The Hobbit (2003 video game)

The Hobbit is a video game that was released in 2003 for the PlayStation 2, GameBoy Advance, GameCube, Xbox, and PC. It was published by Sierra Entertainment Inc, and developed by Vivendi Universal Games.

Story
Play as Bilbo Baggins in a third-person adventure based loosely on the J.R.R. Tolkien novel, The Hobbit. Featuring an intriguing storyline it takes players to places from the classic book as well as to completely original locales. Live out scenarios from the book, including the meeting of Gandalf and the dwarves, the shadowy encounter with the hungry and insane Gollum and the battle with the dragon Smaug, among others. Use the power of the infamous ring to become invisible and sneak past enemies. Fight enemies with various weapons such as a walking stick, throwing stones, and the magical sword Sting.

''Lead the Quest that started it all. Long Ago, the Lonely Mountain trembled as the Dragon Smaug destroyed the Dwarf-kingdom in fire and rage. When the Dwarves set out to reclaim their stolen treasure hoard, I, Gandalf the wizard, sent with them the most unlikely of heroes: Bilbo Baggins of the Shire. But even I could not foresee how this choice would rule the fate of Middle-earth.''

Characters

 * Bilbo Baggins - The main and playable character, he is a stubborn hobbit who gets swept up into Bilbo_Baggins.pngture.


 * Gandalf - The wizard who organizes the Quest of Erebor with Thorin. Gandalf leads the Dwarves on the quest to Lonely Mountain, giving Bilbo missions along the way.


 * Thorin Oakenshield - King of the Dwarf homeland, he gives Bilbo most tasks and leads the dwarfs into battle.


 * Bard- The Captain of the Lake Town Guard. He appears in Lake-town and the Battle of Five Gandalf_Grey.pngs. Bard kills Smaug with a swift arrow to the dragons chest.


 * Lianna - An elf of Thranduil's Hall in Mirkwood, Bilbo helps her recover from a mortal wound in Troll Cave by retrieving her healing draught. She eventually helps Bilbo escape from Thranduil's Hall. She is not featured in Tolkien's original legendarium. She was invented specifically for the game.


 * Corwin - A sad, heartbroken woodsman from Laketown. Bilbo meets him, and he says he is the only survivor of a spider attack on his camp. His brother was killed in the onslaught. Bilbo helps him retrieve a lost signet that belonged to his brother. He too, is featured solely in the game.


 * Balfor - A dwarf of the Iron Hills who has been made a slave of the goblins. They force him to work the dwarf-built mining contraptions. Once Bilbo frees him, he kills the goblin guards, and tells Bilbo how to escape. He was not in the book.
 * Smaug - A large red dragon that guards the treasure under Lonely Mountain.

Chapters

 * Dreamworld: During the Dwarves' visit to Bag End, Bilbo falls asleep and dreams he is at the Battle of Five Armies. Bilbo also has no health and is invincible in this level. (used to acquaint players with the basic controls and movement)


 * An Unexpected Party: Bilbo is sent to the Green Dragon, but first he is asked to collect provisions for Bombur, and do different jobs for the Hobbits of the Shire.






 * Roast Mutton: Bilbo is sent to investigate a fire-light and attempts to pick-pocket three trolls to impress the dwarves.


 * Troll-hole: Bilbo must explore find a way into the trolls' cave to get supplies, while dodging traps and using lifts set up by the Witch King's puppet states in Arnor.


 * Over Hill and Under Hill: Bilbo ends up in a helter-skelter adventure trying to get back to the dwarves after an interesting fall.


 * Riddles in the Dark: Bilbo is lost and must find his way through a now goblin infested dwarf mine, fix broken dwarf lifts, and rescue Balfor, a dwarf of the Iron Hills.


 * Flies and Spiders: Bilbo is lost and must find his way through a spider infested Mirkwood Forest, fighting hundreds of spiders and minions of the Wight lord. He must rescue the dwarves from being eaten by the three giant spiders.


 * Barrels Out of Bond: Bilbo and the dwarves are not safe out of Mirkwood yet. Bilbo has to sneak among Elven King Thranduil's kingdom and find a way to lead the dwarves' escape.


 * A Warm Welcome: The dwarves and Bilbo escape to Lake-town, where they are warmly welcomed. Bilbo's now famous stealth as well as his gratitude to Lake-town lead him to stop a conspiracy to take over the whole city- and worse.


 * Inside Information: Bilbo must steal the golden cup of Thrór from Smaug, and then figure out a way to slay him, whilst recovering rare artifacts and heirlooms for the dwarves.


 * The Gathering of the Clouds: Bilbo must find the Arkenstone for Thorin from Erebor's royal treasury, but due to broken keys and ladders and lost chains belts and forging molds, Bilbo is led to repair the rest of the kingdom while he's at it


 * The Clouds Burst: This level is The Battle of Five Armies. Bilbo must fight or sneak his way through the battle to deliver a message to Bard of Lake-town, saying that the goblins of Bolg's army are coming at him from behind, as Bard is unaware of this. He also meets up with Corwin, Lianna, and Beorn, whom he must help to slay Bolg. His death ends the Battle as well as the game.

