Written by Matt Cabral, 6/4/2008
Played on:
Xbox 360
If you’ve caught Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on the big screen, and you’re still jonesing for Jones, LucasArts and Traveller’s Tales have just the thing to curb your treasure-hunting hunger. Treading the same plastic-paved path as the successful Lego Star Wars series comes Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, a brick-busting good time that matches the accessibility and addictiveness of its Force-driven forefathers.
The experience is so similar, in fact, that how much you enjoy Lego Indy as compared to LSW, will largely be determined by which film franchise you prefer. If you’re a midichlorian-blooded Star Wars geek, then Lego Indy likely won’t usurp LSW as your favorite Lego-tied title. However, if you played through the sci-fi saga’s brick-based adventure thinking: “How much cooler would this be if it were based on Indy’s exploits?” then you can count on LucasArt’s latest to be your new favorite. Again, aside from the Indy paint job, other aspects feel pretty familiar; you’re still smashing everything in sight, collecting studs, solving puzzles and being treated to the occasional cute cutscene. Replace your lightsaber with a bullwhip, your Force powers with fisticuffs, and your annoying Jar Jar sidekick with an annoying Short Round sidekick, and you get the idea.
Use your archeological instincts to dig a bit deeper beneath the surface, however, and you will find some fresh tweaks to the familiar formula. Some changes—like the welcome ability to switch characters without being positioned right next to them—affect the overall gameplay experience, but most upgrades include smaller touches that are specific to individual characters. There are no blasters or lightsabers in Indy’s world, so the developers had to get pretty creative in making all characters cool to play. When you think about it, this is a tall order when compared to bringing Star Wars’ many ready-for-action heroes into a game setting. Most of the characters in Lucas’ sci-fi series possess cool abilities that easily translate to the medium; from Ben Kenobi and Luke Skywalker to Han Solo and even Princess Leia, arming them with the appropriate gun, lightsaber or Force power isn’t much of a stretch. But how do you make the likes of Willie Scott or Marcus Brody feel relevant in a game that’s largely driven by action? Well, in addition to kicking Lego butt with a new brawling ability—even without a frying pan, Marion brings the pain—characters can now pick up items to make themselves useful. Early in the game, for example, players control Indy’s pet snake-keeping pilot from Raiders, and, while you’d never imagine there was anything useful for this dude to do, he becomes pretty handy by grabbing a wrench and repairing the plane before take off. Similarly, characters like Indy’s friend-turned-traitor Satipo can pick up a shovel and whack baddies with it or dig up useful, puzzle-solving parts. Even characters with especially questionable heroic abilities can pick up an enemy’s gun and let loose with plastic projectiles.
While almost any avatar can execute these pick-ups, other skills are more limited to certain character types. Females, for example, can reach higher platforms with double-jumps, and smaller characters, like Shorty, can squeeze into tight spots. In addition to all these abilities, some plastic people possess skills that are specific only to them; Indy, of course, is the only one to wield the whip, but others, like Willie Scott have their own cool tricks, such as her ability to break objects with an ear-piercing scream. Speaking of Willie’s powerful lungs, players can also expect to hear her screech when creepy crawlies startle her; a new phobia element fleshes out the heroes' personalities by incorporating their familiar fears. Just as Willie becomes useless around bugs, Henry Jones Jr. and Sr. cower like frightened children when snakes and rats appear, respectively.
There’s no shortage of bad guys in Indy’s big screen adventures so expect to take on all sorts of bosses (Mola Ram, Belloq) and henchmen (swastika-lacking Nazi-like soldiers and blowgun-toting tribesman.) However, even more so than LSW, you'll also be required to solve puzzles and traverse platform-heavy segments. Aside from a few head-scratchers, the former is pretty simple and accessible. The latter, however, will sometimes see your adventures ending in cheap deaths as an occasionally wonky camera and some unreliable depth perception will have you miscalculating jumps and even trying to land on areas that won't hold you; a few times we leapt onto what appeared to be a character-supporting cliff edge only to discover it was, in fact, a flat cliff face we passed on our way to a bottomless pit. Thankfully, in Lego games, you never really die, you’re just temporarily taken out of the action.
Collector-crazed gamers will enjoy Lego Indy because, similar toLSW, it encourages you to re-visit each level in Free Play mode. You won’t be able to collect every brick and stud the first time through, but once you’ve unlocked every skill-supported character, you’ll be able to access every item. This aspect, in addition to adding some nice replay value, seems especially fitting here as it really taps into the titular archeologist’s treasure-seeking traits. You won’t be admiring your valuable relics in Star Wars’s local watering hole, this time. Nope, now your collection is housed in the series' famed Barnett College where you can tour the campus, checking out your stash as a tweed-coat-sporting Professor Jones.
As with Star Wars' block-smashing outing, Indy’s adventures are best served during cooperative play. In fact, with a heavier focus on puzzle-solving and jumping skills, it’s even more important to have a partner in platforming; whether you’re navigating a tricky ledge or gathering clues, two block-heads are definitely better than one. Sadly, Lego Indy doesn’t include online co-op. This unforgivable oversight stings especially hard because you can bet your golden idol LucasArts will peddle a future “special edition” that does include this feature, just like they did with Lego Star Wars—we can already see the marketing tag line: “Now with bonus Crystal Skull content and online co-op!”
Despite this omission, Lego Indy is an absolute brick-breaking blast. Granted, some of the novelty has worn off since the first time we busted-up a plastic Jar Jar Binks, but that’s to be expected (this is technically the fourth such game using this formula.) The gameplay is addictive as ever and the Indy makeover oozes with style. From the excellent visuals and famous cinematic score (you’ll be surprised just how cool you feel playing as a Lego when that rousing theme rises through your speakers), to the franchise’s trademark comedic cutscenes—some actually top the side-splitters from LSW, —it’s hard not to recommend this one. If you loved playing as tiny, blocky Jedi, you’ll likely have a similarly fun experience under Indy’s plastic fedora. And, if your adoration for the Indy flicks tops your love of Lucas’s other lucrative license, then you’re about to uncover an even greater gaming treasure.
