When Harrison Ford meets LEGO

Author's Rating:

Pros: 
LEGO Theme
Easy to Play
Appeals to all ages
3 Stories

Cons: No PSN Trophies

The Bottom Line: 
This title is fun for all ages and a must own (especially if you have kids). 

Author's Review
Lucas Arts is choosy as to who they allow to use their franchises. Lego chooses only franchises that children can play. The two have agreed upon Star Wars and now Indiana Jones.

The stories follow the original three Indiana Jones movies. The game starts players with Raiders of the Lost Arc. During this portion of the game, Dr. Henry (Indiana) Jones must stop the Nazis from opening the Arc of the Covenant. Once you complete the first level,  you can choose which story line you want to tackle. The Temple of Doom levels place players in Mayapore. Here, Indiana must recover the Sankara stones from a the Thuggee cult. In the final story, Indiana must recover the Holy Grail before the Nazis get it. If you have seen the movies, you should already know the story for each section.

What makes this a “LEGO” game is how the stories are told. Each story point is told through pantomime filled with humorous antics. During the opening for Raiders of the Lost Arc, natives are attempting to kill Indiana and his team. As Indiana’s team bumbles through the jungle, the natives soon realize that they don’t need to kill the team who slips into a canyon and licks a poisonous toad dart. Once you escape the first level with the idol, Indiana is forced to give it up. As he pulls random items from his bag, he pulls a C3P0 head out. Playing to the humour, the Nazi demanding the head imitates C3P0’s walk and mannerisms.  The scene made my 7 year old laugh.

The game play is simple. Players can attack, jump, and use their special ability. When playing through the game’s normal story, you will always have Indiana as one of the characters. Indiana can use his whip to pull items or swing across chasms. The other characters have their own special abilities. One has a shovel, one jumps higher, another can throw spears. Once you complete the levels, you can go back in “Free Mode” to use any character combination to brave the level. During Free Mode, the additional characters will help players find items and locations that could not be found be Indiana and the default secondary.

Tying the three stories together is the university. Within the University, players can choose which story they want to tackle and in what order. In addition to this, players can buy additional characters and unlock (in-game) trophies in the university. The A-V room allows you to watch videos from the game’s story. Basically put, the University is the central point for the entire game.

Visually speaking, this is a LEGO game. Everything is LEGO-esque. The characters have the traditional round heads with U-shaped hands. With the exception of the terrain surrounding scenery, the trees and other aesthetic aspects of the levels are designed to look like LEGO pieces. This adds to the LEGO feel to the game. When a character is defeated or an object is broken, it falls apart into LEGO pieces. Simply put, this game feels like you are playing with LEGOs.

As the game goes, I enjoyed LEGO Indiana Jones. It’s fun to play by yourself or with a friend. I play this one with my 7 year old, who seems to really enjoy it. While I am disappointed that this title does not feature Playstation Network trophies, I can appreciate the replayability of each level when using the alternative secondary characters. Simply put, this is a great game for players of all ages.