6.6.2008

I grew up practically idolising Indiana Jones in the 90's, so it was inevitable that, in February, the Pre-Order simply had to be made!I'm going to be honest - the last Lego game I played was in the late 90's. Lego Racers for the N64 was my last taste of action on the video game front, and even then everyone laughed when I bought it! But as you grow up, such things become less and less personal to you, and I feel re-united with my youth that combines not just the hero that I worshipped on screen, but the Lego to which I adored.Everything about Lego Indiana Jones is authentic. Everything. So much so that you can't wipe the smile off my face, even as i'm typing this.Upon walking through what should ideally be your starting destination in the game, the College (In which Indiana taught archaeology) you can run around and gaze upon not just what you saw in the film, but what you never saw. The class room is there, and can be broken up into Lego bricks with your whip; the first move that you're likely to "over-use" because of the thrill of breaking everything up! One flick of the Wii-Remote makes Indiana do this move.Even other nesscesscities, such as the Library, Mail Room, and Theatre are here, amongst the Lego students walking around. But what's ingenious is the fact that each room is seamlessly given a game-purpose. Whether it be typing in simple Cheat-Codes on the Blackboard (just a simple way of getting extra's, for e.g A-G-H-K-L-V-B....) or the fact that in the Mail room, you can exchange bricks for extra items; it's all here, and so beautifully done.By obtaining these small bricks through levels, you can exchange them for different silly but fun modes, such as changes in sounds, and my favourite.. Disguise Mode, in which all the Lego people wear moustaches and big glasses! So much fun.This is the first thing you'll notice; the game is, without sounding patriotic, quite beautiful. The animation is smooth and has no-lags at 60FPS, while all the textures are kept true to Lego fashion, distinguishing what should be Lego simplicity, to what actually looks photo realistic, such as the stunning College, or mountains, or even the jungle. It looks like a typical Xbox 360 in my books, but as I've said time and time again, the Wii is by no means Graphically under-powered, at all. - it has a custom made ATi GPU which was stated by Nintendo to be "at least" 4 times more powerful than that of the G.C.Indiana's range of moves are very adequate and easy to control. Nothing to stressing to learn - A is nicely to Jump, while Z and C on the Nunchuk operate more special moves whilst jumping and running. You can also switch between characters, which is quite nesscarr..rary.. sery (How the hell do you spell that??) to progress. You have the ability to pick up a wide range of items, from not just weapons, but items that enable you to perform various actions, such as a trowel for digging, a spanner for repairs, or guns! Lots of verry nice Lego guns you can steal off enemies!Health is monitored both in a standard '4 Heart' style hit bar, and by bricks. Once all your 4 hearts are gone, your player dies and you re-spawn near by. Re-spawning costs you 1,000 bricks, but this is very generous, considering you could end a level on well over 20,000 if you're good enough. But to add ease even further, even with no bricks left, you're still allowed to re-spawn with no 'Game Over' message. This may take away the challenge for some, but the challenge of merely completing tasks is worthy enough.Progression is nice and smooth and, although obviously not as long as the average RPG, is made up for by the fact that you're reliving each important film moment in a new way, while the cut scenes are almost alike to that of the films, particularly the starting one. The game is monitored in a simple percentage mode, to which unlocking new items, modes, or completing levels soon add up the percentage.But to progress in levels, you need to over-come obstacles. Some are simple, some challenging, but all range from being obvious, to completely "un-obvious", whereby even if you've seen the films, the extra parts of the game which link these together require good logic. More commonly than not, you're required to assemble bit of bricks to create a new object.Whilst in a level, you can obtain artefacts, which once back at the College, you can turn into it's original form. In each level their are 10 artefact pieces, and it's anyone's guess how you get all 10 of these little things! But we all love a challenge, and to make matters more interesting, once you assemble the artefact-pieces, you're not allowed to add anymore! It does warn you about this before, so be careful.In my rush to see what 2 Lego bricks could make, I have the base of a Pyramid and can't change it back! Serves me right.All the original sounds and songs in the films are here too; a very neat touch and helps create a very authentic atmosphere.Theirs very little to pull a thumb down at, though the game is not without is niggles. On an information ground, I think that the Hallway and actual Quest relationship isn't highlighted very well at all. In other words, when you start playing the game, it isn't well explained where you start the quest and how to access levels. It took me a while but I eventually found the part of the College that gives access to the actual story mode. I think if anything, some parts of the game may not be 'obvious' enough, and could be explained better. Or parts in levels where after the cut, you're not sure what to do and need to keep running around in search of a clue. I think as time goes on, you adjust to what to expect, rather than expecting the answer to fall in your lap. This game is by no means for simple minded!As far as vehicle control goes, it's very raw, which is disappointing but as theirs little vehicle use in the game, it's not too much of a hassle. Certain moments in the game, such as the need to drive a truck in the first Indiana Adventure (Level 3) can become a bit crazy because of the camera angle not being positioned behind the vehicle.The A.I also has it's moments of "dumb"ness, though this is actually quite funny. Simple moments in which enemies run into walls, or fail to attack are made up for the fact that the Lego men are actually very good Gun Men!My only other slight niggle is in the darker area's of levels, shadows aren't marked out very well, thus you could, like me, end up jumping of ledges of mountains constantly. Again, this requires a bit of practice.Favourite feature? The fights! Playing as any of the good-guy characters is a joy when up against some henchman, and their are an array of special moves. You can hold an enemy in front of your body so he gets shot, not you. You can even duck and throw when someone goes to punch you, steal their gun once you've disposed of them. For me, the highlight is the fact that when you punch them, they just break up into pieces of bricks! A very fun slant on the film, and even better in such scenes as the 'Bar' scene from the first film, whereby you can even throw glasses, chairs, and other items at enemies! Incredible. Not only this but you can take the enemies hats to get past guards, or even ride horses! Though theirs little logical point, as all you can do is gallop around.I can't rate this game highly enough and was well worth the months of waiting (to which, after only choosing Super Saver, still arrived before 11am!). All the elements make up for what is a fun, innocent, and quite humorous take on the famous adventurer, that boasts many great ports from the 3 films, as well as new scenes to knit these moments together. The AI can be a little "dumb" at times and lack the prowess of more advanced combat games understandably (Small by Head, Small by Brain I think is the saying....), but when you can get pleasure from merely running around and taking control of such a great character, I'll let Lucas Soft off from that one. Full marks from me!