Items

 * Mushrooms
 * Save Pedestal


 * Health Potions


 * Antidote


 * Walking Stick


 * Throwing Stones


 * Sting


 * Gunpowder Barrels


 * Skeleton Keys


 * Wood Chest


 * Blue Chest


 * Gold Chest


 * Coins
 * Throwing stones: 10 silver pennies


 * Rock-bag upgrade: 500-1000 silver pennies


 * Health Potion: 40 silver pennies


 * Antidote potion: 40 Silver pennies


 * Waters of Vigor Potion: 1000 silver pennies


 * Waters of Fortitude Potion: 2000 Silver Pennies


 * Medicine chest upgrade: 500-1000 Silver pennies

Enemies

 * Goblin Guard: These enemies are first encountered in Dreamworld, along with the other Goblin types. They carry a cutlass and shield, and bear a resemblance to Darth Vader. They usually retreat between attacks.


 * Goblin Soldier: Armed with bow and sword, some carry explosive arrows, and most will not back up or retreat. A mini-boss version appears in Riddles in the Dark. The mini-boss doesn't carry a bow, but he has much more health and is very acrobatic; able to flip over and away from Bilbo's attacks.


 * Goblin Miner: Armed with a pickaxe and blasting powder, these enemies are weaker and easy to kill.


 * Goblin Mage: These Goblins carry spiked staffs that can create a damage inducing magic burst. They usually prefer to call for help (which doesn't generate a response) rather than fight for themselves. These all are first seen in the Dreamworld level.


 * Carnivorous plant: Blind plants that can be snuck up upon. They will bite if you get too close.


 * Wolf: First seen in the Roast Mutton level. They are easier to kill than most enemies, and when at ease can be killed in one hit.


 * Water Leaper, a.k.a. Vile Creature: These are armless, bipedal swamp creatures likening to frog-dinosaur hybrids. In later levels, they gain the ability to breathe poisonous gas at Bilbo. They fight wolves in one area of Roast Mutton. These are all first encountered in Roast Mutton Level




 * Rock Badger,AKA Guardian's Minions: These are first seen during the first Boss fight, (on the Troll Hole level) where Bilbo must kill them to get the "Guardian" (A much bigger Rock Badger) to show it's weak spot.


 * Were-Worm: These large, fearsome worms live in underground dens with exactly one enterante more than there are eels, with which they can disappear into and come out of. They are first seen after the Troll Hole boss fight. They look like caterpillars and when Bilbo kills one, another comes forward to take its place. They are blind and can be snuck up upon. They make a fearsome snarling noise that sounds similar to dogs.


 * Brown Giant Spider: Larger versions of Lesser Spiders, these monsters cannot climb walls. They jump and strafe Bilbo, these creatures first appear in Troll Hole, one guarding a gold chest inside a waterfall, then more frequently in Mirkwood.


 * Frog People: Tiny Goblin or Troll hatchlings that first appear in Troll Hole. They seem to hate the "Vile creatures", since an army of them teams up against one in Barrels out of Bond.


 * Werewolf: Stronger and faster forms of wolves found in the Misty Mountains. If they see you but can't reach you, they attack with a powerful wizard spell like that of Gandalf's


 * Lesser Spider: The smallest spiders. Like all spiders (except the giant spiders), they can climb up cliffs and walls. They are first seen in Riddles in the Dark.


 * Dread Spider: These are green, poisonous cousins of the Lesser Spiders. The Riddles in the Dark level marks their first appearance. When their web is cut, they will attack. They fight in the same manner at goblins: attacking and retreating. The small ones will usually ambush Bilbo by scurrying up and down the walls.


 * Fire Bat: Only three of these appear in the entire game; in the Riddles in the Dark level. They are bright red and spit balls of flame at Bilbo. They are the only flying enemies in the game besides Smaug.


 * Spitting Plant: These plants respond the same way as carnivorous plants, but spit seeds at you. They are also much harder to kill.


 * Red Dread Spider: Bigger, red, and more poisonous than Dread Spiders, these creatures first appear in Flies and Spiders. They are much harder to kill.


 * Black Giant Spider: They have an armored body and Bilbo must do a jump attack to flip them over to attack their soft bottom, they first appear in Flies and Spiders, as do the next three on this list.


 * Undead Soldier: These as well as the next two on this page are described as minions of the Necromancer. They are much more dangerous than goblin guards, and can find you even if tiptoeing with the ring on.


 * Undead Archer: Range Attack versions of the Undead Soldiers, they sometimes have explosive arrow attacks, holding their bows horizontally with shots about 10 seconds in between,somewhat like their God of War likenesses. When Bilbo gets too near, like the goblin soldiers, they make use of a sword.


