J.R.R. Tolkien is considered by many to be the father of modern fantasy novels. According to Deutsche Welle, his "The Lord of the Rings" novels became the blueprint all modern-day fantasy writers base their work on.
Although reading about the adventures of the Bagginses and the Fellowship of the Ring is good and all, putting their adventures in a video game format allows audiences to take an active role in the story rather than a passive one.
Here are some of the games people made that are based on "The Hobbit," regardless if they are based on the book or Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit" movie trilogy.
The Hobbit (1982)
Let's start with one of the first games that attempted to bring the magic of Middle Earth to gamers. This particular game based on Tolkien's "The Hobbit" book was developed and published in 1982 by Beam Software for the Microsoft Disk Operating System (MS-DOS), per The Gamer.
The game was described as "revolutionary," and it shows. It was surprisingly detailed for its time, with it featuring three-dimensional NPCs and an "ever-changing world."
My Abandonware added that aside from its graphics, the game played host to a "big vocabulary[,] and surprisingly robust NPC interaction."
The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies - Fight For Middle Earth
Modern-day gaming is a time when mobile games are at their prime, and some companies have video game developers create mobile games for people to play as a marketing strategy for the main show - the movie on which the game is based.
This is how The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies - Fight For Middle Earth came to be.
The mobile game is based on the last film in Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit" trilogy, which focuses on the events prior, during, and after The Battle of the Five Armies.
Although Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment's take on a digital representation of Middle Earth during the events of the film is commendable for its time, it barely gives players the freedom they need to become active participants in the game, per Pocket Gamer.
The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug - Orc Attack
From mobile games to web browser games, movie companies like Warner Bros. will do whatever it takes to market a movie as big as "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug."
Instead of a mobile game, though, Warner Bros. commissioned the creation of a game based on the movie that can be played on web browsers.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug plays like Angry Birds, wherein the player takes aim with the character of their choice at the orcs either idly standing, walking, or trying to harm you in any way. Successfully shooting down all orcs with arrows and health to spare will usually net you an average to a great score.
If you want to try the game out for yourself, visit The Hobbit website, which is surprisingly still working as of press time.
The Hobbit (2003)
Even before Peter Jackson made his "The Hobbit" movie trilogy, game companies have been looking for a way to deliver Tolkien's "The Hobbit" to modern audiences. After the 1982 game, Sierra Entertainment undertook the arduous task of doing just that, though the game was met with not-so-good reviews.
Sierra Entertainment's The Hobbit feels pretty much like a bad clone of Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda. The game, according to the One Wiki, is loosely based on Tolkien's book. It heavily features platforming mechanics over combat, which is a good thing as the game's players found the platforming puzzles to be easy, allowing people to progress through the game faster.
The game received an IMDB score of 62 based on 12 critic reviews and a user score of 7.3 from 24 user reviews.
LEGO The Hobbit
Whoever said that Tolkien doesn't have a place in the world of LEGO? Lego The Hobbit is a game that takes place during the events of Peter Jackson's "An Unexpected Journey" and "Desolation of Smaug" films, per Warner Bros.
The game provides gamers of all ages the experience of being in Thorin's Company as well as the chance to take part in the retaking of Lonely Mountain. It also allows younger players to learn more about Tolkien's novels that don't involve too much reading.
However, it isn't without its flaws. The game was found to have sluggish combat mechanics, and its simplistic puzzle takes away much of the joy the game offers, per Gamespot.
