 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: |   |
If you enjoyed what passed for music in the Indiana Jones films, you should just love the soundtrack provided in the game - it’s dead on in that respect. If, however, you have enough taste to realize that such lauded “composers” as John Williams and Danny Elfman couldn’t harmonize their way out of a paper bag, then you’re sh*t out of luck, kid. Another annoying auditory trait of the game: the characters in the game don’t actually talk. There are no real voices – instead, you’re given weird pre-linguistic gibberish noises akin to those I keep hearing modern children spouting, or the gabbling of Animal Crossing. There was a day when you’d only hear sounds like this in an insane asylum, but thanks to the miracle of Ritalin and the introduction of the GMO to the national food supply, this chittering and babbling seems to be ever more disturbingly commonplace. Perhaps the ADD afflicted will find meaning in the incomprehensible blather here, but that’s best left to the sort who finds hitherto unbroken secret and esoteric codes everywhere (those admitting membership to the Da Vinci Code/National Treasure/X Files crowd, take a bow – Area 51 awaits!).
I haven’t been actually able to sit through the Indiana Jones movies in many a year, having lost my youthful taste for such predictable “summer blockbuster” drivel, so I can’t honestly tell you how closely the game does or does not adhere to the plots of said product (as the franchise ceased to be cinema long ago, if indeed said franchise ever was more than an entry point for a prolonged and marketable commodity). But when you think about it, are there really any franchise based games that closely follow the plot of their progenitor(s)? It appeared to be close enough to the original(s) for me to believe it was accurate, and that’s all that really matters in the end, for fans of the franchise in question.
Despite the game’s many glaring flaws, it’s still fun. It’s got a proper nostalgic feel, and it’s really cute looking. The cutscenes are well done and have a lot of humor to them. The look and feel really does bring back hazy memories of the days when I eagerly immersed myself in the Lego world. That’s probably exactly (and exclusively) what the target audience is looking for out of it, and that’s the one level it truly does manage to succeed on.
Bottom Line:
I really came into this with high hopes for Lego Indiana Jones. The very idea of it brought pleasant childhood memories to the fore, so I really did want the game to be good. Perhaps that very eagerness led to somewhat more disappointment than would have otherwise been elicited by the ultimate banality of the proceedings. Having said that, if you’re one of those who enjoyed Lego Star Wars, you should have fun playing Lego Indiana Jones as well. Very young or nostalgic gamers might really get a kick out of this one too. Sadly, those of us who can lay claim to having grown up in any respect may not.
| Pros: | Cons: | Final Score: |
|---|---|---|
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| 6.0 |
Posted: 2008-08-14 16:46:17 PST