26.6.2008

Great game but beset with technical problems. Basically I can install the game and play it once as soon as I have installed it, but after that point pretty much every time I launch the game, either by using the start command on the disk launcher window or the desktop shortcut, I am presented with a black screen. This is not quite the same as a blank screen because the input light is on and there is computer activity, but the screen itself is just black. No combination of keys will bring me back to my desktop, so I have to do a manual reset to reboot the computer. My first suspicion was that there was a problem with my Logitech Dual Action gamepad.I had downloaded the latest drivers from the Logitech website and checked that the game supported dual analogue game controllers, but I found that the game tended to launch more often if I started it with the gamepad disconnected, then plugged it in at the first prompt to press any key on the input device. It did not launch every time in my personal windows user profile, and using my son's profile it barely launched at all, but it seemed to be a step in the right direction. A quick look at the Lucasarts forum for Lego Indiana Jones confirms that patches are needed, there are gamepad issues to be resolved. As a point of interest I also noted that should your gamepad have less than 19 buttons you will have a job configuring it for the game because you need to assign 19 different buttons to 19 different functions!I contacted the technical support number included with the game and received an email back from Activision. This suggested that I use a selective start-up to disable all non-essential background processes, then attempt to launch the game. This made no difference. I had already tried disabling firewall and antivirus software, so I didn't hold out much hope. It also asked for a DirectX Diagnostic report to be sent using my Activision account. However I couldn't log into this account because I hadn't created one, and I couldn't create one because my email address was on the database. My computer is one year old, it was Windows XP Service Pack 3, all the graphics and motherboard drivers are bang up to date, and everything is looked after. I have nothing loaded which interferes with disk authentication, no emulators, nothing controversial. If I can send this report I will, but I doubt whether it would cast any light upon the situation.In the meantime I stumbled across another possibility which seemed so outrageous at the time I only gave it a try because I had run out of anywhere else to turn. I have been playing Lego Star Wars I and II for a year but this is the first time I have bought a brand new just released PC game, which I assumed would run just like LSW. I understand that new games almost always need patches, but total failure to launch was pushing it a bit. Suddenly I discovered that a playable games demo of Lego Indiana Jones had been released in advance of the actual game, presumably as part of the beta testing program. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that this demo had a problem because it wasn't coded properly for some multicore processors. Now I understand that plenty of games have yet to be coded to optimise use of multicore processors, but to not actually run on certain multicore processors took some swallowing. Digging a bit deeper I found a forum posting from some kind soul reporting that this glitch was not fixed before the game was actually released, and it resulted in a black screen at launch. Instead of having a PC that failed to meet the minimum specifications for playing the game I was being penalised for having a PC which exceeded those specifications because of a game with a known technical problem identified during testing being released by Activision without warning.I know I have this specific problem because the solution works without fail. Although how an eager eight year old is supposed to open it on his birthday and just start playing is beyond me. It took me three late nights on the trot and plenty of wild goose chases before I just about beat my deadline, and I work in IT! Anyway, should you happen to have an AMD Athlon X2 4200+ CPU (or anything similar) you need to set the game to play on just one of the available cores every time you launch it by masking the rest. This involves opening task manager before launching the game, clicking the `Processes' tab, clicking the `Image Name' column to sort all the processes into alphabetical order, then leaving this window open as you launch the game. Whilst the disk is still spinning up and as soon as the `LegoIndy.exe' file appears in the list but before you get any launch screen you have to right click the file, click `Set Affinity' then uncheck every cpu box but one. This will mask the rest of the cores to the game whilst it is being played, and works a treat. But you do have to do it every time you launch the game. Think of it as a warm-up exercise before getting stuck into the problem solving in the game.

