Between 2012's LEGO: The Lord of the Rings and the current run films depicting the classic trilogy's prequel, it should come as no surprise that LEGO: The Hobbit is TT Game's latest title with their specific style of gameplay.

Like LEGO: The Lord of the Rings, any dialogue from the film's main cast is taken straight from the movies, so expect to see LEGO versions of Bilbo (Martin Freeman), Gandalf (Ian McKellen), Thorin (Richard Armitage) and the rest of the dozen dwarves that suck the young hobbit into his unexpected journey, all with the theatrical voices. Of course, there is other dialogue in the game as well. These non-film snippets come from the various NPCs that litter the open world surrounding Bilbo's travels.

As far as the game's visual prowess, I was really amazed by how well the PS4 brings the LEGO characters and world to life. While the LEGO characters and sets don't look photorealistic, the quality is noticeably higher than the last few TT LEGO games I've reviewed on the previous generation's consoles.

LEGO: The Hobbit feels a lot like an extension of LEGO: The Lord of the Rings, with the added bonus of mechanics added in the LEGO games that have been released since that older game.

Like LEGO: LotR, The Hobbit gives you a quasi-open world to explore. You are free to move around the land between levels, but you are more or less pushed along a single path to ensure you hit the events in the proper order. As a result, you end up feeling like you are going along the very strict path set down in both the book and films.

Oddly enough, since this game was released with only two of the Hobbit Trilogy films released, LEGO: The Hobbit only covers An Unexpected Journey and The Desolation of Smaug. This feels very out of place for these games. In the past, a LEGO title based on an existing movie franchise tended to wait until there were at least three movies upon which to build. As it is, I can't help but wonder if there will simply be an updated release after the last Hobbit film comes out that contains the entire trilogy. If that's the case, then the smart money seems to be on waiting to get the whole story. This strategy isn't without precedence. LEGO: Indiana Jones was released containing the original trilogy, and then later released with the addition of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but again, there were three movies worth of events from which to build. On a similar note, it isn't all that far to expect a larger re-release after the third Hobbit film that contains both LEGO: The Hobbit and LEGO: The Lord of the Rings. After all, TT Games combined their pair of LEGO: Star Wars games with a Complete Saga release.

Enough speculation of what might (and most likely will) happen. The LEGO: The Hobbit that is available now spans the first two films in the trilogy and besides hitting every major point in the films, the game also contains a fairly wide selection of side-quests, as well as a new Loot and Forge mechanic that feels right given that your party consists primarily of dwarves, but more on that later.

As you progress through the story levels, you will not only unlock new characters and Free Play Mode, but you will also unlock hub-world activities that are all designed to help earn you more Mithril and Red Bricks. Like before, Red Bricks let you turn on various cheat codes (like stud multipliers), and Mithril Bricks let you use the forge at Bree in order to create Mithril items to give to other NPCs for more bricks.

One major feature of all LEGO titles from TT Games has been the division of labor across different characters. The fact that some characters can perform tasks that others can't makes for a very natural feeling limiter on exactly what you can do and what you can't. The fact that shiny bricks can't be destroyed unless you have a character with explosives means that you can't do everything all at once, and you will have to keep coming back until you look under every rock. Interestingly enough though, this game gives you a lot of variety right off the bat. After all, you have twelve dwarves in your party and most of them have unique abilities. For instance, only one dwarf can be used to mine ore, while another's big hammer is used to slam large objects around, while another's slingshot can activate targets that the character with a bow and arrow can't. So while you have a lot of capabilities on hand almost immediately, you will still find yourself looking for new characters with specific skill sets in order to actually do everything the game has to offer.

Like most LEGO games, LEGO: The Hobbit isn't hard. Every level can be completed with the characters the game gives you, but the trick always comes with trying to 100% the game. Like the past titles, this means that you will almost certainly have to beat all of the story levels before going back to Free Play if you want to actually get all of the collectibles without multiple passes.

LEGO: The Hobbit does add a few quick-time mini-games to the mix, and while they don't add a lot of difficulty, they are a change that could lead to some frustration from younger players. Then again, these sequences are very forgiving, and any penalty for doing badly is mild.

While LEGO: The Hobbit takes a lot of mechanics from past games, it also adds a couple. The last LEGO title, The LEGO Movie, added a build mini-game that had the player help build complex sets. These events would show a rain of pieces fly onto a model and then pause. The screen shows a ghosted piece and the player must choose from a limited selection the correct piece in order for the build to continue. That feature returns in this game, but with the addition of a resources system called Loot.

Various resources are picked up by breaking the models found around the world. These resources are everything from planks of wood to various minerals, gems and even foods. When you approach one of the build mini-game locations, you need to feed it a certain amount of different resources. That's not all though, the Loot system actually shows up fairly frequently in the game. In the open world, you will find NPCs that want to trade some resources for others or you will find people simply looking for a certain number of a particular resource.

Also, the blacksmith in Bree has changed. In LEGO: The Lord of the Rings, you would simply feed the smith the proper number of Mithril Bricks, hop on the bellows a couple of times and receive the item. Now, Mithril Bricks aren't enough. You will need other resources in order to start a quick-time event mini-game before you can earn the item.

The LEGO games have always been a series of games that built on their predecessors. LEGO: The Hobbit is the newest culmination of all of these interesting mechanics, but it will be interesting to see how future games will use this new Loot system.

While I enjoyed LEGO: The Hobbit, it feels incomplete, and that's only because the story isn't finished yet. The gameplay and open world experience only improves on past LEGO titles, but with the knowledge that a re-release is probably around the corner, it's hard to recommend buying this game right now. The only exception would be gamers who are jonesing for more LEGO action and know ahead of time that more is likely to come in a different release. Who knows, maybe there will be some option on the PS4 to download the last game at a discounted cost if you already own the existing game. It would be a nice incentive.