Bilbo Baggins was just a normal hobbit living in his cozy, comfy hole, when an unexpected guest arrived. Gandalf, the wizard, came by with a most unusual request.

Thirteen dwarves, led by Thorin, son of Thror, King under the Mountain, seeks the long lost treasure of the dwarven kin. But how does this concern Mr. Baggins? The Arkenstone, a treasured jewel stolen by Smaug the Dragon, has been the sign of Thorin's kin, and it must be returned to its rightful owner, and the dwarves need a companion, a hobbit, as a burglar.

So Bilbo joins the dwarves and cheery old Gandalf on their quest as the burglar, through a treacherous land of Middle Earth.

All goes well until they encounter some trolls, but Gandalf can handle that easily. Living within the dead trolls' cave, their luck begins to run out. In the middle of the night, Bilbo notices a crack in the wall expanding to a large hole, and intruders, goblins, enter the dark cave.

Taken before the Great Goblin, Gandlaf draws his newly found sword, Foe-Hammer, and kills the Great Goblin. Trapped within the cave, Bilbo must find his way out and reunite with Thorin and Company. But what is thought easy is not expected to happen.

Poor Bilbo... falling into a gigantic hole into the depths of a cave. Does bad luck just follow him everywhere? Anyway, within the decent sized cavern, Bilbo meets an awfully strange character, Gollum, a beast with poor eyesight and an awful obsession with a lost birthday present, a golden ring, found by Bilbo upon his impact on the cave floor.

Engaged in a riddle contest, Bilbo outsmarts the beast and slips the ring on, becoming invisible! Finding his way out of the cave, to a secret exit, he is reunited with the dwarves.

From there, they must travel through Mirkwood, an extremely dangerous forest of evil, and find their way to the Lonely Mountain to face Smaug the Dragon himself.

What I Liked

The Hobbit is a unique video game best upon the popular book by J.R.R. Tolkien. After reading the book, the acts of the fantasy elements of the story engrossed me in the world of fantasy literature. However, when the game came out, I wanted it immediately.

I like the character of Gandalf best. Even though you never play as Gandalf, I liked his position as guide and hero in the game. He saved Bilbo's small rear many a time. Besides Gandalf though, I loved playing as Bilbo. Small as he is, his skills grow as he uses his sword, Sting, to battle a wide range of villains and baddies, from a gigantic hermit crab to an octopus. Weird, yes I know.

I also liked the building of skill in this game. This isn't an average beat enemies, gain experiance fantasy epic, you must find runes: Skill Runes, Shield Runes, Jump Runes, Life Runes, etc. By gaining these runes, you obtain a larger stamina meter, higher attack strength in battle, and a longer gap jump. Without the runes, Bilbo Baggins would be dead before his first level boss.

I also liked the dwarves in the game. Bifor, Bofor, Bombour, Thorin, Gloin, Thorin, and 7 others accompany Bilbo, helping him, as well as getting their butts saved by him.

The animations of this game are identical to any other modern GBA game, like the game's follow-up games, the Lord of the Rings games. Being a prelude to these games, The Hobbit reveals a lot more information left out in LotR.

As for the sound, the music really suits the situations of the different levels and places. The scores sound really neat too, kinda what you'd think the music to the book would sound like.

The puzzles are unique, too. I liked how they really made me think as well as having very hard solutions. Some puzzles, for preteens such as my self, can be really easy or stone hard. All the same, it makes a great game.

Who Else Would Like It?

Any Tolkien Fan would enjoy this game. It may be a bit of a disappointment to some die hard fantasy fans due to some nonsense enemies and other things, like the mini-quests added in, but the Hobbit is still one of my favorite GBA games.

What I Didn't Like

I didn't like how the game was seemed a little farfetched compared to the book. Although books don't exactly have health meters and limited lives and stuff like that, the game was just a little unreal. For example, in the book Bilbo doesn't fight a gigantic hermit crab.

Overall

The Hobbit is a beautifully animated game with great sound effects/music, and an awesome plot. If you are a fantasy game lover, this game is for you, and, odds are, you'll like it as much as I did.

Rated: E for Everyone; Some Violence

Liscenced By: Nintendo

Developed By: Sierra