Here is another guilty pleasure for adult gamers brought to you by Legos. You remember Legos right? The little blue, red, and yellow pieces that you use to put together to make cities and then crush them like Godzilla. Kids today have it even easier, Legos on games. No longer must they put in the hours of effort with three different color blocks or suffer the consequences of dad step on them on the way to the bathroom at night.
Brought to you by Traveller's Tales, makers of Lego Star Wars, is Lego Indiana Jones. This is a compilation of the Indy's first three movies, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. No Harrison Ford or Sean Connery here, just remarkable Lego look alikes.
Seperated at Birth?
Game Play/Story
There are actually three stories within the game, four if you count the college. They run in line with the Indiana Jones movies, taking the most memorable scenes and characters from each, adding more humor and some interesting characters from other movies. Each movie is broken up into 6 chapters as follows:
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Lost Temple
Into the Mountains
City of Danger
The Well of Souls
Pursuing the Ark
Opening the Ark
Temple of Doom
Shanghai Showdown
Pankot Secrets
The Temple of Kali
Free the Slaves
Escape the Mines
Battle on the Bridge
Last Crusade
The Hunt for Sir Richard
Castle Rescue
Motorcycle Escape
Trouble in the Sky
Desert Ambush
Temple of the Grail
You also can go to Barnett College, which is the central hub for the whole game. The stories follow the movies’ plot lines, many of the violent parts, like the airplane propeller and the boxer, are toned down (his head pops off and he chases it around). Lego Indiana Jones offers more interaction with the environment then Lego Star Wars. There is more stuff to break to get studs, weapons to throw or shoot (like bottles, chairs, or my favorite the rocket launcher). And LOADS of things to find and unlock. The levels are pretty easy to get through, until you get to the boss. Normally in this type of game it's pretty intuitive what you have to do to beat the boss. Most of the time in this game however I was about ready to through the controller through the screen. How am I suppose to know that you're suppose to through dynamite at a guy throwing rocks at you. But once you figure it out, they're easily beat.
Unlocking
Most of your unlocking is done by buying characters with studs (the little silver, gold, and blue lego pieces you get when smashing objects or people). You can unlock over 60 characters, which can get expensive, so gather your studs. There are also special things to find in the levels such as the artifacts (the gold treasure boxes) and mail/mailboxes. The mail boxes unlock secret codes and are pretty tough to find in each level. There are some other things to find, but those secrets I'll leave to you to find.
Characters
Each story has its own set of characters that you meet or play, 83 regular characters altogether. Each character has its own ability, for example Indiana Jones has his whip, while Short Round can fit into the small hatches. This is just like Lego Star Wars, but Traveller's Tales went a step further. Some characters have phobias. When they see the object that they are scared of, they cower giving you very limited functionality. When playing in free play the characters abilities and phobias play a big role in completing the game.
Bonus: There is also a special unlockable character from the Lego Star Wars Series
Controls
The control scheme is extremely simple, but that understandable, the game is made for 10 year olds. The left analog stick controls character/vehicle navigation, the A button is jump, the B button is to use the ability of the object you picked up or if your Indy, your whip, the X button is attack, and the Y button is to switch between the two playable characters that you see in the upper right/left corners of your screen. In free play, where you have more than just your two characters, the left and right bumpers allow you to cycle through your characters.
Camera
Let's face it. You know if you played Lego Star Wars, the camera sucks. The same is true here. The camera causes more deaths then the sharp spikes that pop out when the other character steps on the trigger. The camera problem gets worse when two people are playing. The game does not split screen like most every other two person game. The camera follows one person most of the time, which can leave the second player in quite a predicament. Like respwaning on the edge of the cliff only to fall down again and start the cycle all over again. But don't fall all to pieces, get it, fall to pieces... nevermind... the game is still playable with two people, you just have to communicate with your partner, preferably with in an indoor voice with non-potty words.
Final Words
Game reviewer overall gave the game about a B/B+ rating. I'd have to agree. The game is alot of fun to play, but the camera wonkiness and boss battles detract from the fun at times. I would say if you are a parent who is afraid to let your child play most action video games because of the violence, this would be the one to give them to get them to shut up. There is no blood, the legos just fall apart. Overall, I recommend this game to children and adults alike. Believe me, after playing it, you'll want to see all the movies again.
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