LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures Special Edition Xbox 360

Released on 06/06/2008

• Bank Holiday Games!

  
  

  It's the May Day Bank Holiday weekend, which means we all get an extra day off. So with the weather being predictably unpredictable, why not spend it in the company of some great games?

  Here's our handy guide for some of the best games to enjoy this bank holiday weekend, with ideas for children, for friends and family, or for getting some serious single-player gaming done!

  Games for the kids:

  

  If you have a kids and a Kinect, there's really only one choice - Kinect Rush: A Disney Pixar Adventure, giving the chance for the little ones to play along with all their favourite Pixar characters, like Woody and Buzz, Remy the Rat, Lightning McQueen and the Incredibles. Kids will love using the Kinect to interact with their Pixar friends, lifting, steering, flying, swimming and smashing their way through a variety of fun games that will keep them occupied for hours, and feeling like they're part of the story.

  
  

  

  For more quirky fun with their favourite characters, it's hard to go wrong with our wide choice of LEGO games. Kids can take a trip to Hogwarts and help Harry Potter and chums defeat Voldemort, set sail with the Pirates of the Caribbean, use the Force in Star Wars, or hero-up alongside Batman or Indiana Jones. With classic adventures recreated in LEGO's trademark building blocks, and delivered with LEGO's trademark sense of humour, there's plenty for kids of all ages to enjoy - and for parents to enjoy once the children have gone to bed!

  

  Skylanders continue to be a big hit with the kids, and you'll be a big hit with your kids if you bring Skylanders home! The age-old battle of good versus evil is brought to life not only through the video game itself, but enhanced by the collection of character toys that interact with the game. There's a whole host of cool characters to collect and who join are brought to life in the game via the Portal of Power, so the opportunities for new games and new challenges are endless!

  Games for friends and family:

  

  When's the plenty of people round, a little friendly competition always goes a long way. Where better to find out who's best than at the Olympic games? And who better to play with than Mario and Sonic? Well, as luck would have it, Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games is chock full of fun contests that test a wide variety of skills, with unique ways of interacting with the action. There's everything from sprinting to table tennis, canoeing to show-jumping, as well as some imaginative twists in the 'Dream' events, like a long-jump that takes you flying from cloud to cloud. And all for a lot less than a ticket to the real Olympics!

  

  If you - or your party - starts to get a bit more active, then there's always Just Dance 3. The latest chapter in the hugely successful dancing game series continues to challenge all to bust their best moves. This time there's an even wider variety of dancefloor-classic songs from almost every era and a range of different game modes to keep the party fresh and four-player action for the ultimate dance-off! It's compatible with Wii, PlayStation Move and Kinect, and pushes motion controls to their funky limits!

  Games on your own:

  

  Looking for a game to put some serious single-player hours into? Well, you can always journey into space with Mass Effect 3, one of the biggest and most talked-about games of the year. This sci-fi adventure is as much an in-depth role-playing experience as it is a third-person shooter, promising a journey where you choices really define the way the game is played. Thousands of people all over the world have committed almost as many hours following Commander Shepard across the Trilogy, so why not spend this weekend finding out just why?

  

  If you prefer your role-playing a little more traditional, then the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Pandora's Tower are two fantastic offerings. Questing in fantasy worlds, battling mythical beasts, swords, sorcery and an ending based on how you play - the whole RPG experienced wrapped up in a complete package! Skyrim offers a first-person adventure and dragons, while Pandora's Tower gives you classical music and a very personal quest. Either game will take up your entire weekend!

  

  For time consumption of a different kind, Minecraft has finally made its way to Xbox 360 thanks to Xbox LIVE. This 8-bit phenomenon has become a global cult classic, with it's simple sandbox gameplay: mine things and then build things. What sounds so simple becomes perilously addictive as your skills and ambitions become greater and greater still, and the long weekend is ideal to get settled into a time-sucking game like this!

  Published: 30/04/2012

• LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures Review

  Calling Doctor Jones...

