'85 Flashback: The Hobbit
Between reading the speculation about The Hobbit's new movie director and EA putting White Council on hold I was reminded of the first Lord of the Rings/Hobbit game I ever played.
It was 1985, the same year I got my first computer. I found the game, The Hobbit, in a bookstore during an out-of-town trip with my parents. I had heard great things about the game so the few days I had to wait before we got back home were agonizing.
This is my first distinct memory of being disappointed by a video game; there were too many illogical ways to proceed, it hung my my computer and the graphics were a disappointing distraction. It would have been better as a pure text adventure. I stopped playing it within hours of starting.
To this day I have yet to be satisfied by a game based on J.R.R. Tolkein's works. Hard to believe that such rich material has not resulted in better games.