1.7.2008

As an owner of a PS3 and PSP, there were a few games I've been waiting for anxiously this year - GTA IV, MGS4 and strangely enough, Lego Indiana Jones.Fortunately this has been released just in time for the summer and Big Brother. It means er indoors is happy watching the antics of a load of celeb wannabees, where as I can slip on my headphones and enjoy this baby.So, first things first, you probably know by now it's a "sequel" to the Lego Star Wars game(s) and pretty much follows the same mould. There are 18 levels, 6 for each of the 3 original films (Raiders, Temple of Doom and Last Crusade) and each follows the story, interspersed with some quite funny videos to move things along from one bit to the next.The basic idea is to play each level,to start with anyway, as two (sometimes more) characters that you can switch between. As you progress there are various puzzles to solve, hidden items to find and lots of fun to be had. As in the Star Wars games, you collect "studs" (or treasure, as the game calls it) in various ways as you go which can be used to unlock extra abilities and even cheats. There's more of an emphasis this time on solving puzzles than there was in LSW, but none of them are too taxing - I suppose you could look on it more like a Lego Tomb Raider for kids.Some of the characters have extra or special abilities and some have phobias - Indy himself has the use of the famous whip but is scared of snakes, women characters can jump higher but some of them are scared of spiders. To progress you often need to switch to the other character to do specifc task, like using Indys whip to swing accross a chasm, and in some cases both need to work together, for example when one needs to push an object with the other on top so they can reach a high ledge.In adition, items can be found lying around which give your character special powers - having a spade means they can dig things up and having a spanner means they can fix broken machinery - and as in the previous game, you can pick up hats to act as a disguise and get you through guarded doors into special areas.One you complete a level in story mode, it becomes available as free play which means you can use any of the characters you have unlocked so far to replay it. This opens up more areas and keeps you coming back to try and find that elusive item you just missed last time through. Just like LSW there are 10 hidden artifacts in each level and collecting them all unlocks 3 extra levels. There is also a parcel as well as the postbox to post it in to find for each level, these gaining you "extras" to buy with your studs, my favourite of which is making the animals in the game poo out treasure! There's more too, I won't spoil the fun by saying exactly what, but a few familiar faces pop up in places....Whilst the levels are probably slightly harder than in Star Wars, there is always plenty of help on the screen as to what to do and what to press next and it's usually fairly easy to complete tasks. Sometimes I found the perspective view a little difficult to deal with, especially as you have no control of the camera. Some of the areas in the levels are very big too, meaning there is sometimes a lot on the screen and it can be quite small and difficult to make out what is going on.Generally I would say the graphics are good - not quite as clear as in Star Wars and I find a little grainy in places. The sound is excellent, with the proper film themes playing in each level, as they did in the films. I've been told off for singing along without realising anyway...Techincally, it seems a few little bugs have crept in - I've found that I can often get stuck in a "loop of death" where your character dies but reappears in the same spot and dies again. Whilst there are no lives as such (you just loose some of your collected studs), it can be annoying. I've also managed to jump through things I shouldn't and ended up outside the confines of a level, but you can usually find a way back in, sometimes by having to die.So, all in all not quite up there with Lego Star Wars for me, but a very good addition to the Lego stable of games and one I would recommend for kids of all ages.I'm eagerly awaiting Lego Batman in September.....

