LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures - 8/10
Over the past couple of weeks I've spent most of my free time exploring every nook and cranny of Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga and Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures. With 100% completion across the board I felt it was time to review and recommend both games to everyone. So read on to find out why this game is so great and don't forget to check out my Lego Star Wars review (there's even a link down the bottom for you)
Gameplay: Incredibly cute and fun! Great level design that will make you think without ever frustrating you
Controls: Traditional D pad controls are tight! Touch screen controls work in the game and work well for mini-games. Microphone blowing is back... but it's not that bad!
Visuals: Sharp and colourful with super cute design, simple angular Lego designs are handled well by the modest DS hardware.
Sound: Top notch! You'll be humming the tune in your sleep.
Things you may DIG: Cute and very funny, easy to pick up and play, plenty to see and do.
Things you may WHINE about: Not completely necessary if you own Lego Indie on a home console or Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga for DS for that matter...
I've got a bad feeling about this...
When I first heard that Travelers Tales were making a follow-up Lego game based on another George Lucas IP I literally jumped for joy. In the second or so that I was in the air I had a realisation that (in cooperation with gravity) brought me back down to earth.
You see, the Star Wars universe has such a rich cast of characters, vehicles and action set pieces that making an exciting and interesting video game is (usually) a walk in the park. When I tried to imagine how they could flesh out the Indiana Jones experiences to fill the same shoes I just couldn't see it happening.
Boy was I wrong!
Lego Indiana Jones is every bit as exciting, varied and interesting as Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga was. The game builds on the established strengths of the previous title and adds a little bit of extra polish in some other areas.
In this puzzler come beat 'em up come platformer you're tasked with guiding your character through a level beating the snot out of Nazis and cultists while solving simple puzzles and collecting 'studs' (the in game currency). As with other games in the Lego series you don't have to try to collect all the available studs but you'll want to in order to unlock all the characters and bonuses. Once again death is not a major hurdle in the game as falling off a ledge or being beaten to a pulp will simply result in the loss of studs.
You use the D pad to move your character about and use the face buttons to attack, jump and build things. Depending on your choice of character the "A" button can also wield Indies whip as a weapon or make you grapple up to high up areas, crawl into small spaces or throw bottles of spirits (which can either smash on your opponents or explode when thrown at a naked flame). You can also use the touch screen to wield the whip in certain areas of the game, although it isn't really necessary and can just as easily accomplished with the touch of a button.
Microphone blowing rears it's oft ugly head here but for once (I found that) it actually suited the game. You can use the mic to extinguish flames/torches. Even though I felt a bit silly blowing at my DS on a crowded train, it actually works and it fits in well with the premise of the game so (just this once) I'm giving it the thumbs up.
Unlike the vehicular levels in Lego Star Wars which got their own full levels, the Indie flying/driving components are tacked on to the end of regular levels. Once again they are simple in design and and fun to play. It's usually just a case of steering with the D pad and occasionally shooting with the face buttons.
You start your journey at Barnett College (as seen in three out of the four Indie movies) which serves as a hub where you can access all of the different episodes (movies). Each of the different episodes comprises of six levels which must be completed in 'Story' mode to progress through the game. Once a level has been completed in 'Story' mode you may play through again in a 'Free Play' mode where you have the opportunity to use any character that you have unlocked or created.
There are a number of different character types each with differing abilities that must be used in order to unlock all of the games secrets and goodies. You will find whip characters like Indiana Jones, bottle throwers, scholars, Nazis, cultists/Thuggees, members of the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword, shovel wielders, monkey people and small/short characters like Short Round.
In addition to their unique abilities characters can pick up weapons for use in the game such as swords, pistols, machine guns and bazookas!
Utilising their differing abilities is integral to completing missions and unlocking the games secrets. For example; you may require s shovel character to dig up something in the ground which allows you to build something that can transform a character into a monkey that can climb a vine in order to reach a particular treasure... Weird, I know but trust me when I say it'll make more and more sense as you progress throughout the game.
Secret 'artifacts' and 'power bricks' serve to unlock additional characters, codes and optional extras. Although none of this is necessary to play the game it does provide a bit more depth, challenge and value for money for more seasoned gamers.
As you progress through the game you will unlock many characters from the movies as well as some interesting albeit odd additions such as Santa Claus. In addition to this you can also create your own character to use in free play.
In addition to the main game there are number of touch screen exclusive mini-game challenges that need to be completed in order to complete the game with a 100% rating. These minigames range from simple memory puzzles to monkey brain and bug cooking minigames that would make Cooking Mama a little queasy.
Lego Indie utilises the same graphics engine as Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga which is a good thing. Even better is that it seems to be slightly optimised this time around and everything looks a little crisper and cleaner.
The visuals and audio go hand in hand to recreate the look and feel of the movies while retaining the same sense of humour conveyed in the other Travelers Tales games. Gone are the odd 'cardboard cut out' cut scenes from the Star Wars game, this time we get the full FMV sequences from the console versions. The FMV is quite compressed but the trade off is worth it just for the comic value of the sequences.
To sum up, this game is amazing and comes highly recommended to everyone from the casual gamer to the hardcore Halo nut that's looking for something to entertain them on the run.
If you already own Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga for DS then this title is really more of the same but I would still recommend this as a purchase considering how well the concept works.
If you own any of the Lego games on a home console and you have a DS then you owe it to yourself to get your self a copy of this great game. If you had to choose between this and the Star Wars version I would probably recommend Indie as a slightly more refined and polished game.
You can read my review of the Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga for DS here:
www.myds.com.au/
Submitted by dossaer
4 days ago
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