Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
Developer: Traveller’s Tales
Publisher: LucasArts
Reviewed Platform: Playstation 3
Release Date: June 3, 2008
Posted: June 7, 2008
Even Lego Indy has that Harrison Ford smirk.The original trilogy of Indiana Jones is in the top tier of adventure and treasure hunting movies; the three movies have been imitated throughout the years and transposed into many video game titles. Lego Indiana Jones the video game was able to take everything adventurous about the original movies and render it in a humorous, playable fashion. And in case you were wondering, for those of you interested in kicking some Nazi tail, this is not the game to do it in as the developers removed all Nazi signage and ideals from the game. This and Lego Star Wars I played through entirely on co-op, and I highly recommend prospective players to do the same; if only for the camaraderie, extra enjoyment, and ability to break each other into pieces.
There are two playable modes: story and free play. However, to access free play mode the story mode for that particular level must be completed. The plot of story mode is, of course, based on the Indiana Jones movies; but to make the game play more interesting, some movie areas have been extended for playing, or shortened and placed into a cut scene instead. In free play mode the player selects a character they want to play for that particular level, and the computer will select additional different characters to accompany the player. At any time by pressing R1 or L1 the player may switch their current character while in free play mode. This allows individual characters to use their own abilities to obtain items or go to areas inaccessible to the player in story mode.
Indy and his expert digger friend, Sallah, with the Lego Ark of the Covenant.The player has access to all of the great characters from the three original Indiana Jones movies. Some are given automatically through playing story mode like Indy and his female companions, while others such as Belloq and Lao Che are purchasable at the college campus library. Each character has a special ability: Indy characters have a whip that can be used to grab items out of reach and swing over pits, female characters are light on their feet and can jump extra high, and researchers like Indy’s father, Henry Jones Senior, carry around a book that they can use to translate hieroglyphics. There are items available to be picked up, such as translation books, repair wrenches, and shovels, which enable characters whose special abilities are not to translate, repair, or dig to do so regardless. Additionally, phobias were introduced with this Lego title: Indy is scared of snakes, Willie is afraid of bugs, and Henry Jones Senior has this thing about rats. If the character runs across their dreaded animal they will be paralyzed with fear and the companion character must save them by clearing the way with a lit torch or killing the creature.
Each movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Temple of Doom, and The Last Crusade, is broken up into six playable levels. In each level the player has the side quest option to find ten treasure chests; like mini kits in Lego Star Wars, they each contain Lego pieces that will be used at the end of the level to build an artifact. Collecting all six artifacts from each movie will unlock a bonus level for that particular movie. Most levels will require the player to go through later in free play mode with additional characters to be able to obtain all of the chests. Additionally, in each level there is a red parcel that must be returned to a red post box somewhere in the level. Retrieving the parcels unlocks a new purchasable extra bonus in the mail room of the college. These extra bonuses vary from silly additions like disguises to helpful objects such as the artifact detector or invincibility. For players who do not have or wish to dedicate their time to playing the game, Indy’s classroom in the college will accept passwords to unlock various items and characters that would otherwise need to be discovered and then purchased 
Willie from the opening number to The Temple of Doom.with studs. Studs are available throughout every level as simple pick-ups and rewards for destroying items composed of Legos. A completion bar at the top of the screen represents how many studs have been collected for that particular level, and once the bar is completely filled with yellow the player will obtain True Adventurer status. This means you are entitled to a bonus of studs upon level completion. Collecting studs is extremely important if you wish to unlock extra characters or bonuses as they each cost varying amounts of studs.
Combat is a bit more difficult, or annoying, than it was in Lego Star Wars because Indy does not carry around a lightsaber to deflect bullets with. It would have been nice to have some sort of gun on Indy, or at least a dodge roll move, as death felt like it occurred more often due to bullet fire than anything else. Most of the fighting in story mode is punching people in the face, as the guns you do acquire do not last very long, but I find that to be a memorable aspect from the movies. The massive amounts of hand-to-hand combat and hearty punching sound effects define a large portion of the Indiana Jones movies, and now the Lego video game as well. While dying may happen more often than you might like, it does not affect your stud count nearly as much as it did in Lego Star Wars, and you can recover all that was lost if you are quick enough.
Graphically, the game looks like it is made out of Legos, but I think that is what they were going for. The water during the first level of The Last Crusade actually looks better than some other “next gen” games that I have played. The sound effects and music are reminiscent of the Indiana Jones movies and Lego Star Wars. However, there is a sound bug present in, at least, the Playstation 3 version when bonus studs are being added to your current stud total for achieving True Adventurer. Instead of playing a depositing noise of each stud as they are being counted, the game plays all of them being deposited at once; comes out sounding like one big lump of noise. How that made it out of testing, I am unsure, but it is not a big deal.
The strong man has a nice Lego-drawn six pack. Too bad he is dumber than the anvil he ends up punching three times.At times I was a bit confused on what to do next. While I have seen the movies and the cinematic knowledge was helpful during some stages of the game, that alone did not solve every issue. For example, the strong man mini boss in the Raiders of the Lost Ark area was killed in the movie by being chopped into pieces by the plane’s propeller. In the game they give you the plane, but the propellers do not chop him up. Okay, understandable, that was a bit much for a PG movie, but the plane shoots huge bullets anyway, that should do it. They do not even scratch him. I destroyed everything in the level, nothing; plane, whip, and fists do no good at all. 10 minutes later, it turns out that you need to pick-up a random anvil and have the strong man punch it. After the fist-breaking punch, a truck will drive-in with a band of gunners and pieces to build, you got it, another anvil. Three anvils and it is all over, but seriously, what was that? While one aspect of the game is puzzle-solving, some parts were just a little over board on the lack of direction.
The mine cart escape level from The Temple of Doom. Complete with molten lava.One of the best levels, although it also happened to be a bit short, was the mine escape during The Temple of Doom. The mine cart vehicle was fast, and it was difficult to determine what was going on during the speed race through the tunnels, but it was very exciting. Vehicles are available throughout the game: cars, bikes, motorcycles, and boats. Controlling them is easy enough, push in the direction you want to move, but it does not seem like there were many useful opportunities to utilize the vehicles. There are also a couple of animals around for you to ride around on, including a llama.
Lego movie games are turning out to be some of the best titles, and the Indiana Jones version is no different. While it may not be able to live up to the expectations of Lego Star Wars, it is still an enjoyable and amusing playable rendition of the classic Indy films.
TLDR: Traveller’s Tales takes gamers into yet another wonderful world where everything is made out of Lego; and this time, instead of wielding the Force you get to wear a fedora; which is an entertaining and fair trade-off for some new Lego gaming.