1.6.2015

I have no idea why people have had such problems running this game, for me it works great. I installed on a vista pc without the need for any online activation and the game has never caused me any problems at all. Maybe because this pc is completely offline? Who know...But this game really is great and a must have!This is the first lego pc game I bought, apart from a brief encounter with lego racers 2. The game is very fun and completely child friendly. The game starts you in the base of the university. From here you can wander the university areas going to certain locations to either watch videos you've unlocked through playing the game, unlock characters, buy enhancements to the games, etc.There really is a lot to do just walking around the basic university.In a certain area in the centre though there are portals to the three Indiana jones movies. You play them in order and they really are what makes this game so great. There are cut scenes that move the story along, but any part of the film that involved characters moving along in the adventure, or fighting, escaping ,etc are there for you to play through. Each film is separated into chapters. Each chapter is basically a level where not only do you get through the main story but you can replay again and again once you've played it once to unlock and find certain items or build a high score.The chapters themselves are very close to the original films. Being a fan of the films I'm actually very impressed with how closely they've copied the original story, both with what happens and the game design.The settings and the music all come from the movie and the backgrounds look very realistic but along the way there are plenty of lego items too. The whole point throughout a lego game is plenty of places need you to build things to continue on, such as building a bridge to cross a gap which your little lego character does if you press the right button while standing in the right place.The whole game really is so fun and funny to play. Violence is really nothing to be worried about and the worst that happens is a character falls apart into their individual lego pieces (head, hat, legs, etc) before being respawned nearby to continue the game. This 'death' is also accompanied with the classic sound of lego blocks being dropped. Having lego things throughout the game is really what makes this game so fun to play. I especially loved the lego elephants in the temple of doom and the plastic sound they make when walking!The game has a lot of funny moments too, and even the characters have lots of different gestures or funny things they do -just try whipping at a female character when playing Indy and you'll see a funny kiss!This game also has a really high replay value. Each chapter has lots more in it to unlock than you can first play. There are certain characters that need to be used in certain chapters, such as a specific character with a bazooka to destroy shiny metal objects in a level. Each level also has lots of things to do and find that you really will be replaying this game again and again, it takes a very long time to fully complete...I still haven't!The pc version gives you 6 save slots to play and I've had no problems with this game except for one time my entire save file was corrupted and I had to start again...Not sure this was a software problem though as my pc in general had issues at that time.SO:I really recommend this game to anyone of any age whether you've watched Indiana Jones or not! You don't have to know the movies in order to enjoy this game. The characters don't ever speak, the cutscenes are all done in a sort of slapstick style, the most voices you'll ever hear are 'hmmms' and 'ughs', etc. The game is easy enough to understand and with a tutorial style gameplay in the first chapter you really don't need to even read any manuals before playing. The game on pc also lets you customise your keyboard, choosing which keys you want to use...bonus!Really great game, can't recommend high enough, and if you liked this then I'd recommend any other lego pc game but especially lego Indiana jones 2 and the batman games! All very fun!