 * Lich: These are eyeless, purple-robed beings who are more skeleton than zombie. They shoot powerful, explosive range attacks from their hands which pass through barriers. They use a sword for melee combat. Their first appearance is on Flies and Spiders.


 * Three Trolls: These are three hungry mountain trolls named Bert, Tom, and William. They appear in Roast Mutton. Bert is the hardest to avoid since he walks around everywhere. Bilbo doesn't have the ring yet, so unfortunately he must hide, dash, or both.


 * Goblin Guards: These guards are guarding Balfor, the dwarf in Riddles in the Dark. They are too strong for Bilbo to fight, so he must dodge them. However, there is an exception. In The Clouds Burst and A Warm Welcome Bilbo becomes strong enough to fight them.


 * Mirkwood Elves: These aren't really Bilbo's sworn enemies, they just capture anyone who wanders in their realm without leave, in this case, the dwarves and Bilbo. But Bilbo is the sneaky one, and he must wear the ring almost the whole level (Barrels Out of Bond) when he is close to them. The Elves are Bilbo's friends in The Clouds Burst.


 * Thieves and Goblins: They are trying to take over Lake-town. They have also stolen all the weapons in town. It is Bilbo's job in A Warm Welcome to thwart the thieves' and goblins' plans. At the end of the level, Bilbo must steal back Bard's black arrow and to do this he must avoid being detected by them. This part is challenging, especially if the player wants to get all the coins and courage points.


 * Gollum: Although the character who destroys evil, Gollum only appears in a cut-scene


 * Smaug: The biggest, most important enemy. First he sleeps on his bed of gold coins and Bilbo must simply stay as quiet as possible. Then Smaug is awake and Bilbo must wear the ring and dodge behind pillars. Then Smaug is breathing fire at Bilbo and he must simply dash behind pillars.


 * Stone-Giants: They don't require sneaking past, but throw rocks at Bilbo, which is relatively simple by itself, but there are creatures to fight and lots of pits that make it difficult to avoid the stones.


 * Bolg: The goblin king, son and successor of Azog, who was killed by Dáin Ironfoot. He leads the attack against the alliance of Dwarves, Elves, and Men at the Battle of Five Armies. He was killed by Beorn, the shape-shifter and his army of goblins and wargs were utterly defeated. Bilbo gets a good sweeping view of him during the process of helping Beorn.

Plot differences
The game largely follows the plot of The Hobbit book, but makes several common "video game adaptations", such as added monsters, expanded "chapters" (levels), boss fights, and so on. Some of the more significant changes, however, include the absence of Beorn the shape-shifter until "The Clouds Burst" (or, The Battle of the Five Armies). (The animated movie from 1977 also omits Beorn, and the game might be based on this film despite being released many years apart.) In "Riddles In The Dark", the player needs to fix various pieces of lift machinery to open a gate and free a dwarven prisoner. Also, instead of in among the trees, the fight with the spiders occurs in a big "spider hall" with cliffs that the bigger spiders can't climb. In the game, Bilbo names the sword, Sting, after he found it in the troll cave, but in the book, he names it after he fought the spiders.

The game also portrays Bard as already the captain of the town-guard. In the book he doesn't take command of the defence of Lake-town until the dragon comes. He also doesn't serve the Master of Lake-town until he escapes ashore after the destruction of Lake-town, but it would seem that the makers of the game wanted to make someone familiar give Bilbo important quests.

Game mechanics
Being a platformer, the game has a jump feature, plus rope swinging, ladder climbing, etc. The game also features the use of the One Ring, to sneak up on, away from, and past enemies. Unlike "The Fellowship of the Ring" game, the Ring power regenerates in only a few seconds, making it possible to use the Ring more. This is a good thing, since this game features more sneaking and climbing around. Each level gives the player a series of quests, some of which may be optional to fulfill. For instance, one of the optional quests in the Unexpected Party level is to find four children in a game of hide and seek. An example of a required quest would be to save the Dwarves from the spiders.

Soundtrack

 * 1) Prelude                                                                                              310-the-hobbit.jpg
 * 2) Flight of the Dragon
 * 3) A Hobbit's Tale Reprise
 * 4) Combat in the Lone Lands
 * 5) A Walk in the Shire
 * 6) Lianna's Theme
 * 7) Traveling to Rivendall
 * 8) Dwarves at Work
 * 9) Lost in a Cave
 * 10) Crossing the Bridge
 * 11) Battle of Lake-Town
 * 12) Sneaking through Elvish Halls
 * 13) Working at the Mill
 * 14) The Desolation of Smaug
 * 15) The Battle of Five Armies
 * 16) Combat in Mirkwood
 * 17) Among the Wood-Elves
 * 18) Inside the Misty Mountains
 * 19) The Spider Gauntlet
 * 20) The Trolls
 * 21) Beorn Crushes Bolg
 * 22) Smaug Awakens
 * 23) A Hobbit's Tale