows you the character you just unlocked. There are several places people sing songs and provide riddles. Characters are much easier to obtain now that they are a fraction of the price. Things happen in the background. Take for example the extra spiders that hang or move around in the Mirkwood level or all the guards that are fighting off the orcs in the Lake-Town level. You can tell the artists did a great job with things like the nine kings while exploring the tomb or the statues found in many of the sites. While exploring the world, there are people wandering around, eating at tables, or even sleeping under a tent when it's during the night. Small effects like having sound, like splashing in water puddles or grunting when you jump, echo in the chambers of caves. I liked the one quest where you build a mine cart and take it for a ride. That man you need like 500 carrots is probably referencing the man that bites into a carrot at the beginning of the second film. Once you completely forge all 32 mithril items in Bree, Jimli the Blacksmith will become available for purchase.

Concerns: As with every Lego game, there's some design choices that didn't sit well with me. They further split the targets so that you need a bow for a circle target and a slingshot for a diamond shape. Instead of showing all the mini-kit models at once, they tie it all into a single altar. They might have pulled the voice and sound effects from the film, but I did not like the "sewer pipe" hollowness in a few places like Smaug's Lair and Troll's Hoard or the muffled overlay in Erebor and Dol Guldur. The guide studs do a decent job at bringing you to your destination, but there's a few spots they don't take the most efficient route (even if it is harder) or sometimes direct you through a way that you have not opened from the other side yet. You can only get in or out of boats from docks. You will need to leave the area after completing a quest for the next one to appear. I recall one cave that had about five separate quests that needed me to leave and come back in.

What's New?

Crafting System: There are several ways to define "crafting" in this game. For starters, the game utilizes the new Build Mode that The Lego Movie Videogame introduced. Every now and then, you will be tasked to barter a list of appropriate items at a crafting station and watch as the game beautifully renders a new object right before your eyes. It will occasionally highlight one piece in the build and ask you to match that piece from a compiled list using your analog stick. However, one new feature is the option to speed or slow down the build. Just be careful as another player can also participate and use this to annoy the snot out of you. The things you build will generally stay constant in the world from that moment on and just might open-up new areas after it interacts with things in the environment. Also, you can smoothly rotate the object as it builds with the analog stick (something that originally spun out of control in its predecessor). Various gems can be mined from ore scattered all over the landscape. Certain foods can be gathered near people's buildings. Plates and meat can be collected from defeating enemies. Although they are not marked on the map, there are various Traders that will exchange goods. You can stack up to 999 of any object. If you are patient enough, you can also buy resources from a vending machine that becomes available after finishing the last level. It is hard to miss as you will always spawn as Bilbo and Gandalf in front of the Lonely Mountain after opening up the character roster every time you load your save file or enter a level beyond that point in the game. Amusingly, you will also need items to create a bouncing platform out of Bombur's filled stomach. Once you collect what you need, make sure to watch Bombur get up and eat the picnic blanket.

Forging: The Blacksmith returns - after you find him wandering around Weathertop - and this time requires you to collect crafting material in addition to the mithril blocks you collect from completing content. The difference here is that forging a new item will enact a new button-pressing mini-game. For most, this will seem pretty straight-forward. What many might not know (which the handsome lady in front will mention from time-to-time) is that there are actually two results from the forge process that are dependent on how quickly you press those buttons. If you press only when it touches the outer-ring, you will forge a normal-colored object. If you press when it enters the center, you will create a "perfectly-forged" mithril item and its counterpart. These items will allow you to choose between the two as they blink in your inventory. They function the same. If for some reason you fail to produce a full-glossed shiny object, you can always choose to forge the item again free of charge. By the way, I love the number of things that blacksmith says when in his presence. There was one time he amused me when imitating what a recipe would say: "Pick me! Pick me!"

Tutorials: Players have grown accustomed to seeing tooltips display at the bottom of the screen when coming close to something interactable. I recall being surprised to hear Alfred's voice chime for the first time in Lego: Batman 2. But what if the game suddenly gave you the option to see hints. This goes beyond the new menu option to show hints the first 5 times or turning them on/off. There are visible rune-stones that appear for practically every instance. Striking them will provide you with additional information regarding the current situation. While the information is being displayed, you can press A to advance one frame or B to read the previous one. Quite a few of them will tell you which character you should select via their portrait frame and pictures of items you should equip. There are alerts to crafting stations that require loot and other spots you can interact with. They will pop-up with riddles, puzzles, and guides for certain quests. When a person requires a certain object, the stone will tell you which level you can find it in. What's even more amazing is the rune-stones will automatically disappear once you have accomplished the task.

