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Lego Indiana Jones
June 26 2008 00:21 Filed in:
Gaming
Does
Lego Indiana Jones: The
Original Adventures contain the building blocks of a great
game?
One of
the monster franchises in video games has been the endless line
of Star Wars
games that date back all the way to
the Atari 2600.
I was very surprised a few years ago when Lego Star Wars turned out to be one of the best titles produced to carry the once prestigious “Lucas” name. I say “once” prestigious because as most of you know, George Lucas these days has now withdrawn into a world of his own that few of us understand but apparently is devoid of most standard definitions of entertainment [see This Article for more information].
Still, I was excited when I saw that they were going to dig back into Legoland to create Indiana Jones, which still classifies in my book as the greatest trilogy of action films ever.
The decision I made when it came time to pick my poison was the Wii version as opposed to the XBOX 360. I didn’t really at this point want to be bothered with actually having to take my GTAIV disk out of the 360 to play something else, so I saved $10.00 and the angst I’ve been feeling lately now that 50% of my 360 start ups end with Red Ring 3.
Ultimately, everything that’s right about Lego Star Wars is also right with Lego Indiana Jones. Simple controls, free play, and multiple players can drop in and out at any time. Also, the tongue-in-cheek presentation is still present. The cut scenes are cute and there’s quite a lot of fun being poked.
And now my issue. It’s the exact same game as Lego Star Wars. Apart from some sharper graphics, there’s virtually nothing new or fresh about it. Of course, they had such a successful formula going with the Lego Star Wars games, it would have been a crime to overhaul it completely, but ANYTHING new and fresh would have been nice. Han Solo with his blaster is an unlockable character in Indiana Jones and there has been a couple occasions from across the room I could watch one of my kids playing the game and not even be sure if he was playing Indiana Jones or the original Lego Star Wars without paying attention for a minute.
From a structure standpoint, it’s straightforward. You have a single “home” start point from which you can jump in to any of the three movies in the trilogy and play through to conclusion. Each of the “movie games” is simply a half dozen or so key moments from the film played through in order.
Each scene is pretty similar: you’re set in a limited play area where you have to find some key lego pieces to construct some items to facilitate your completion of the level while fighting off villains. It’s lots and lots of the same and none of the puzzles you have to solve to complete a level are particularly challenging. There’s no real relationship between the levels and they kind of play simply like a series of mini-games one right after another. Also, as it became tiresome throughout the Lego Star Wars games as well, there seems to be a real lack of urgency since you never really die. When you’re “deconstructed” you lose nothing but points. There’s no consequence toward completion of the level.
We took about a week to complete the entire game without finding every hidden item and treasure, but that was playing casually. If you’re a heavy-duty gamer I would be very surprised if you couldn’t finish the entire thing in a weekend, if that.
On the up side, we have the original movie music, still some of John William’s best scores. You do have some cute spins on the game play, but nothing earth-shattering. For instance, when playing with Indy, he’s afraid of snakes and if he walks too close while facing them he’s frozen in fear and can’t get by them.
From the Wii standpoint there’s no reason to choose this version over another platform. The only use of the motion controls is flicking the Wii remote to crack your whip, but ultimately you’ll find that you just push the button because it’s cleaner to time and quicker.
It’s hard to really recommend this title outright based on it’s own merits, but if you really enjoyed Lego Star Wars you’ll probably get a kick out this one, too. Light, simple fun game play, but ultimately not much depth and nothing really new.
Bah…maybe I’m just still cynical and bitter after Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Just a flashback, if you’re a collector or game archeologist so to speak, you might want to throw yourself way back to the 1980s and check out the original Atari 2600 Raiders of the Lost Ark game. Still among the first major adventure/puzzle games ever produced. Loved that game. I played that through at least a dozen times as a kid:
Raiders of the Lost Ark: Atari 2600
I was very surprised a few years ago when Lego Star Wars turned out to be one of the best titles produced to carry the once prestigious “Lucas” name. I say “once” prestigious because as most of you know, George Lucas these days has now withdrawn into a world of his own that few of us understand but apparently is devoid of most standard definitions of entertainment [see This Article for more information].
Still, I was excited when I saw that they were going to dig back into Legoland to create Indiana Jones, which still classifies in my book as the greatest trilogy of action films ever.
The decision I made when it came time to pick my poison was the Wii version as opposed to the XBOX 360. I didn’t really at this point want to be bothered with actually having to take my GTAIV disk out of the 360 to play something else, so I saved $10.00 and the angst I’ve been feeling lately now that 50% of my 360 start ups end with Red Ring 3.
Ultimately, everything that’s right about Lego Star Wars is also right with Lego Indiana Jones. Simple controls, free play, and multiple players can drop in and out at any time. Also, the tongue-in-cheek presentation is still present. The cut scenes are cute and there’s quite a lot of fun being poked.
And now my issue. It’s the exact same game as Lego Star Wars. Apart from some sharper graphics, there’s virtually nothing new or fresh about it. Of course, they had such a successful formula going with the Lego Star Wars games, it would have been a crime to overhaul it completely, but ANYTHING new and fresh would have been nice. Han Solo with his blaster is an unlockable character in Indiana Jones and there has been a couple occasions from across the room I could watch one of my kids playing the game and not even be sure if he was playing Indiana Jones or the original Lego Star Wars without paying attention for a minute.
From a structure standpoint, it’s straightforward. You have a single “home” start point from which you can jump in to any of the three movies in the trilogy and play through to conclusion. Each of the “movie games” is simply a half dozen or so key moments from the film played through in order.
Each scene is pretty similar: you’re set in a limited play area where you have to find some key lego pieces to construct some items to facilitate your completion of the level while fighting off villains. It’s lots and lots of the same and none of the puzzles you have to solve to complete a level are particularly challenging. There’s no real relationship between the levels and they kind of play simply like a series of mini-games one right after another. Also, as it became tiresome throughout the Lego Star Wars games as well, there seems to be a real lack of urgency since you never really die. When you’re “deconstructed” you lose nothing but points. There’s no consequence toward completion of the level.
We took about a week to complete the entire game without finding every hidden item and treasure, but that was playing casually. If you’re a heavy-duty gamer I would be very surprised if you couldn’t finish the entire thing in a weekend, if that.
On the up side, we have the original movie music, still some of John William’s best scores. You do have some cute spins on the game play, but nothing earth-shattering. For instance, when playing with Indy, he’s afraid of snakes and if he walks too close while facing them he’s frozen in fear and can’t get by them.
From the Wii standpoint there’s no reason to choose this version over another platform. The only use of the motion controls is flicking the Wii remote to crack your whip, but ultimately you’ll find that you just push the button because it’s cleaner to time and quicker.
It’s hard to really recommend this title outright based on it’s own merits, but if you really enjoyed Lego Star Wars you’ll probably get a kick out this one, too. Light, simple fun game play, but ultimately not much depth and nothing really new.
Bah…maybe I’m just still cynical and bitter after Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Just a flashback, if you’re a collector or game archeologist so to speak, you might want to throw yourself way back to the 1980s and check out the original Atari 2600 Raiders of the Lost Ark game. Still among the first major adventure/puzzle games ever produced. Loved that game. I played that through at least a dozen times as a kid:
Raiders of the Lost Ark: Atari 2600