Games

TT Games has been knocking out this type of licensed LEGO game for almost a decade now, so you'd have every right to think that it would have perfected the formula. Indeed, many would argue that it did just that with last year's supremely enjoyable LEGO Marvel Super Heroes. However, the recent speed-up in the arrival of new releases has also seen a decrease in quality – first with the incredibly glitchy The LEGO Movie Videogame and now with the unnecessarily fussy LEGO The Hobbit.

As with the earlier LEGO The Lord of the Rings, this latest outing mixes the usual exploration, combat and construction with the need to manufacture items from specific types of 'loot'. While the manufacturing process itself has been streamlined this time around, the game's large environments mean that you are left heading off on lengthy (and dull) side-quests to get the materials you need.

An attempt has been made to spice up the puzzles by giving the various dwarves different skills, but again this is hamstrung somewhat by the sheer number of characters in the party and how frustrating it gets trying to remember who can be used as a trampoline and who can mine precious gems. Still, at least in this way, the game does succeed in capturing the sense of ennui intermittent in the pair of films that inspired it.

LEGO The Hobbit, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Xbox 360/Xbox One/PS3/PS4/PC, £45 Approx
HCC VERDICT: 2/5