Inventory Control: Lego: Lord of the Rings might not have had a perfect system, but they were going places with their new inventory system. Lego: Hobbit builds on that tremendously. For starters, weapons can be swapped out using the left and right trigger buttons. No longer do you have to sort through your pockets for what you need. The only major problem I encountered is that it does not take into consideration off-hand items. This was very noticeable when you want Bilbo to slip on the ring. But sometimes even that isn't needed as characters will (sometimes) automatically equip what is needed when you get close to the object. Your allies will also jump up-and-down in excitement when they find something they can interact with nearby... even if you equip a dwarf with a pickaxe and pass by some minerals. A minor concern is how you can only equip one or two weapons in your character's inventory. You can still equip a full arsenal of bunny slippers, shiny chestplate, and a goofy pumpkin hat along with your weapon on both active characters if it pleases you. Just be aware that these things disappear from your person the moment you swap your character. Another great addition: ability tooltips with keywords differentiated in appropriate colors have been added to all characters and equipment. You no longer have to access the wiki to find what one thing does. One minor issue with this is that the abilities aren't really consistent. Some will display the option to use hooks at the very top while another will say that you can light dark areas at the top. The disparity makes it a tad harder to glance through multiple items. One more thing: the amount of crafting supplies is shown in a separate category. So if you ever wanted to know the number of carrots you need for that one Bree peasant fellow, this would be a good way to check.

Buddy System: There are no words to describe how engraved the buddy system is with a party of dwarves venturing for buried treasure. Unlike Lego: Lord of the Ring's light-version when you can carry and toss those of small stature around, these fellows take it to a whole new level. You can get two of them to grab hold of very long objects like pole and ladders. You can stack dwarves and use their connected poles as a means to reach high-places. You can jump on a swinging dwarf to get across chasms. Perhaps the most important aspect is the ability to perform a combo on larger enemies and objects. There are a number of fun items you can get to make this more entertaining than it already is.

Level Select: There came a time when developers realized that the levels they were designing were getting too long for kids' attention spans. So, they began adding save slots between segments. In this case, they come in the shape of a dwarf statue. There also came a time when the developers realized that people don't want to replay a whole level to find that last collectable object. So the one new thing about this game is the option to see what is left to collect and start within a certain point in each level. This doesn't cover every transition, but you are usually able to start among three separate "chapters" inside a level. The other good news is you can cycle through all the levels after selecting any level on the map. You do not have to physically go to each location. There is a really big exception: the bonus level. This might be because the bonus level requires you to collect one million studs within 5 minutes, which is super easy to do when you are a stone giant smashing cities. To compensate, the developers force you to climb through some obstacles that reset every time you begin the level. I am also thankful that Free Play includes everything seen in Story Mode - introductions, cutscenes, in-game voice-overs, tooltips, and concluding statements.

Guidance System: Everybody loves being pointed the way, ever since they included ghost studs in Lego: Harry Potter. Well, this game really excels in making sure you know where to go. Icons are clearly visible with white question marks rewarding mithril bricks, red question marks asking for items in exchange for red bricks, flashing icons when they have already asked you for an item, green exclamation points for when you have the item in your possession, day/night icons, campfires, eagle points, sign boards for customization, and banners for levels. You have a mini-map with a fully-functional guidance system that highlights the best way to get to your destination when a location is selected. Not only do you have hollow blue studs for where to go in the story but hollow yellow studs for when you are on a quest. Doors are shown on the map for pathways into caverns, buildings, basements, or routes to other areas. Arrows will point upwards or downwards on top of objects when they are located within one of these instances.

Story

Two Characters: You might have recalled that Lego: Lord of the Rings added a wandering goblin during the sequence of Sam's fight against Shelob. No matter the situation, it seems the team usually finds a way to squeeze in another character in case there are two people playing. This makes events from the source a bit odd when you consider how things unfold. There are still times when players split into teams, like during the stone giant fight or when a person takes control of a fleeing Radagast while the dwarves navigate through the landscape. However, you will find yourself with a very confused goblin (that originally dies in the film) following Bilbo in Gollum's Lair and a lost Balin when venturing through Smaug's Lair. Radagast will be accompanying Gandalf while exploring the tomb and visiting Dol Guldur, despite him arriving late and leaving to get help before the big fight scene.