9.6.2008

As with Lego Star Wars, the game developers have made a real effort to make the DS version a different experience to the Wii version. You get microphone blowing (to say put out torches or as the `wind'). And it all works really well (just like Lego Star Wars). That said occasionally you feel it would be easier just using the DS buttons - although when playing you don't use your touchscreen for much other than the hidden mini-games. You can swap between the two main characters, who have different abilities, and sometimes you help the other one get through barriers. You have to play as set characters in gameplay mode until the level is completed. This game looks good (I like the earthy brown green tones and Tomb Raider feel)although it's naturally not as visually enthralling as on the Wii and gameplay is modified to fit into the DS. The cut scenes are funny, and the humour runs right through the game, rather like the movies. No Crystal Skulls though, this is a romp through the old Indiana Jones locales, giving you the typical jungle, cave and Indian mountain scenes.Naturally the game-play has similarities to the great Lego Star Wars console games, although The Whip replaces The Force. Indiana's world is one full of hidden levers, spear traps and abyss's, and there is some puzzle element in finding the trap-door/bridge to the next level. There's a lot of fun to be had whizzing about the screens solving it all. There's also plenty of hidden stuff/areas to find (which you might easily miss first time through the level, so do try it again after it's unlocked). Like Lego Star Wars, you need to play the story mode to unlock a lot of the game content and allow you to change characters. The campaign mode is great but it's over fairly quickly on the DS, so the unlocked free-play mode after each level is very welcome. You build stuff on the way and there are also mini games to find, which bring the stylus into play. The DS Indiana tends to have to slug it out with his fists, but you have infinite lives and should you ever succumb, you just lose your Lego coins. This game looks good and handles well on the DS, and it is a safe buy for any Indie obsessed kids. Plus it has the superb two player wireless mode where you control a character each (but as well as a mate, you also need two game chips & two DSs for this). According to my son [12] the only downside is that 'the levels are a bit long' - and this can be very annoying as you can't save til the end. So you will get kids refusing to leave the car until the levels completed as otherwise they will lose everything completed on that level. Plus occasionally they accidently knock the DS off switch and lose it all that way.OK the game is a bit similar to Lego StarWars (no bad thing really), but the storyline and game-play is different enough to make it all seem fresh. More importantly this Lego Indiana DS game doesn't seem to crash all the time like my son's old Lego Star Wars II [original trilogy] DS game, which rendered the game pretty much unplayable. However I notice a few reviewers are saying that their new Lego Indiana DS game is also freezing at the end of levels [e.g. chapter 2: "Fight at the Raven"] which could lose hours of game-play, so perhaps there are a few software bugs in Indiana. However our game seems pretty stable so far, and my son says he's completed all the levels. Possibly it's faulty game chips rather than bad programming, although being kid friendly the game apparently adjusts its speed to the ability of the player so the crashes could even be people specific. My son is a dedicated Indiana Jones fan, which no doubt helps him really like this DS game. At home he much prefers the longer Wii version, but on the move the DS Indiana takes over. So highly recommended for any kid over 6 - and this DS game is a bit less 'violent' (as suggested by it's rating) and a fair bit easier to play than our Wii implementation (making it great for youngsters under 9 - assuming they are interested in the Indiana movies).

