Xbox Dad:

The Adventures of Indy and LEGO

Published June 5, 2008

Last year around this time I wrote about great games for the younger set of kids (like my own), and I said that LEGO® Star Wars® II: The Original Trilogy was my hands down favorite game for that group. You can imagine then how happy I was to hear that Traveller's Tales, the developers behind LEGO Star Wars, were working on two new LEGO-based games, Indiana Jones and the upcoming Batman title. Batman is still a ways off, but LEGO® Indiana Jones™: The Original Adventures has just arrived, and it is everything I was hoping and more.

Indy and his whip.

If you have older kids, you may have watched the first three Indiana Jones movies with them, or even taken them out to the recently released fourth installment, but for my kids, this game was their first exposure to the series. I initially thought this lack of familiarity would be a problem, that my son wouldn't be all that into a story line he knew nothing about. Sure, he loved LEGO Star Wars, but he was already a huge Star Wars fan, so that wasn't really a fair comparison. It turns out I had nothing to be worried about. Connor absolutely loves playing Indiana Jones, and (to my surprise) my daughter gets excited to watch the game as well, laughing loudly through most of the action.

The game looks and plays nearly identical to the previous LEGO games, and that's a good thing! The game adds new elements like Indy's whip, tools you can pick up, cool puzzles, and targeted throwing, but leaves the basics alone. The idea of having tools is a major change to the game experience. Some characters carry the right tool all the time, like a wrench to fix machines, a shovel to dig with, or a book to decipher puzzles, but anyone can pick up the right tool assuming they find one on the ground. This feature resembles the way the Force was used in the LEGO Star Wars games, but adds more variety, and allows other characters to use the proper tool.

Booby traps are a big part of the game.

Easily the number one feature though, at least to my kids, is the addition of booby traps. Always a fun part of the Indiana Jones movies, these traps make up a big part of the first level you play (the Lost Temple) and had both my kids laughing like crazy. Step on a certain brick and an arrow shoots at you from the mouth of a statue, or a spear pops up out of the ground (and you can grab the spear and use it yourself), or maybe a whole pile of spikes will get you if you don't remember to jump over the right spot. All good fun, but the one that had my kids giggling was a scene where one character has to stand in a certain spot to make a whole bunch of spears lower back into the floor so that the other character can pass. My son "accidentally" moved off of the special brick while I was walking across and I think my daughter just about shot milk out of her nose from laughing so hard. Needless to say, this "accident" happened many times before we were able to move along in the level. After the booby traps, I think being chased by crocodiles in various parts of the game comes a close second for the amount of laughing and shouting it produced!

Indy ponders a solution.

The number of Star Wars references is also a great feature of the game, assuming your kids are fans of the LEGO Star Wars series and those movies. They'll love spotting Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, and others as they explore all the various rooms and puzzles in LEGO Indiana Jones. For me, playing through the story line of three of my most favorite movies was a real blast, and the settings were appealing even to my son, who hadn't seen them at all. Jungles, ruins, rivers, bad guys, elephants, monkeys with hats … what's not to like?

Overall, this is another great game in the tradition of LEGO Star Wars, with all the great fun of that game, a bunch of new features and improvements, and set in a whole new world for new adventures. Don't be surprised if you see me online playing the game, even when it's much too late for me to be playing with the kids. I just have to get the Fortune & glory kid achievement!

If you have a topic you'd like me to cover, or if you have any questions or comments about the column, just shoot me an e-mail or find me online.

Article by Duncan Festive Turkey Mackenzie