The Details: Because the game only covers the first two films, there are only two different sequences that play in the background of the main menu. However, the beginning animations are superbly done. Watching Bilbo write his book, chase after a spider with his weapon, and react when Gandalf bangs on the window is all great to watch. I also enjoy viewing the butterflies above the treetops, the band of dwarves roam through Mirkwood forest, and the tomfoolery of one of the spiders. Despite my best efforts, I still have no idea what the deal is with the owls (though I assume they represent the developers and help point out important spots on the map). That goes for the flying pig you hallucinate in Mirkwood. There is no way there is any connection, but I like how the Staff of Wisdom reminds of The Owl House. I know that all elf-made weapons are supposed to glow blue when orcs or goblins are nearby, but the game properly reflects the movie by only having Sting, Bilbo's weapon, shine blue. I've taken a lot of notes of things that stood out to me while playing the game. When you are trying to lure the warg-riders away from the dwarves, I don't recall Radagast jumping onto their saddles and smacking them onto the ground. I like how they added a little Bilbo avatar on fire in the contract to match the "incineration" clause in the movie. I never thought they could make Gollum so scary with his white eyes. I was surprised to see the Goblin King singing. The world hub has areas not shown in the films like the Barrow Downs. You can see a lot of locations, like Dol Guldur and Lake-town, from a distance. Many levels have wondering expanded parts of the films like the tombs of Angmar or climbing up the stone giants. Gandalf might show off the picture of Bilbo's ancestor while explaining how the game of golf was invented, but the video game changes the portrait to the hobbit standing over the head of a goblin. The goblin quest you find at the top of Weathertop mirrors the film where they have a meeting with Azog. Characters only contained from the film and not the books are included, such as Tilda and Sigrid. Amusingly, you'll see a bunch of added prisoners in Felegoth like a spider and someone waving a teddy bear out of their cell (probably Abomination from Lego: Marvel Super Heroes).

Quest Issues: Compared to a lot of other games I've played, there weren't too many problems that crept-up in Lego: The Hobbit. There were a few Crash-To-Desktop moments, like when the barrels were heading down the river, but nothing I couldn't jump right back into. There were a few times the eagle would freeze mid-flight that forced me to Save and Exit. I recall a couple of moments where the sound of NPCs mining would not go away after a quest was completed no matter where you went in the world. I was severely disappointed when no music played during Gruesome Conclusion and the Bouncer was too busy picking fights with the goblins to be purchased. Perhaps the biggest annoyance - at a near laughable level - regards the Cart Pony quest. This goes beyond the lady not moving it during the first phase. When you initiate the part where you have to find the lost beast, the game "drops" a pony with a cart attached to it randomly in the Lone-lands. First time, I found it on the hill beyond the river to the point where it would fling me high into the air, sink me into the earth, or force me beyond the invisible boundary. The second time made the cart detach from the pony when it "fell over" on its side. Because you technically ride on the cart, I watched as the pony took off without me while copying my every movement. The third time caused some issues with how the pony moved in the direction you pitched the stick, but I was finally able to complete the quest then.

Animation

Moves: Each character has their very own line of equipment to choose from and their own style of attacking. For the most part, pressing the B-Button will initiate a spin attack. Those who carry a mace will cause a ripple as they smash the ground. Ranged attacks will load-up three of whatever ammunition they have. Those who use a staff will pound the ground, causing enemies to flee. The amount of impact weapons have against objects are a lot smoother as they generate nice sound effects. In addition, each character also generates a random execute. Tauriel will slice-and-dice while Legolas will launch high into the air. Ones with a flail will wrap the chain around the enemy and spin them. Considering the number of possibilities, I am unable to include them all. What's nice this time around is that you can fire ranged weapons while running or riding a horse. There are a few exceptions as Bombur's special ability is to roll his body across the landscape (including his barrel outfit). Gollum outright cannot equip any items other than some hats but can still ride mounts. Beorn has the unique ability to turn into a bear. Sadly, Tom Bombadil has no special ability.