29.7.2008

I didn't rush out to buy this on release as I didn't think the Indiana Jones trilogy would make such a good game as Lego Star Wars:The Original Trilogy (LSW:TOT). Curiosity got the better of me and I bought it (for my daughter of course!) and have been boshing away at it ever since!It follows the identical format to LSW:TOT i.e. 6 levels per film, story and free play mode with artefacts taking the place of mini-kits, finding and mailing parcels instead of red bricks. The excellent two-player drop-in drop-out mode is still there and works as good as ever. This can cause problems when exploring different parts of the screen or your co-player "accidentally" gives you a right-hander,but arguments are all forgotten when you complete the level!You get a wide variety of characters - soldiers, diggers, mechanic, women (jump higher), thugees (mystical powers), professors (solve puzzles) and Short Round - for the tunnels! However, the vehicles aren't too exciting, old cars and bikes which you generally have to repair yourself, but obviously the developers were limited to what was around in the films set in the 40s and 50s! Graphics are ok, Indy looks great in his hat and coat and the Raiders soundtrack is there in all its glory.The weapon pick-ups are not brilliant (apart from the bazooka): brawling is often the more effective way to beat the enemies. Indy himself however is a great character to use - he often prefers to wrestle rather than punch which is slow but he does have the all-important whip which gets a lot of use in traversing gaps and retrieving objects. Some of the boss battles are a bit strange - the Raiders battle by the plane was plain weird. You couldn't kill him by machine-gunning from point-blank range but only by holding up an anvil for him to punch three times! Other boss battles were a bit confusing too but overall gameplay was very good.Once you've completed the story mode, and you can repeat levels in Freeplay, things really pick up with all the necessary characters (and unnecessary ones like Santa!) at your disposal and you can go after the elusive artefacts and mail those secrets in the red mail boxes for even more unlockables. It really is great fun and well worth doing, especially if you want to get 100%. Look out for the Star Wars cameo appearances too - if you're lucky you might find yourself getting a hug off Chewbacca in the Mos Eisley Cantina! Find all five scenes and you can buy Hans Solo!My top tips for this game are:1) Save your money until you have completed Story mode, you can then spend it wisely in Freeplay mode. Don't waste your cash on the silly stuff or characters, save it for the "treasure x2", "treasure x4" etc (studs become worth double/quadruple their value etc) or "artefact locator". Most of the characters you will need become available for nothing once you have completed their level anyway.2) The Bazooka Trooper is a useful character - he can blow up silver objects and doors but also has the uniform to get through army checkpoints.3) Once you've purchased an extra, it isn't enabled by default (took me a while to sus this !). Once in the game, press Start, then Extras to toggle them on and off4) Don't waste time struggling to get that high-up or locked up artefact in story mode, you probably won't be able to do it with the standard characters. Remember where it is and go back in Freeplay5) The treasure bonuses work together i.e. if you enable Treasure x2 and Treasure x4 at the same time you will end up with Treasure x8 and the money (ok studs) flies in!Very good fun, continuing from where Lego Star Wars left off but not quite as good for humour and variety overall.PS I've reviewed the excellent

6.11.2009

Ever since I bought "Lego Star Wars: The Original Trilogy", I was hooked on this simplistic, yet fun gameplay format. I thought it was genius to combine something so simple as Lego with some of the most famous fictional characters in the world. From the way the characters are ingeniously presented in their Lego counterparts to the creativity involved in creating a Star Wars Lego world and the interaction with the Lego objects - almost all of them recognizable objects built with lego bricks - from the first five minutes on, it became my favorite action-adventure game for PS2 - bar none.And then I bought "Lego Indiana Jones". While the creativity and ingenuity remains,I have to say that "fun" is an adjective I seldomly use anymore while playing it. While trying to create a more advanced and effective style of gameplay, the makers of "Lego Indiana Jones" actually created handicaps which work in detriment of the game itself. It actually becomes more of a chore with fun moments sprinkled on top every now and then.For starters, the mechanics are suffering a great deal. While on LSW is was so easy to commute between characters and jump onto rides that you could navigate (bikes, ships, etc), now you can lose a good few, frustrating, seconds trying to joggle between a character commute or jumping on your horse. Particularly in close quarters, where there's not a lot of room to move.The straightforwardness of the puzzles also doesn't seem to be there anymore, in the vast majority of cases. I realize the intention was likely to provide with a more challenging product, even for the target demographic (8 years old and above), but even as a grown man, I do find a lot of puzzles complicated to complete, having to resort to multiple characters and having to move between a set of places to complete a puzzle that isn't even that significant for the story-telling and advancing in the game.And while on the subject of story-telling, the game makers persist on having us watch every cut scene from top to bottom without the chance of skipping ahead, likely forgetting that if the game pleases its audience, they will likely play it several times, and well... You get my drift.This also occurs in the inital titles where the story of each chapter is told. For some reason, the gamer cannot simply just skip ahead and just play the game... I'm truly baffled as to why this occurs.And last, but not least, the game saving continues to be somewhat of a problem. If the game makers decide to make a game more difficult, wouldn't it be common sense to consider adding more ways to save, or simply more saving checkpoints? It becomes a real hassle when a level is difficult to complete, then you have to go do something else, and you when you're back you have to do it all over again, because you don't really want to leave the PlayStation on for 8 hours until you're back from work so you don't lose your progress.Having said all that, I do believe it still is a great game to play, as the worlds are inventive and cleverly adapted, the cutscenes have their fun adaptations of the real ones and the characters are hilarious. (Big kudos for adding phobias to each character here).Still, a good game doesn't reside only in the looks and characters, but how you actually play it, and for that, I will only give it four stars, as the next installments have a long way to go to reclaim their "excellence" mark in my book.