  Have you seen Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull yet? If not, we’d recommend it – it’s not the greatest in the series, and parts of it are utterly daft, but it’s still a whole lot of family fun. Despite not breaking new ground, it leaves a warm sense of satisfaction for old Indy lovers, and will doubtless create a brand new generation of fans for the fedora-wearing adventurer.

  LEGO-film fusion

  The same could be said of LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures. Traveller’s Tales’ third LEGO-film fusion after the two Star Wars trilogies (both of which you’ll find in the combined Complete Saga) follows the prescribed formula, but adapts to suit the non sci-fi feel of the Spielberg films.

  Will entertain players of all ages with tons of characters, inventive puzzles and fun platform gameplay.

  It’s still got that typical LEGO humour and will entertain players of all ages with tons of characters, inventive puzzles and fun platform gameplay, which is all great – though LEGO Indiana Jones does sadly lack a few of the features that made the Star Wars LEGO titles such a long-lived extravaganza of brick-built fun.

  Fighting teamwork

  But first, the good stuff. There’s lots of it, thankfully. LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures’ eighteen levels are spread evenly across the three classic films, with a brief tutorial based around the opening scenes of Raiders of the Lost Ark giving way to the halls of Barnett College, which is used as a central hub. From here you can access whichever of the movies you wish, playing them in whatever order takes your fancy.

  Whatever you choose, you’ll be in for a treat – and one that plays distinctly differently to LEGO Star Wars. LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures focuses less on the individual abilities of the different characters (though the woman characters can jump higher than the men), and more on solving puzzles with items you’ll find dotted around the gameworld, such as finding a shovel to dig up a cog, which you then put in a set of gears.

  Co-Op is key

  Instead, LEGO Indiana Jones differentiates characters more by what they can’t do than what they can, with the new phobia system; so when Indy for instance sees snakes he’ll freeze, necessitating you to switch to the other character – or get a second player to do what’s needed, which despite some decent computer AI, is far more fun.

  It’s worth noting that the characters from the Indiana Jones films aren’t half as memorable as those from Star Wars, however, so there’s less novelty value overall, but LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures is still a great co-op game, and perhaps more thought-provoking with its puzzles than the past two LEGO titles.

  A bundle of joy, guaranteed to get kids gaming, adults whip-slinging and entire families playing together

  Sadly, it’s not a great online game. LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures lacks the networked co-op and competitive play of its older LEGO brothers, which is a big blow to its features set. Its own original unlockables, a LEGO City, Young Indy bonus level and race track designer, aren’t up to the same level of quality as the bonuses in Star Wars, while the fact that Indy’s characters aren’t as likeable, as mentioned above, makes unlocking all 60 of ‘em in LEGO Indiana Jones less rewarding than it was in the other LEGO games.

  Family fun

  If anything the LEGO games have been a bit of a victim of their own success – they’ve started at the very top with the perfect franchise in Star Wars, and as fun and irreverent as Indiana Jones is, it was always going to be hard for it to compete with George Lucas’ monster.

  That said, taken on its own merits LEGO Indiana Jones is still a bundle of joy, guaranteed to get kids gaming, adults whip-slinging and entire families playing together. There’s even more novelty with the Wii version’s gesture controls, and despite not being visual standard-setters, the next-gen versions have a shiny, angular style that it’s hard not to like. All in all, LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures is the perfect accompaniment to the new Indy movie, and a great credit to the talented folks at Traveller’s Tales.

  GAME's Verdict

  

  • Full of typical LEGO humour, polished platforming and charming cutscenes.
  • More inventive item-based puzzling than the LEGO SW games.
  • One of the best same-screen co-op games going.

  

  • No online play.
  • Not as memorable for setting or characters as LEGO Star Wars.
  • Unlockables not as inspired as the past two LEGO titles.

  Review by: Mark 'Not Snakes!' Scott
  Version Tested: Xbox 360
  Review Published: 06.06.08

  Published: 06/06/2008

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