Thanks for the GAD! Nice welcome home present! :)

Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures – Xbox 360

I felt a great tingling sense of anticipation when I heard about the new Indiana Jones’ film Crystal Skulls. I’ve always found the films to combine action, adventure and a pinch of humour to the perfect effect, making many people actually ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ when Harrison Ford performs his latest stunt on the big screen. So when I heard Lucas Arts planned to take on the past films and transform them into little plastic blocks I was a little anxious. Don’t get me wrong though I did the maths: Lego plus three of the greatest and well known action/adventure films must equal a great gaming success. But still I couldn’t help but feel, as is often sadly the case with many films made into games, that it could ruin the franchise and name of a great and successful film.

Nevertheless, I decided to act boldly and pick up a copy of the game. I had to give it a chance. Now, I’ve never been the most hardcore fan of Lego and was a little bit cautious of a game made entirely of Lego. Truth be told, I was slightly afraid that I might end up with bumps imprinted on my hands as I played, as happened on my feet when I painfully trod on my brother’s Lego set, leaving tiny blocks of Lego lodged between my toes. But leaving bad experiences behind me, I put the disc into the tray and as it whirled around I got that tingling feel again. I could sense I wouldn’t be disappointed with this game. And, with a mixture of a great storyline (could we expect any less though?), unique graphics and simply enjoyable and consistently humorous playability, I wasn’t.

The bountiful storylines are plucked, obviously, from the first three Indiana Jones films. Each film has been broken up into six different levels, making a total of eighteen levels for the player to explore. Every level attempts to mimic the original scenes from the films and this is done quite successfully. Famous environments from the South American jungles to mountains of India are replicated; the effort of the designers can be seen transparently in the levels as each one is beautifully crafted. And what I found to be most surprising was the fact that the blocks of Lego integrated themselves extremely well making each in-game environment a seamless experience. The classic vehicles, including the motorbike and sidecar, and all the renowned artefacts are transformed into the famous colourful blocks without detracting anything from the original films with authenticity being maintained.

Now, the great thing about the Lego environments is that they are largely interactive. Actions of the characters, which there are sixty in total, including Mr Jones Senior among many villains and supporting characters, aren’t restricted as they can swim, shimmy along dangerous rock ledges and climb on objects, just as Indie can in the films. There’s a large variation in the weapons which characters can use at different points of the game, many of which can simply be picked up from the surrounding environment, including chairs, bottles and swords. Oh and one other thing… the famous whip. Truly this is where your inner child breaks out in the game, once you get hold of the whip you want to use it for absolutely everything. Fortunately, you pretty much can use it for anything and everything; from pulling levers and cracking open a box to disarming an opponent and swinging across a canyon. Simply put, it’s great fun any Indie fan won’t want to miss out on.

To avoid becoming another stale and simple action game where you simply smash and grab your way through, the game comes packed with puzzles to keep players challenged. Often this will involve the characters needing to build their own way around objects using Lego from the environment, so past Lego experience comes in great help here.

The intended audience for this game is as wide as can be. Although potentially Indiana Jones’ fans might get a little extra out of the game, rookies to the Indie franchise shouldn’t feel out of place whilst playing as useful cut scenes keep the player informed about the unfolding and engaging storyline. In terms of which age group this game is aimed at, it simply isn’t that specific. It’s for anyone. Children and adults a like will have a memorable time playing. Parents don’t have to fear about violent scenes either, Lego successfully controls it, for example when an enemy is killed they are simply broken up into Lego blocks. This is rather humorous to watch for the older audience too.

Simply the game is good fun, if anyone wishes to adventure like Indie and recreate iconic scenes, such as being chased by a giant boulder (yes, made from Lego too), then they should buy a fedora and pick up a copy of this game. If you don’t believe Lego to be your thing just give it a go, you’ll be pleasantly surprised and there’s no need to worry about getting pieces of Lego in between your toes!