It just feels right that the Lego video game franchise's first foray away from Jedi would be another George Lucas property. If any film series can rival Star Wars in terms of iconic silver screen moments in the eighties, it would have to be everyone's favorite fedora-wearing adventurer/teacher, Indiana Jones.
The game follows the same formula that made the Star Wars game such a blast. They tackle each of the three original films, delivering the important cut-scenes with the same silly mumbled mimicry that is hard not to laugh aloud at. The developers know what moments fans of the films expect, and deliver them hilariously. Designed as more of a 'whole family' experience, the game stops short at ripping out any beating hearts or melting any faces, but rest assured there are airplane propellers and monkey brains to make up for them. There is something adorable about a Lego decapitation. Developers also sprinkle in a few bits of crossover humor from the Star Wars universe, like Indy's attempt to pass off a C3P0 head as the idol at the start of Raiders Of The Lost Ark. The game delivers the kind of cutesy laughs that keep hardcore gamers from caring about how easy the platforming title really is.
The smart blend of simplicity and authenticity makes this a title that anyone can pick up and enjoy in a matter of minutes. At its heart, the game is a basic 3-D platformer, full of item collection and easy puzzle solving. The game continues in the tradition of requiring two characters to solve most puzzles, which works well in the Indiana Jones world of switches and levers. Each of the various characters has their own unique abilities, forcing you to use the characters in a set way for most levels. Women characters in the game can jump higher than the rest, allowing them to reach otherwise unreachable ledges. The smaller characters, like Short Round, are able to climb into small doors and access areas the adult characters cannot. Indy has his signature whip, allowing him to make longer jumps that the rest. Some puzzles require you to flip between three characters on a screen to clear, but none is too difficult for beginning gamers to solve.
The game also gives some of the characters some flaws to balance out their skills. The game takes advantage of Indy's fear of snakes by adding character phobias to the mix. If Indy gets too closer to a slithering amphibian, he lets out a muffled shudder and covers his eyes. At this point, he is useless until you shuffle him away from them. There is no chance to punch the snakes or jump away. The phobias typically require more cooperation with other characters available to clear the path of the offending items. It is a new gameplay wrinkle that feels right at home in the Indy universe.
The game's fighting mechanics are a little awkward, since Indy has no gun unless he picks one up from a defeated foe. One of the game's obvious drawbacks is that fists and a whip are not nearly as cool as lightsabers. It leads you to play the game with more of a brawler mentality. Disarming a guard with your whip feels great, but is much harder to do than expected. The game's controls leave you frustrated more often than not in battle, as they never seem to auto-aim at the enemy you are facing. Too often, you will whip the baddie without the gun, or accidentally punch your partner. Things only get worse when you attempt to navigate through the platforming elements.
The game forces you to hug up to objects when walking too close to them, as if trying to take cover, for one of the bigger annoyances with the controls. Though the fixed camera feels slightly smarter this time around, issues with it remain. The camera never seems to give you a good angle when jumping from one ledge to the next, which is a large part of the game. It is bad enough to make a hardcore gamer want to toss a controller, leaving you wondering just how bad the game would be for less-experienced gamers if they had a set numbers of lives. Thankfully, they still only penalize your deaths by taking away some of the Lego pieces you collected on the level. The stubborn camera system is just as much an enemy as the pistol-wielding Germans, likely causing you more deaths.
There are a few annoying glitches that will cause you to restart a level when found. Scripted events, like the car-chase sequence in Raiders, can miss the hook to let you continue, forcing you back to Barnett College to start it all over. It is tolerable only because of the short length of each level, with none taking up more than thirty minutes of your time. Winding up back at the college is not such a bad thing, as it is where you start up each newly loaded game, allowing you to purchase additional characters with your found Lego bits and re-watch the hilarious cut-scenes. You will want to purchase at least a few of them, as there are certain areas in the levels that only special characters can get to; forcing at least a second playthrough for completionists.
The game nails the feel of the films. Right from the start of the classic score in the menu screen you get an invigorating burst of energy, preparing you to bullwhip your way through the game. Each of the films is told through six chapters, with a familiar tan and grey map plotting your path from one level to the next. The Legos themselves look the same as you remember them from the Star Wars games, but the backgrounds are much improved. The texture work, especially on jungle vegetation and sandy cave walls, looks great. For the steps forward they take visually, they take a major step backwards co-operatively.
The lack of online multiplayer is a terrible omission, and seems like a money-hungry excuse to double-dip in a few months in a repackaged form. Since we just got online co-op with the Complete Star Wars game, why it is missing might be the toughest puzzle in the whole game to crack. At least they continued the ability to play cooperatively on the same console. Thanks to the game's cutesy presentation and more accessible theme, it will be a little easier to talk your significant other to get into than Star Wars was. Sure, you can play this by yourself, but the computer-controlled characters might lead you to turn on them. Too often, the A.I. partners follow you too certain deaths off cliff edges or occasionally stand around and watch you fight. More upsetting, they can only 'stun' enemies, rather than destroying them. At least your friends and family know to finish the job!
Star Wars may have left you wondering if they would jump the shark with Indiana Jones, but this one just leaves you hungry for the upcoming Batman title and a few more improvements. Despite the nagging camera issues and lack of Live support, you would be hard pressed to find someone that will not enjoy LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures.