Idle: There are many characters who share the same behaviors: elves will generally look and listen, those of the same name in different outfits will perform similar moves, and the ones who have generic weapons will usually glance around the environment. However, I found there is a variety of exceptions for about half the roster. You also need to consider that their animations will be different whether or not they have their weapon sheathed. They might both have dual daggers, but Tauriel will swing them side-to-side while Legolas will twirl them. The later versions of Thorin will pull out a map to examine and only Bilbo (Lake-Town) will pull out the ring to rub it. Both Gandalf and Saruman will stroke their beard and hum, but they will have different sound effects. Both Rosie and Tilda sneezes into their hand, but the adult will wipe it on their arm while the child wipes their shirt. Pompous characters like Thranduil and Galadriel will wave people off. Bolg and Sauron jabs their weapon on the side of their necks.Then we have some of the dwarves doing things: Fili twirls his blades, Kili plants his bow in the ground before leaning on it, Dwalin does push-ups, and Nori jumps on his pole and slides down. If you want to speed their animation up so you can see what they do, make sure you turn on the Miniature Character red brick. Here are some of the more unique animations:

  • Bofur: Falls over while resting his heavy weapon over his shoulder. He will pull out his flute and play it (generates music too). He will occasionally happily dance. As a side point: he will lift both legs when jumping.
  • Bifur: Maniacally swings his arms around in a circle. As a side point: he also twitches his eye and rapidly flaps his arms while jumping.
  • Bombur: Sips from his ladle and balances on top of it with one foot. He will sit down to eat a sausage link.
  • Dori: Pulls out his tea set and sips on the cup. While wielding his sword, he will roll out a goblin head and punt it into the distance (it disappears after a second).
  • Bilbo: Flings his sword and hits his toe. He will also stab the ground with Sting, pour himself some tea, and quickly pull the sword out in a panic. He sits down to read a book. He will also eat on a whole carrot.
  • Gandalf: It is hard to miss him slicing his sword above and below while holding his staff horizontally.
  • Oin: Pulls out a book, mixes some chemicals, and then burps.
  • Nori: Pulls out a diamond.
  • Ori: Accidentally shoots himself in the foot with a pebble from his slingshot. He also wields an axe quite differently than the others by holding it tight next to his face. Sometimes he will drop the axe and have trouble lifting it out of the ground. He occasionally will swing and miss catching the axe.
  • Radagast: Mixes chemicals and tosses it into his hat right before it explodes. His bird will also occasionally fly out for a moment before returning to his hat.
  • Goblin (scribe): Surprisingly, this goblin acts much different than the others and will occasionally laugh. He also pulls out a scroll and applies some green ointment onto his chest.
  • Yazneg: Pulls out an elf statue, mocks it, and watches as it starts hitting the side of his head.
  • Gollum: Spins around while laughing maniacally. He also smacks a fish onto the ground and then eats it.

Items

Treasures: Contrary to what one might expect, many of the objects in the game can be very beneficial. Half of them can provide some wacky fun while very few of them hold no abilities whatsoever. Instead of trying to swap to a character that can solve a specific puzzle, it might be better to equip the needed item instead. There are some items, like the bananarang, that can be used as a boomerang to hit targets from a distance. Several items can all be worn at the same time when it comes to slotting your head, chest, back, weapon, side-arm, and feet. Just be careful not to swap out the character or the worn items will be removed.

