The Hobbit received mixed reviews, with critics praising its fidelity to the source material, but finding the gameplay unoriginal and too easy.

[11] Pennies, healing potions, antidotes and, often, quest items and weapon upgrades can be found in chests throughout the game.

If Bilbo misses the pointer/target, the timer will jump forward; if he hits a red pointer or target, the minigame will end immediately.

At the Misty Mountains, the group is attacked by goblins; after the ensuing fight, Bilbo falls into the caves and is knocked unconscious.

Thorin refuses, denouncing Bilbo as a traitor, and a battle eventually breaks out between five armies who want the dwarf treasure.

The battle ends with the goblins defeated, and the humans, elves, and dwarves having made peace; Thorin, mortally wounded, apologizes to Bilbo.

[16] In the early stages of development, there were plans for players to control Gandalf during the Battle of the Five Armies, but this idea was ultimately abandoned.

By opening up the color palette, and staying away from the drab browns and grays, we were able to create a very distinctive set of levels.

The PS2 is, of course, the most problematic of all the platforms for developers to deal with and we wanted to make sure that we had solid prototypes and running proof of concept versions before we made it public".

[19][20] In June, Inevitable revealed the three console versions would all run off their own multiplatform in-house game engine.

[8] The GBA version used its own engine developed by Saffire, but the gameplay and storyline were derived from Inevitable's build.

It was also announced that the release date for the game had been pushed back from September to November to allow for some final tweaking.

[10] The game's score was composed by Rod Abernethy, Dave Adams and Jason Graves, and recorded live with the Northwest Sinfonia in Seattle.

[17] According to lead programmer Andy Thyssen, the game has a pretty complex music logic that blends together the level themes.

So we have some very different locales, each with its own melody and theme, and we blend in as you approach certain characters, or as you move in and out of combat or hazardous situations.

[18]According to Abernathy, the game needed a music score that was "simple, melodic and organic" for Bilbo's adventures through Middle Earth, switching to bold and dramatic for the combat scenes.

He explained that Tolkien's literature evokes the sound of fiddles, wood flutes, bagpipes, guitar, mandolins and bodhráns; and during fights or battles, "low chugging strings, dramatic percussion and moving brass lines and stabs".

[22] The team was given a budget to create seventy-five minutes of original music, which was to be divided into two categories; "acoustic instrumental for Bilbo's exploration and live orchestral for the action/combat scenes.

The scores provide a mixture of soft, delicate backgrounds that enrich the mood of the locales and big, banging music that successfully drives home accomplishments.

[40] Reviewing the other versions, they still enjoyed the action and visuals, but said that they found the gameplay similar to The Legend of Zelda, but not executed as well; they primarily recommended it to "hardcore Tolkien fans" and young players.

[23][41][42][43] GameSpot and GameSpy agreed that it might appeal to Tolkien fans, praising its faithfulness to the book, but found the gameplay derivative and not enough to hold up next to the story,[35][36][37][38] although GameSpy also said in their review of the PC version that it might be disappointing to everyone due to looking "too juvenile" for adults, being too challenging for children, and unappealing to Tolkien fans due to its adaptation of the book into a "lightweight, cartoonish platformer".

[39] Eurogamer panned the Xbox version, calling it "painfully average", with subpar graphics, repetitive levels, and too many "find-the-key" scenarios.