The Hobbit

               Demo from www.hobbitgames.com

                      Reviewed by Sue

"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."

So starts 'The Hobbit'. When I first ran this demo I was warned
that my video card didn't support a "feature required to
accelerate transform or lighting" and that The Hobbit might run
slowly. I was pleasantly surprised to see it appeared to be fine.

The demo is called 'Flies and Spiders' and takes Bilbo into
Mirkwood where he's looking for Thorin and the other dwarves. He 
starts in an area with a few strange plants that explode when 
hit with his trusty sword Sting, sometimes giving up a useful item.

Bilbo's inventory, reached by keying I, shows how many silver
pennies he has, and how many courage points, small rocks, medicine
chests and skeleton keys.  He also collects antidote potions which
cure poison, health potions and waters of vigour (heal all wounds
and poisons plus temporary protection against damage). Bilbo's
health is shown as health bubbles. He starts with 30 red bubbles
but if he gets poisoned, they go green.  Health potions heal 6
health bubbles.

Bilbo's main weapon is Sting which he can use to strike his
enemies. He can also use a jump attack which does more damage and
breaks their shields. The currently targeted enemy's hit points
are shown as a yellow shield above their head. When Bilbo has
collected some rocks he can also throw these from a distance. His
experience collects as a blue bar that gradually grows across the
screen.

As Bilbo starts to explore, he finds Dori's helmet, and having cut
through a spider's web, is soon attacked by spiders. You'd think
that might be a problem but there's worse to come. Having crossed
a foul river, he's attacked by skeletal warriors - I found the
best way to deal with them was to climb a tree trunk and throw
rocks at them!

Okay, three warriors dead, now how to cross the next river? The
water is clean but the bank opposite is too high to climb. A
rotten tree provides the answer and soon Bilbo is chatting to a
huntsman called Corwin who tells him the Dwarves have been
captured by spiders and taken through a gap, now covered by web.
Bilbo will need fire to burn through it.

A hint from Corwin sets Bilbo looking for oil. En route he'll pick
up a hint for another fighting tactic - Expert Jump - press L Alt
as you jump for even more damage. Sadly Bilbo has the swimming
skills of a brick and I drowned him several times.  There are
chests to open, some of which have traps and if you don't pick the
lock when it's green, you'll take damage.

I surprised myself by enjoying this demo. It's got a lot in common
with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. It's just as
frustrating when you KNOW what you have to do but can't quite make
it. I wouldn't buy it but I'll probably persist and finish the
demo. Who knows, by then I might be hooked.













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