The LEGO games have glommed onto a number of big-name franchises over the past decade, including The Lord of the Rings. A release for The Hobbit was basically a "no duh" thing, but the game missed an opportunity for a simultaneous launch with the second movie. Now, the official release date has finally been set for LEGO The Hobbit: April 8th in North America and April 11th in Europe.
As with all LEGO games, you and your friend run around LEGO brick worlds built to resemble locations from different franchises, busting things left and right as you lose an arm and a leg in the process. Each character has a different power that helps traverse the obstacles that get in your way. Instead of serious baddies, evil orcs and stabby death sword things, though, it's all lighthearted kid-friendly fun. Nothing that has a pop-off head is scary.
Since there are about 800 characters in The Hobbit, the LEGO game has a healthy list of characters to choose from. Confirmed at this point are Bilbo, Gandalf and Thorin, of course, but also the dwarves Fíli, Kíli, Óin, Glóin, Dwalin, Balin Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Nori and Ori. Phew! The game will span events in the first two Hobbit movies, with another game to be released that covers the final movie. A special PS3 hardware bundle is also expected to drop this spring, containing a 500GB PS3 along with a copy of LEGO The Hobbit.
Watch for LEGO The Hobbit on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3, Vita, Wii U, 3DS, PC and Mac in the second week of April. It will support local co-op for two players.
Source: Computerandvideogames.com