Lego Indiana Jones: the Original Adventures
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One aspect that might divide gamers is the title’s difficulty – with “adaptive difficulty” – the default setting – turned on, the game will usher the player through sections they encounter with difficulty. Likewise, the characters have health bars, but there’s never much of a penalty for dying – in most cases, the character explodes in a shower of bricks and the player is allowed to start back where they fell. This encourages players to experiment and discover all the myriad hidden secrets, and while it smacks of baby-gamer pandering, most gamers will find the frustration proofing quite a welcome feature.

The attention to detail and Lego-fication in the cutscenes is one of the brightest highlights of the game.


This is especially helpful in keeping the sometimes-slippery controls and occasionally wonky camera at bay. Most actions (including the “building” actions) are context sensitive, so it becomes quite frustrating when chaos erupts onscreen and little Indiana won’t stop cracking his whip when the player only wants him to build the damn structure and get going. Likewise, the jumping feels quite imprecise at times, and combat can be an exercise in frustration, especially when there are many enemies and vehicles onscreen at once. The low penalty for dying and generally forgiving structure of the game keeps these flaws from destroying its pick up and play factor. It also serves to keep the frenetic, fun pace of the films going at all times.

One of the title’s most lauded features is its cute, goofy sense of humor. Mimicking their tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, but with a slightly more light-hearted tone, the cut scenes offer a faithful recreation of the films’ scenes. Often, the Lego theme is carried out to great effect – in one scene based on the violent encounter between Indy and the German mechanic (hailed as one of Raiders’ most exciting sequences), the game version has the mechanic literally (and comically) go to bits instead of spurting crimson. The game also includes a few Star Wars jokes – nods to the earlier games and a fun, sweet bit of fan service.

This is the sort of quality, all-ages, inoffensive platformer that everyone can pick up and enjoy. It’s highly recommended for gamers with children, casual players, and Indiana Jones fans, and certainly worth a look for any gamer who enjoys a solid romp. It may be on the easy side, but it has oodles of charm and more than enough fun gameplay to last a weekend.



Highs
Great sense of humor; fun cut/scenes; well-paced; fun gameplay.

Lows
Imprecise controls and a stubborn camera.

Final Verdict
Like Lego Star Wars before it, it's a worthy homage to a classic movie franchise.

80%

Jun 28, 2008

Review by Danielle Riendeau.

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