  • For mining: you have the pixel pickaxe (as if pulled from Minecraft) that allows you mine perfects three times, traveler's loot gives you loot while mining, and mithril pickaxe to skip the mini-game.
  • When it comes to more loot: Archaelogist's Pick gives more ore, Bug Net gives you loot on hit, cooking apron for more food loot, loot rod for fishing bonus, mithril booty blade adds more studs from characters, mithril stud spade gives more studs while digging, mithril bandit gloves doubles loot dropped from enemies, and mithril falcon makes objects drop loot.
  • Items that cause goofy ailments include - baffling beaker stuns enemies, Camomile Teapot (what Dori offers Gandalf in Bilbo's house) makes enemies sleep, Trolls Bane freezes enemies (not in ice; they stop moving), paint bow changes the color of the enemy (including the eyes of spiders), make-up stick changes the color and style of any character's hair, dazzle wig blinds enemies, jester's cane makes enemies laugh (and jingles when swung), Mirkwood Phial confuses enemies, beehive gloves makes character's head huge (and hums with tiny bees floating around it), and Mithril Beanstalk turns people into plant people (similar to Ivy's minions from Lego: Batman).
  • A couple of nice cosmetic effects that happen with items include - Misty Mountain Shield covers you with puffs of smoke, spider bomb drops a ridiculous number of spiders to a terrifying degree wherever it lands, and Tea Hat is like those goofy beer hats that blows bubbles on the side of your head.
  • Annoying objects include a chicken hat that clucks when you jump and move, duck cap that quacks when you jump and move, tuning fork that makes a twang sound when hit, whistling flail that makes whistle sounds, and the cluckarang that makes chicken sounds when it hits things.
  • Outside the wacky items that simply look nice equipped, there are plenty that create sounds such as: Singing fish blade has a quiet blowing bubbles mumble sound come from it when swung, Workman's Axe "whistles while you work" at swinging, Mithril Rhythm Stick plays remixed music while forcing enemies to dance when hit, Friendship slippers that makes your buddy attacks turn into buddy hugs (to each other), mithril dance shoes has both you and your buddy dance with merry expressions while fancy music plays, and mithril music kit (which is really a one-man band play set a person wears on their back) forces everyone around you to dance while it pounds on the drum & symbols as you walk (excluding yourself).
  • Cool weapons include Mithril Giddy-Up Staff summons a ghost horse, mithril horse shoes will allow you to "dash" while still sounding like a horse after moving a few seconds (and glitch your buddy if you have one), mithril shadow blade summons a shadow that imitates your moves next to you, and the mithril tornado axe removes the special ability cooldown to make it instant.
  • The Shield of Song plays the non-lyrical version of the song the dwarves sing in the beginning of the film. This song continues to play as long as the shield is shown on either character. The song will reset if something causes the shield to no longer be seen, like when your assistance jumps up-and-down to get your attention or a maneuver such as an execution forces your character into a specific animation.
  • The mining hat allows you to light up dark areas and is true to the film as seen from the dwarf that finds the Arkenstone.
  • Mithril Skull Cap is interesting as it shows skeletons for people, but there are a bunch of catches. Your skeleton doesn't seem to show. Only those who enter your personal space will show their skeleton. Swapped characters within your vicinity will not be affected. People's hair and capes will still show (which makes Bombur a little creepy). Those with unique pieces - like in the case of Azog or Fimbul - will still show through. Large creatures will not change as well.

Red Bricks: Many of the typical Lego modifiers are present here. You'll find multipliers, detectors, invulnerability, and poo studs. They have added Always Loot modifiers that turn all gems you find to the currently marked one. Snake Flail returns from Lego: Indiana Jones where it turns your flail into a snake (even while you use it as a weapon). Not only do you get disguises, but they put out some effort in Boss Disguises that adds some creative mixes like the Three Amigos or add a Sherlock Holmes hat on top of Smaug (which is pretty clever as Benedict Cumberbatch plays in both roles). Then you have some snazzy 8-bit music and carnival that adds disco lights everywhere while forcing everyone (including trolls) to dance. Although mentioned earlier, Miniature Characters power brick returns from Lego: Marvel Super Heroes where it shrinks everyone down to tiny cute size. All of their animations, movement, and attacks are increased. Characters only shrink when they become in range of your character. Eagles also shrink while traveling across Middle-Earth.

Summary

Review: The biggest complaint you will see for this game is how it does not include content from the third film. This does not necessarily mean you will see less content as there are still a fair number of chapters that cover the first two films. Since I wasn't made aware of this ahead of time, there was some initial shock from seeing the game suddenly conclude at the moment it did. This compounded the sore feelings I had being unable to switch out my characters the entire way. There were some laughably bad glitches, long load times when camping out, and inaccessible features. However, if you do manage to keep playing, you'll find there is way more to the game than your first impressions. There is a number of quality of life improvements included like the hint system, better Build Mode, being able to chain your whip across hooks, descriptions added to the equipment, icons displaying which character you need for a puzzle, a nice fast travel system, better customization features including your mount, and a whole lot more. In truth, this game solves a lot of problems that were present in Lego: Lord of the Rings and accumulates a decade worth of mechanics from the Lego series. I would definitely recommend playing this game.

 

3-8-2023