Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
12 million: That’s how many copies of the Lego Star Wars videogame have been sold worldwide to date. It’s an extraordinary statistic which bespeaks the fact that developer Traveller’s Tales is doing a lot more with their film-to-Lego conversions than just mere cutesy homage for kids.
Lego Indiana Jones, like Lego Star Wars before it, is about reducing the essence of iconic cinema into short, sharp, witty scenes to create a narrative rollercoaster that appeals to both aging film nerds and oblivious youngsters equally. It’s about condensing famous characters and actors to blocky, sparse but perfect collections of gestures, expressions and abilities. And, most importantly, it’s about creating the most solid of game mechanic bedrocks and tight structure onto which this brick-made characterisation and vibrancy is built.
Of course, Professor Jones doesn’t have the benefit of the Force and so your tool set in this, the company’s second excursion into a film’s universe (the third being Lego Batman which arrives toward the end of the year), is rather different than it was when playing as Luke, Leia and Darth. Indy has his whip and, in the preview version we’ve been playing, his sidekick has a spade. A single button press allows you to switch between the two characters (or, of course, take on a persona each in multiplayer) and by using each character’s ability you progress through sets of linear environments that closely follow the scenes and story of the film.
Indy can use his whip to swing from rafters and ceiling hooks or, alternatively, use it to smash objects and harvest the game’s currency of single Lego coins. His accomplice can dig up objects partially buried in the ground, and together switches must be stepped on simultaneously, cogs turned and puzzles solved to progress. Secret and hidden items are scattered through each level and finding these objects – which offer great benefits and are sometimes only accessible with a character you unlock later down the line – provide the incentive to return to chapters time after time.
As before, the game makes it impossible to die: fall from a ledge and you simply lose some of your bank of coins. You never have to restart a level. But while the game is generous and gentle it is, from what we’ve seen, far from lightweight. Indeed, collecting and seeing everything it has to offer will provide an ongoing challenge for even the most seasoned player.
