The second film license to be painted with the Lego brush, Indiana Jones by and large is exactly what you’d expect. Like its predecessor Lego Star Wars, it’s essentially the videogaming equivalent of Tellytubbies; you either love it, or you’re too grown up for your own good. Colourful, cheeky, simple, and mindless, the Lego games are a welcome revival of the 3D platformer genre that has long since swung out of fashion. Leap and bound through the linear levels as you keep an eye out for secrets to unlock and treasures to be found, resolutely bashing the landscapes to pieces as you go in order to collect thousands of Lego ‘pips’ to later spend on goodies. It’s a simple formula that anyone can pick up within a couple of minutes, and it’s the inclusive nature of Lego Indiana Jones that might just earn it a place on your shelf.
With a hat and a whip and a cheeky smile...
In case you’re unfamiliar with the Lego games, they’ve taken a fairly brave leap when it comes to games design by entirely removing the concept of ‘game over’. When you die, your character crumbles amusingly into a shower of his/her Lego bits before reappearing a second later, good as new. It’s a tricky stance to take however, as whilst many think the ‘three lives’ rule to be a needlessly carried-over function of money snatching arcade machines, others quite fairly argue that removing the ability to die means that games also lose much of their meaning. In some circumstances it’s certainly a fair assumption; can you imagine if Resident Evil 4 allowed you the revival abilities seen in Lego Star Wars?
Few crocodiles can resist the charms of a solid John Travolta impersonation.
Thankfully Lego Indiana Jones doesn’t place too many of its fun-eggs in the challenge-basket, indeed death tends to have a rather different function in the game: Rather than being frustrating, dying in Indiana Jones is hilarious. Accidently bashing your love interest over the head with a shovel; Watching as your co-op partner falls off a ledge for the eighth time; Failing to overcome a squad of Nazis as you attempt to carve a path through the enemy troops armed only with a banana; absolutely priceless. The brilliantly charming character animations and relaxed atmosphere within the game make it perfect for a co-op romp with a friend. Neither of you are harshly punished for simply messing about a bit, so it tends to quickly become the norm. The discovery that Indy’s love interest in the Temple of Doom’s ‘special ability’ involved raising her arms in the air and screaming soon resulted in her character doing very little else. The progress made during this period was incredibly slow, but we were all too busy laughing to care.
It’s moments like this that kind of sum up what Lego Indiana Jones is all about: If you take it seriously then you’re going to end up sorely disappointed, but if all you’re expecting is a silly little adventure with lots of shiny things to find and collect, you’re in for a treat. It’s certainly not the kind of game you’d boot up for a mega-session with your Halo clan, but if you’re looking for a game which you can happily play with someone who’s interest in gaming is pretty non-existent it’s a great little title (It passed the girlfriend test, in case you were wondering).
