Last night I had the opportunity to play a on location Hobbit with a few friends. This was the first time I played the game since playing it at last years Michigan Pinball Expo which was held a year ago. At the time I felt the game played rather slow, that there wasn't a lot of shots to hit and as I've made reference before "the ball just felt like it was ping ponging all over the place". I've also noticed that there's been a good deal of of criticism facing the game lately, a lot of which is coming from people that have either never played the game or made up their minds about it a year or two ago. Even as a JJP supporter and fan I noticed that I let that some of that negative feedback alter my view on the game before I even gave it a fair shot.
Quick thought: The experience I had last night playing The Hobbit was a complete 180 from what I had over a year ago at The Michigan Pinball Expo.
Below is breakdown by category of my opinion on the game
Code version: .83
Model: Smaug SE
Gameplay
The game no longer felt like the ball was just "ping ponging all over the place". Although the games flipper power still needed to be cranked up a bit I felt the game did not play slow and flowed fairly well. Also, I've complained before about a lack of shots on the game. Well, I can see now that as Keith and Ted add more to the code that the "lack of shots" thought didn't even come across my mind as you start to see shots open up in the game in unique ways. It's easy while not seeing the game to think "There's just a bunch of drop targets and pop ups in the game, those are not really shots". I probably would have agreed with that comment before I played the game but not any longer. Even though the game was running software version .83 you can see how Keith and Ted will take advantage of all of the games drop targets and pop ups in unique ways. With the way the drop targets act you can have a shot to a standup target between two drop targets, that's pretty cool. Also, the pop ups themselves can be hit from behind which when combined with the ramp divertor opens up even more shot possibilities.
Sound
It was nice to finally play the game in an environment where I could actually hear the game. We all know that the game looks beautiful (it sure does) but it also sounds incredible. David Thiel has worked on a lot of top games and you hear his work in every aspect of The Hobbit. I noticed at least one mode where the sound for hitting an orbit shot changed due to being in that particular mode, a nice touch. You can already tell that there is a great deal of effort and detail being put into the games audio work. The music on the game, done by "Two Steps from Hell", sounds impressive and we still have yet to hear the complete soundtrack they created for the game due the game running fairly early code. If the game already sounds this good just wait until the rest of Davids work and the Two Steps from Hell soundtrack is in the game.
Rules / code: The game I played was running software version .83 and you can tell it's still fairly early code. Besides Smaug multiball I noticed a handful of hurry up modes and traditional modes starting. However, I don't believe the traditional modes in the game are 100% complete as they didn't really give me a feel of being in the mode compared to say while playing LOTR when more unique sounds and animations are played for each mode. The code overall was certainly further along then what I played at the Michigan Pinball Expo a year ago. There is not a doubt in my mind that the game will only get better from here thanks to Keith and Teds code work. Those guys did and are still doing an incredible job supporting WOZ's code, the best in pinball I've always said. With JJP they are batting a 1000 in terms of code support and being transparent about the status of code. As I've said in another thread "Don't underestimate the power of the Keefer" 
Value
Does the game offer as much value as JJP's previous title The Wizard of Oz? WOZ seemed to be a special case, almost like Twilight Zone, where a calculator wasn't used to make the game and everything that could be put into the game was included. The Hobbit, although not as loaded compared to WOZ in my opinion, still offers a ton of value. Value cannot be judged by toys / features alone but also by the amount and quality of work put into a games rules, audio and animations. With TH you have two of the best pinball programmers of all time, Keith Johnson and Ted Estes, working on the games rules. The rules that I've seen in Keiths other games games, LOTR, TSPP, WOZ, are not just traditional rules found in other games. Keith Johnson has a gift for telling a themes story through code and making a player feel as if they are on a quest. That alone adds a lot of value to a game. The Hobbit is set to have over 30 modes, I'll say that again, over 30 modes! This is a game, like LOTR, TSPP, and WOZ, that you can own for 10 years and will always have an objective for you to achieve. Also, the value of David Thiels audio work and The Two Steps from Hell soundtrack adds a lot to the value factor as well. I recall David himself saying at a show that he's putting more effort into The Hobbit then any other game he's worked on. We know David has done a great job on his other games and that same quality and fun factor to the sounds can already be heard on the Hobbit even with early code. The "Two Steps from Hell" soundtrack offers a lot of value as well. The group has worked on major Hollywood films, such as Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean, and it's just awesome to hear that level of quality in a pinball machine. Finally, the games animations from JP are impressive to say the least. The layout and design of the screen is slick and the animations themselves are high quality and only help immersive the player more in the world of Middle Earth.
Concerns / complaints
One complaint I have about The Hobbit is the look of the backglass due to the type of LED bulb being used (6500k I think?) to light it. JJP should put a warmer tone bulb in the backglass to give it more warm tones as the 6500K bulbs wash out the look of the artwork on the backglass. Second, the look of the apron is lackluster to say the least. Sadly the beautiful clear coated wood apron on WOZ ECLE with a slick numbered LE plaque is gone and has been replaced by a sticker over a bare metal apron with a decal for the games number. A game as beautiful and impressive looking as The Hobbit should have come with the clear coated wood apron and a more impressive looking LE plaque as for $8k-$9k stickers do not cut it. Also, the lack of colored GI is also disappointing and I don't understand why JJP omitted the feature from the game. The game itself played great and I didn't notice any mechanical issues.
Conclusion
Give The Hobbit a chance and don't fall into the mindset that reading some of the negative feedback can provide as a good deal of that negative feedback is coming from people that never played the game or did so over a year ago. I let that negative feedback warp my own view of the game and I almost didn't give it a fair shot because of it. What I saw last night is a very impressive looking, sounding and playing pinball machine. As I said at the start of my review the experience was a complete 180 from what I had over a year ago at the Michigan Pinball Expo. If you have a chance to play the game on location play it and if you are an owner of the game I think you are in for a treat once the code is completed. After playing the game last night I'm at least partially considering selling one of my current titles to purchase the game.
Well done JJP
Chagrin Falls, OH
Guisborough
No time for other stuff! I'm sure I'll do it when GB roles into the house though
