Reviews
It must have taken some courage and persistence for the first person to suggest a Lego video game to make their voice heard and have that idea see fruition. It must have been a hard sell, and the gaming community as a whole is eternally grateful for it. The Lego Star Wars series on the Xbox has been hugely successful with a different take on a well worn franchise. The tongue in cheek humour that now typifies a game that receives the Lego treatment is guaranteed to entertain gamers of all ages. Now Travellers Tales have created Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures which gives the Lego treatment to all 3 of the original Indiana Jones movies, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Temple of Doom and The Last Crusade. It’s no coincidence that this is being released on the heels of the latest Indiana Jones movie, but it’s only the original movies that are represented in this game. Barnett College acts as the hub for the entire game and all of the levels from the movies can be accessed using 3 large Indy style wall maps in the main hall. New characters can be purchased in the library and you can even get level extras in the Mail room. There are many other rooms in Barnett College, each with a different purpose.
Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures is thankfully like other Lego titles in that it’s geared at the younger gamer with a sense of humour that appeals to all ages. You start off as Indy trekking through the jungle re-enacting the start of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Straight away you see that there is a significant graphical improvement on Microsoft’s next generation hardware and the game looks better for it. Cut scenes contain textures with a lot more detail even though they do look a little flat, and the Lego characters look well rendered. You are also quickly greeted with the humour that has made the Lego series so popular with scenes depicting well known scenes from the series including some classic moments from Raiders such as the swapping of the golden idol for a piece of Lego. There is a nice salute to the Lego Star Wars heritage in the cut scene where Belloq wants the golden idol from Indy, he offers the head of C3PO which Belloq refuses after which Indy is forced to hand over the idol. The Star Wars homage goes as far as to have Han Solo as an unlockable playable character.
There are some very funny moments throughout the game, and the humour is classic Lego and never grows old. This is humour that will appeal to everyone, but it is definitely a game that is geared to the younger gamer. On that note it has used some artistic license to remove goriness from certain scenes. A specific example would be the sacrifice scene in the Temple of Doom where Mola Ram removes the victim’s heart. This scene is replaced with the victim being lowered into the lava pit perfectly intact only to come back up safe and well in his undies after his clothes have been burned away. Such scenes could simply have been avoided altogether, or pitched in a patronising way, but the way it has been dealt with shows the thought and care that was taken in reworking elements of the movies storyline to accommodate the younger gamers while being faithful to the Lego franchise.
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