9.6.2008

No Crystal Skulls, this is a romp through the old Indiana Jones locales, giving you the typical jungle, cave and Indian mountain scenes. Naturally the game-play has similarities to the great Lego Star Wars games, although The Whip replaces The Force. Indiana's world is one full of hidden levers, spear traps and abyss's, and there is some puzzle element in finding the trap-door/bridge to the next level. Again, like Lego Star Wars, you need to play the story mode to unlock a lot of the game content (which keeps my son [12] glued to the campaign game-play). Once you get past the first level, all three movie levels are available. You can move about these three, but must play each of the movie's six chapters in order.When you have completed each chapter in story mode, a free play mode is allowed. You build stuff on the way and collect Lego coins to unlock new characters. This game looks and handles well on the Wii, and we are now glad we chose it over the PS2 version, although it takes me a time to get used to the button controls, plus you need the Nunchuck thingy. The game does feel strangely more like Tomb Raider if you play the lady character, probably as it has rather similar themes [e.g. tomb raiding and the canals of Venice].It's all fairly easy and you have infinite lives, plus the character's Lego pieces just explode apart when 'killed' and reform, so it's pretty non-violent for little ones. Should you succumb you just lose your Lego coins. Some of the puzzles seem rather harder to crack than in Lego Star Wars though [even for adults]. You play with another film character that has different abilities, as in Lego Star Wars, and you can toggle between them. There's plenty of jokey humour to amuse players (e.g. you can snog your co-star anytime) and this game is entertaining enough to draw in adult Indiana film fans. The game has the fun two-player twin character mode, which feels very, very similar to the Star Wars twin player mode, although don't expect your young son to let you play as Indiana. My son's verdict ' It's even better than Lego Star Wars, with more to do, find and control' [and he prefers the Wii remote implementation over the old PS2 controls]. Plus he likes the fact that when fighting you can pick up the baddies dropped weapons, e.g. swords, and use them. My son is a dedicated Star Wars and Indiana Jones fan, which no doubt helps him really love these games. And unlike the old but fantastic Lego PC games (Rock Raiders, Island II, Drome Racers, etc..) there seems to be no serious software bugs on the Wii/PS2 console versions. Perhaps this twin character Lego game format may start to get a bit samey now that Lego Batman & Robin has been released [hope not], but at the moment this Wii Lego Indiana Jones game feels fresh, different and fun. That said, my son has just rejected the Wii Lego Batman & Robin when I offered it [got 'Transformers: The game' instead], although he says this is just because he's not into these two film characters that much. But anyway, he highly recommends this Wii Lego Indiana Jones [for any kid over 7] - although apparently the less 'violent' and easier DS version is particularly suitable for under 9s.

