Lego Indiana Jones Review
Lego Indiana Jones Review
Being a fan of the Indiana Jones franchise and one of the few people who really liked Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, naturally I've been very eager for an Indiana Jones game. L ego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures seems to be the closest I'm going to get for a little while. Having only briefly played Lego Star Wars I didn't know what to expect from Lego Indiana Jones, but after playing the game I'm mostly pleased. From what I've heard about the Star Wars games this game plays very similar.
The basic gameplay of Lego Indiana Jones is much the same as the Lego Star Wars games, building things out of Lego to solve puzzles. The only real difference being instead of using the force you're using your hands to physically build things, and instead of a light saber you have a whip. At first the puzzles will be varied and entertaining to figure out but as you start to progress through game you'll realise that you're doing the same tasks over and over again. So by the time you get up to the Temple of Doom story arc some things will feel a bit like a chore and the only real reason you're playing through the whole thing is to see your favorite Indy moments made out of Lego. Each chapter of the games story arcs allow you to play as 2 or more characters depending on where you are in the game. You'll need to switch between the characters given to you to solve puzzles. Each character has there own special abilities, for example Indiana will swing across things using his whip and women characters will jump higher than the male characters. This makes a lot of puzzles feel different even though there the same old thing you've been doing over and over. Also like the Lego Star Wars games there are a lot of hidden collectibles to dig up during the levels which unlock different characters and levels. These can be accessed through Barnett College which acts as the middle area between the chapters of the game. After completing a chapter it allows you to free play it with any of the characters you've unlocked to find the collectibles you may have missed on your first play through giving the game a lot of replay value.
The story of Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures covers the first three Indiana Jones films, hence the title. Each story arc is split into 6 chapters. The different stories can be played in any order, so if you just want to play through 'The Last Crusade' and not the other two films you can. But that would be a tremendous waste of money considering how short the game already is. One of the games flaws is definitely its length; each story arc can be completed in 2 hours at the very most making the game only last about 4-5 hours for the average gamer. But hey its still Lego and Indiana Jones so I'll take what I'm given.
The games graphics are nearly identical to the Lego Star War's games, but that was expected. How could they improve graphics where nearly everything is Lego. All the objects in the game world that you can interact with are made out of Lego so there will aren't many issues graphically, besides some objects looking pretty similar. I didn't experience any frame rate issues while playing. At the start and end of each chapter you'll be treated to hilarious cut scenes, which look no different to the gameplay graphically. There's not much to say about the games graphics, just that there Lego.
As soon as you load the game you'll be treated to the Indiana Jones theme song, get used to it because you're going to be hearing it a lot. The games score consists of all the music you've heard from the films, so if you're a fan of the movies it will feel very familiar but it gets tiresome. You'll here the same music a lot, which will make you want to turn the volume down unless you like getting tunes stuck in your head. There is no dialogue in the game making it even more like the Star Wars games. You'll be treated to sort of a distorted mumbling sound during the cut scenes which is a good thing considering it fits perfectly with the feel of the game.
I didn't want to have to compare this game to the Lego Star Wars game but I have to, the games are pretty much the same besides the different characters and story. Even if you haven't played Lego Star Wars a whole lot you'll feel like you've played the game before. If you're looking for a well thought out, lengthy game you're not going to get it from this. But if your looking for a quick game that will take your mind off things for a few hours, this games for you.