Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures

 Since I started reviewing games almost three years ago, I've found myself playing a lot of stuff I never thought I would touch. But this is a plunge I didn't think I'd ever take. 

I have never, ever had even a passing interest in playing any of the Lego games, which have been around since the 6th generation (I think). These games are what they sound like; standard action games featuring Lego versions of the characters from your favorite cannons or universes. There's tons of these, Lego Batman, Lego Star Wars, Lego Harry Potter, etc. etc., you get the idea. It's not that I have a problem with that, I loved Legos as a kid and I obviously love video games, but it just never interested me. But you know who it did interest? My almost five-year old. He saw the cover of this game, a PS3 title I'm not sure how I acquired, and insisted in playing right away. He has no idea who Indiana Jones is and honestly, I'm not overly familiar with the films myself, but he thought the Lego characters were super cool. Now I have to buy him Legos for his birthday. Great.

Anyway, LIJ is, like most of the Lego games, a 3rd person action platformer. You take control of Indiana Jones and his various compatriots across a variety of levels. Rather than just have one long story mode, the game is broken into three separate adventures. One for Raiders of the Lost Ark, one for Temple of Doom and one for Last Crusade. Each level features a good mix of combat, platforming, puzzle solving and exploration, with some leaning more heavy into one of the categories than others. You switch between two or more characters, one of which will always be Indiana Jones, each with their own unique abilities that will help you progress through the level. You won't be able to unlock all the secrets on the first playthrough, as you will always encounter some sort of challenge you can't meet. Once you complete the level, you can re-enter in free play mode with any characters you choose. It's kind of nice that they thought to include some replay value, though I don't know if that was the best way to do it.

Overall, I think the controls are solid. It's clear they tried to keep things as simple as possible to appeal to younger gamers, which was the right call. X jumps, Triangle switches characters, Square attacks and Circle uses whatever special move your character has (this is where I mention I played this on the PS3, I'm sure the XBox's scheme is similar). Indiana Jones always has his whip, but most of the other characters either have a variety of specials or can only use them if they pick up an item. Most of these are used more for puzzle solving then combat and some of them have very narrow uses. My issue comes with the movement, as I find it to be very loose and overly sensitive. I chalked up my son constantly walking into pits to him being a few weeks short of being five, but when I picked up the controller I found the same thing happened, albeit less frequently. The viewpoint also makes it very difficult to tell where exactly you are going to land, so I found myself jumping to my doom more often than not.

The levels are laid out more like traditional 3D platformer stages. You are dropped into a somewhat open world and tasked with finding the correct path forward, usually by completing some sort of task or puzzle. None of these are overly complicated and the game does a good job of telling you where to go, objects will jump, flash, sparkle, anything to tell you that they can be interacted with. You will sometimes find piles of Legos, which can be built into other objects by simply holding the Circle button. Occasionally you will be faced with enemies, usually during set pieces within the levels. Each level will have you start with Indiana Jones and an appropriate character from that scene. Again, I'm not a huge IJ fan, but it seems like the game follows the movie pretty closely, which is nice. Once you clear the stage, you can re-enter in free play mode with your choice of more than 80 characters to reach previously inaccessible areas. There are a variety of collectibles, from treasures to packages to currency, which comes in the form of Lego pieces. You can't get a game over, but you will drop pieces every time your life bar is emptied (usually four hits) or you fall down a pit.

The level design is pretty solid overall and it really does convey a sense of adventure. The puzzle solving elements are well done, they aren't too difficult for the target audience but aren't patronizingly easy either. The biggest issue I had was with the combat. All of your characters attacks are weak and lack range, which is a problem because a lot of enemies can shoot. You can pick up guns or swords and throw objects, but they aren't always available and it isn't that easy to do when you are already under attack. When you do get close enough to hit the enemies, hitting them doesn't register in any meaningful way. You just have to keep mashing and hope they explode into Lego pieces before you do. They also respawn really, really quickly, which makes it hard to focus on completing any puzzles in that area. You only have 15, may 20 seconds after clearing out a room before enemies just keep coming back.

While the exploration was fun and the puzzles interesting enough, they did wear a little thin after a while. The levels aren't sparse by any means, but they do all start to feel very same-y after a while. The locale may be different, but the task is almost always the same. I appreciate that they wanted to increase relatability with the free play mode, but I think the game asks a little too much in terms of backtracking. I actually like the occasional "have to enter this area again with a different character" gimmick, but it's a bit overdone here. I do like the hub world, which takes place at Indiana Jones' place of employment Barnett College, as there is a lot to do there. However, most of it is little more than a curiosity for those looking to score a 100% clear of the game. That's a tall task, especially for the target audience, as there is an obscene amount of stuff to unlock. I can't complain about that, I would rather them have too many unlockables than not enough.

Speaking of the target audience, that brings me to my next issue. I wouldn't necessarily call this game inappropriate for its target, it's rated E 10+ and its just Legos after all, but there were some things I think they took a little far. I'm not sure how I feel about the amount of gunplay, it's probably not a huge deal for someone 8-12 but it just feels like a lot for a Lego game. I don't necessarily know what they could have done differently, as they were just using the source material they had to work with. But perhaps Indiana Jones wasn't the best IP to use for a Lego game? A lot of the iconic scenes from the films are recreated, I especially liked the Lego version of the infamous "sword fight" scene. But it always feels like the movies skew a little older than the target audience for the game. If I'm not mistaken, aren't all the Indiana Jones movies PG-13? Obviously it wasn't a huge deal, I wouldn't let my kid play the thing if I thought it was, but this is probably the first game that made me actually think twice about whether it was okay for him to play.

Indiana Jones: Original Adventures is a solid game, even if it isn't the most unique or interesting. It's a bit of a niche market for the Lego series, Indiana Jones is popular but not to the level of Star Wars, Marvel, Harry Potter or other franchises that have been Lego-tized. It also doesn't hit the target audience as well as those franchises do, for better or for worse. Still, it's a good effort and one I think is good for younger gamers, at least the older end of younger gamers (like 9-12). It's balanced, even if it does have some control flaws and issues with backtracking. It's got good graphics, recognizable sound cues and some good inside humor. I can't really speak as a hardcore fan, but this feels like something casual gamers that are huge IJ fans would get something out of. Not my favorite game by any means, but a solid effort.

7.25/10