Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures has a good ring to it doesn’t it? Not quite as good as Lego Star Wars mind you, which funnily enough is a sentence that probably sums things up quite nicely, still it is a great game which is full of the adventure, excitement and humour which you will have come to expect from the Lego series of games.
Lego Indy, as we shall call the game from now on, provides you will six episodes for each of the original movies (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom and The Last Crusade), much like in Lego Star Wars each level begins with the usual humorous cut scenes, which it has to be said will make you laugh out loud on a few occasions. There are some neat additions in this latest game, for starters the weapons now have a far wider range, dynamite, bazookas, swords, guns and bows all make an appearance and not forgetting of course Indy’s rather snazzy whip, which can be used for spinning enemies, picking up discarded weapons and also for lifting items over heavy platforms (which you cannot jump across when the item is in your arms), Indy’s whip really is his special ability.
Other characters within the game also have abilities which will come in handy during the course of the game, females can now jump higher, smaller characters fit through hatches, and thugees can operate the statues, which in turn reveal hidden areas. Of course not all of the characters are available at the beginning of the game, meaning that (much like in Lego Star Wars) you will have to play through the levels again in freeplay mode (once you have bought/unlocked the new characters) in order to get to the hidden parts of the level that you where previously unable to reach. As well as weapons and new characters Lego Indiana Jones also introduces objects which you are able to use to your advantage, shovels allow you to dig for machinery parts or hidden treasure and spanners allow you to fix broken lifts or vehicles, these items are a great addition to the game and really make you search around the level a bit more for things that you require in order to progress.
One other rather amusing addition to the game is character phobias, Indiana Jones is famously terrified of snakes and in Lego Indy it is no different, every time Indy goes near a snake he will cower, hiding his eyes with his hands, until his companion disposes of the snakes. Other characters have phobias too, some are scared of spiders for instance, allowing Indy to make up for his own cowardice by giving them a slap with his whip.
There is no doubt that Lego Indiana Jones has been built with Co-op play in mind and therefore it is no surprise that the game is much more enjoyable when played in this way. Most of the time co-op requires no more that one person stepping on a switch while the other stands in the elevator, or has one player push something in order to make it easier for the other player to reach a platform, however there are more complex puzzles, which makes finding the secrets together a much tougher task than it was before.
No game is without at least some issues and Lego Indy is no exception, the point of frustration comes in the controls, or the Y button, it is quite bizarre how this manages to double up for swapping your character and getting on a vehicle/bike/elephant, many times throughout the game this made me quite frustrated, still I suppose it isn’t too much of big a deal. Another problem I found was with the camera, although most of the time it’s generally ok, sometimes it’s just downright frustrating, because you can’t switch the angle when jumping on certain platforms, half the time you just fall off and have to keep trying until you eventually manage to get where you want to be, this happened to me on quite a few occasions, giving me more frustration that I feel I should get from a videogame.
Thankfully the above issues do not spoil the game at all, and are more than made up for by the sheer amount of things to bash and find. What I will say is that collecting coins seems to be easier than I remember, filling up your bar to achieve True Adventurer status seems to happen without trying too much, although perhaps this is due to the vast amount of items that these coins lay behind, from tables, spiders webs, old crates, you name it, anything you would expect to find in an old dingy cave is there. As with Lego Star Wars there are also 10 special collectables (Artefacts) to be found within each level, finding these will allow you to go the museum at the college and view them, there are also hidden parcels throughout each level which can be sent back to the college.
The college is almost an adventure in itself, here you can destroy almost anything for coins, buy new characters, visit the cinema and view the cut scenes you have unlocked so far, as well as finding things of interest which are hidden around the building. The college is also the epicentre for your adventures, there are three maps on the wall (each representing one of the movies) and from here you will be able to play through the game in story mode or alternatively play the levels you have unlocked in freeplay mode.
Graphically the game cannot be faulted, every brick looks fantastic and the cut scenes really are top class. The same can also be said of the sound, sure the characters do not speak but all of the weapons are very authentic in combat and the soundtrack adds so much to the game.
Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures offers everything you could hope for, it doesn’t venture too far away from the Star Wars games but what it does add makes this one of the best co-op games you will play this year, well at least until Lego Batman comes out anyway.
