LEGO The Hobbit

A fun and charming extension of the film that nevertheless suffers from some disjointed story problems and some sameness of characters.

Lego The Hobbit is charming, funny, faithful to the films, and incredibly tedious to play.

Lego the Hobbit complements both franchises

It may be incomplete, narratively speaking, but Lego The Hobbit is just as content-packed as any other game in the series, and is a great experience for Lego and Middle-earth diehards alike.

The more lighthearted tone of The Hobbit works great with the Lego style, with lots of fun moments

It feels good to finish on a complaint. When I was writing about Path Of Exile a few days ago, I felt a bit mean finishing on a sour note, but The Hobbit left me feeling a bit grumpy. Admittedly, burning through a Lego game as quickly as possible isn't the best way to play, and I'd probably feel more fondly toward this one if I'd dipped in and out over a period of weeks.

In the pantheon of LEGO games, LEGO The Hobbit isn't the worst by a long shot – but the formula's certainly getting tired. While the decision to release the game with only two-thirds of the story complete is an odd one, there's still more than enough content to keep you occupied for a good while, and the presentation is still as charming as ever.

LEGO The Hobbit has some strengths, and it's perhaps tempting to look at the sheer size of the world and volume of content and give it a pass. However, we feel that the frequently poor design and shoddy gameplay experience represent a low in the franchise. We're often supportive and complimentary of the LEGO series for what it does achieve despite some flaws, but this is a sloppy effort from Warner Bros. and TT Games. A typically rushed movie tie-in, and an unfortunate blemish on an otherwise excellent franchise.

Despite its sudden conclusion and its familiar gameplay, LEGO The Hobbit is a fitting adventure, adapting the films for younger and older players alike.

LEGO The Hobbit is a fun little game that serves its purpose well.  It's a good game for kids to play and fans of Peter Jackson's film trilogy will get a kick out of it.  It would have been nice if Traveller's Tales strived to innovate its LEGO formula and included content from The Hobbit: There and Back Again.  It's a fun game, yes, but never escapes the shadow of better LEGO games.