Being a big fan of the Lego games this newest installment came as some surprise. The whole Lego layout has been changed from the past few games. You are presented with a line of crates in a warehouse, each one opening as you progress, with the initial box starting with the first part of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, playing through the initial scenes of the story involving the great intro and meeting Mutt for the first time.

 

 

In the story mode you have a few of the main characters to control, with the likes of Indy in his many guises, Mutt and Marion being just some of the huge cast. Though the gameplay is the same, the layout is very different to before. It feels a lot more effort has been put into the game with puzzles in certain levels requiring certain characters to be unlocked and the only way to do that is via another puzzle. Most of the action is based around the six hub worlds. The first three films have one each and the fourth film has three for itself. The hub is a giant island populated by familiar locations of the film. Raiders has a snow area for the meeting with Marion, a desert area for the dig site and 2 small islands for the classic intro scene and the finale. Doom has a rapids, Club Obi Wan, village and so on. Each hub is one huge level with the ever collectable studs (the games currency) and red bricks to locate. This time around there are a couple of other coloured bricks but the idea is the same, each time you collect 10 in a hub a new cheat will open, sadly you have to save studs like crazy to purchase these.

 

On the first playthrough the hubs will lead you to the story levels. These are the classic Lego games we know and love but they feel more focused. Each hub has five story levels, a couple are the side scrolling puzzle based affairs that we are all used to, then you have a more focused vehicle level where you drive around a huge track ramming cars and trucks off the road and then the boss fights. These are visually stunning, offering some of the best Xbox 360 graphics I have seen in a while with some very cool lighting effects. This time around they have taken more liberty with the first three films stories, offering a huge fight against a lava breathing Thugee idol in Temple of Doom and a huge lightning generating Belloq from Raiders.

 

The story will only take about 5 hours to play through but that is not where the game ends. Upon returning to each hub, more starts to open, you can fight and then purchase new characters and vehicles so you can travel around quicker and use their unique talents to open new paths. These lead to bonus missions that are mini puzzle/platform levels to solve with predetermined characters. You can even go back to the story missions and either replay them or complete them as a Treasure Level, this is essentially a snippet of the main level with more puzzles to solve as long as you have the correct characters.

 

Characters are split into categories, Indy is the main dude and always has his trusty whip to hand, all of the ladies have a higher jump, plus Willie has a calming bomb that stops enemies from fighting for short periods, other characters have spanners, swords, guns, books, shovels and rocket launchers. Each skill will come into use during the replay, be it shooting a metal object or digging up a treasure chest.

 

 

Away from the main action are the new customization tools. You still have the character tools but now also a whole level editor and a Make Your Own Adventure tools. These are both very easy to use with a tutorial that plays like a game teaching you the basics. You can either start from scratch or edit an existing puzzle, using your imagination to fill in the blanks. You control a Lego builder man and with him you can pick up objects, place them wherever you fancy, adjust base plates, higher and lower terrain and set traps with ease. The Create Your Own Adventure is just as simple with you picking you own McGuffin and choosing which characters and levels to play.

 

All of the new play modes and the hubs really offer more longevity to the game. It was also a sensible move to go over the first three films again as it offers new levels over the original Lego Indy plus a chance to relive those much loved films. This really is another great title from Travelers Tales.