21.6.2008

These Lego games really live or die according to your taste in the underlying subject matter. The original Lego Star Wars was new and fun and exciting, but was ultimately let down by the poor quality of the underlying movies. Conversely, the Original Trilogy was a triumph, again because of the quality of the subject matter - in this case, how could a Lego game based on the original Star Wars trilogy be anything other than perfect? When I heard about the Indy Lego game, I was initially very excited, but as the release date approached, I was filled with growing apprehension. Would it be any good? Would it do justice to a wonderful movie francise (2 great films + TOD)? How exactly does a Lego whip work?

7.12.2010

I got this game for my birthday, and so far so good. The layout is realistic and the 3D effects are brilliant! When you start the game for the first time, you find yourself in the main hall of Barnett College. Then you head to one of the academic halls and enter through a door into one of the 'worlds'. The aim of the game is to relive the most memorable moments of Dr. Jones' 'original adventures' by playing them through yourself.It's pretty hard to explain what to do without having the gameplay straight in front of you, but you get the jist of it quite easily. If you're a keen gamer, you'll probably get most of the levels unlocked straight away, but for people who like the easy way out,

21.1.2010

This game is completely addicting. I never would have expected to be this addicted to it until I tried a level with my brother.You are playing through levels based on the classic trilogy. However, you are playing as Lego versions of the characters in a Lego world. As a result, the only penalty for dying is losing points. Yes, you need points, but you can finish a level with zero and still have completed the level. For someone like me, that's actually a bit refreshing.You play each level at least twice. First time through, you are in Story Mode. There are animated scenes that help retell the story between the difference parts of the stage. During each stage,

26.6.2008

Well, I've had this about a week now, and I'm thoroughly enjoying spending my spare time exploring the different storylines that have been so carefully recreated in the Lego world. More to the point my flatmate's enjoying being able to play alongside me too. This is a fantastic little game, especially if you're like me and can't quite be bothered with the ultra-serious-blood-and-guts-everywhere games, but want something more than than little party games to play.The levels are well-thought out, and while the controls and graphics are more than suitable for a younger audience, I still frequently find I've overlooked some part of the puzzle and I'm wandering round a level trying to see what I've missed to allow me to progress.

26.6.2008

Lego Star Wars was a surprise pleasure when it came out, easy for kids to play, knowing enough to amuse their parents, with plenty of little bonuses and challenges. It made sense to continue that line of games butr after Star Wars Episodes I-VI were finished where was there to go..?A timely rescue is provided by George Lucas' other great franchise, and Harrison Ford's other great role, the whip-cracking, fedora-wearing, artefact-unearthing pulp adventurer known as Henry "Indiana" Jones Jr. The game itself doesn't deviate greatly from the Star Wars Lego concept. Run around and batter objects to collect little coins and become a "True Adventurer".

30.6.2008

With a 5 year old son I am still struggling with adulthood and cannot resist the urge to have a play with my Wii on a far too regular basis. Lego Star Wars and now, Lego Indiana Jones, gives me a great excuse to spend quality time with my son and still be a kid with computer games ... fantastic! There are those who scorn children with computer games and yes, it should be limited. HOWEVER my son is now far more dextrous and solves puzzles and loves to read and build lego as a result of our "Wednesday Wii" afternoons.The gameplay is nice and simple to understand and the team play works so well (there are puzzles where one person has to be in one place and the other player has to pull a lever at the same time in order to progress).

23.10.2008

Having loved both Lego & the Indy films, putting 2 favourites together seemed a brilliant idea. But would it live up to my expectations?Was I buying a dud? Was it too good to be true?The marketing hype (as we know) can be a little effusive, with games not living up to the marketing promise.So I bought a preowned one rather than a new one. Nothing wrong with preowned-you can get real bargains....I absolutely LOVE this game. Love it, love it love it!!No blood. No guts. Just good clean fun solving puzzles & whipping lego characters to bits.As all the characters are beautiful renditions in lego, any "destruction" is shown as a lego character breaking into individual pieces.You resurrect in the game play so no having to start the level over again when you "die".

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures - Reviews

Info

Analysis

Detail