Google takes you through an interactive trip through Tolkien's world

Nov 21, 2013 08:04 GMT  ·  By

The second Hobbit movie is just around the corner and Google is helping you get into the spirit of the fantasy world with a cool new Chrome Experiment, called “Journey through Middle-earth.”

Obviously, the experiment is inspired by the upcoming “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” bringing on locations and characters from the movies to life with nice new modern web technologies.

The experiment was developed by North Kingdom in collaboration with Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures.

The journey starts with an interactive map of the Middle-Earth. From there, you can zoom in and explore Trollshaw Forest, Rivendell and Dol Guldur, while more locations will get rolled out in the coming weeks. Clicking on any of them will get you a little history lesson and you’ll also meet some of the characters inhabiting it.

There’s also a survival challenge that has you running around through a 3D environment, trying to escape. Watch out for the big bad trolls while you’re traveling around there!

The experiment comes complete with audio and visual effects, and they’re both pretty great, helping users immerse themselves even more into the story.

Since this is a Chrome experiment, you’ll be able to try it out by using the Chrome desktop apps, but also on your mobile devices through the Chrome for Android, iPhone and iPad apps. “Although WebGL isn’t supported on iOS, Chrome users can still experience most of “Journey through Middle-earth” on their iPhones and iPads,” the company said in the announcement.

The experiment has a nice feel about it and plenty of information displayed on the location tours, which along with the voice effects makes you wish the movie were out already. The adventures you can engage in are nice to go through, although they can get confusing quite fast as you wander around the labyrinth and your followers always manage to catch up to you.

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