 Review By: Siou Choy |
Developer: | TT Games |
| Publisher: | LucasArts | |
| Genre: | Action | |
| ESRB: | Everyone 10+ | |
| # Of Players: | 1-2 | |
| Online Play: | No | |
| Accessories: | Memory Card | |
| Buy Now: |   |
In the halcyon days of my youth, like many of us of a certain age, I loved playing with Legos. I had a huge collection, and while most or all of those have been consigned to the dustbin of history (or the dustbin of parental dismissal – lucky you are, if your caretakers do not give away, throw out, or otherwise abscond with the sundry and particular joys of childhood), I still appreciate the cuteness of design on those I run across in ads or store shelves. I also recall enjoying cheesy action adventure films like the Indiana Jones series, though these seldom hold up to more recent perusal. I gather it to be something of a universal constant that when you’re young, almost anything seems good – even overblown, intellect challenged Steven Spielberg movies. That caveat being duly noted, when Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures was released for the PS2, it still seemed like a dream come true. Sadly, like most dreams when realized, the proceedings don’t exactly live up to expectations.
Having missed out on the prior Lego Star Wars series, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Sure, the game looked cute, but a good looking game doesn’t always mean a good game per se. For the most part, Lego Indiana Jones plays like any other action adventure game (i.e. Tomb Raider and its largely forgotten progeny). You battle through levels with your trusty weapon - in this case Indy’s famous whip - solve a few puzzles, and fight off the bad guys to save the day. There is a slight twist to the usual formula, where you play as Indy, but have a consistently present second character (which character in particular changes as you proceed through the course of the game) to aid you in the proceedings. This second character is generally there to do pointless manual labor tasks: dumb things like using a shovel to dig up items (like you couldn’t do that yourself?). Don’t expect them to be of any practical use, though, such as backing you up in a fight - the second character is utterly useless in these situations unless you're playing with a friend.
Since this is a game designed by and for prominent product placement, there are points in the game where you have to gather Lego pieces and put them together to form objects which can be used to solve “puzzles” as simple as providing a bridge where needed. Said “puzzles” are considerably simple, and little effort, whether mental or physical in nature, is required to complete them.
Any pretense of challenge has been taken out of the game, since dying has no impact on the game whatsoever. No matter how many times you die, your character will always be brought back to life, with no real penalty. What’s the point of avoiding the dangers and hazards of the game when you can just walk through them suicidally, knowing you’ll be brought back past the obstacle in question, no worse for the wear? That said, Indiana Jones tends to die quite easily. I’ve had him die performing the stupidest and simplest tasks, such as walking just a bit too close to a cliff or using your whip to pull an item close to you only to have it smash into you and kill you. Seriously, I’m not making that one up. Happened several times in a row, in fact…
Posted: 2008-08-14 16:46:17 PST