Lego Indiana Jones is certainly the best of the Lego games so far, but for true Indy fans it doesn't quite hit the mark.
Maybe it's just me, but these little things are what bother me about Lego Indiana Jones, the latest adaptation of a trilogy from Traveler's Tales. You get the classic cinematic battles like the big bald guy vs. Indy running around an airplane, finally getting hit by the wing and broken into little Lego bits, the mine car chase, and even the final trials before reaching the grail. But some of the other levels don't make much sense.
Otherwise, Lego Indy is pretty solid. You start in Barnett College, like the cantina in Lego Star Wars, but unlike the cantina, Barnett is completely explorable, and all your various customization and content options are found by touring the college. You can see the clips from the game in the screening room, enter cheats in a classroom. Visit the mailroom to open your packages (extras like daisy chains and fast dig), the library to buy characters or the art gallery for the custom characters, and Indy's office holds a special secret that you need multiple characters to unlock.
The character abilities are nice. Not everyone comes equipped with a weapon, but you can pick up the weapons dropped by your enemies. This time, unless you are a specific character who always has a gun or blaster, after a few uses they will actually run out of bullets. If you die, you lose your weapon. The girls can jump higher than the guys, Willie can break glass with her screams, and Elsa and Henry always carry around scholar books so they can translate inscription pads. And of course, there's Indy and his whip. Which by the way, on the Wii, can be MOTION CONTROLLED. I played through one entire story before discovering THAT little gem, and then you can bet I was crackin that Wiimote like there was no tomorrow.
The levels themselves are predictable and fun, and like the previous Lego games have lots of extra areas and hidden items to find. Just playing through the levels as they are designed will get you a little more than 50% completion, the rest is done by free-playing each level with a multitude of characters with different abilities. Thuggee characters can activate statues. Metal can only be broken by characters with explosive weapons. You can only paddle a raft if you have a shovel, and Willie can break glass with her screaming. Did I mention that?
And that sort of humor is prevalent in the game, naturally. The cut scenes are cute and funny, if not a little excessive. It feels like there are significantly more of them than in Lego SW, and that they are a little long and encompass scenes I'm sure would have been fun to actually play. Still, the game is solid and enjoyable, with a great replay value and motivation to keep playing to earn extra levels like the scene with Young Indiana Jones from the beginning of Last Crusade.
Overall, a good game, a fun game, and definitely a family friendly game. For any Lego or Indiana Jones fans, it's definitely a blast. Maybe not as true-to-the movies as we might have hoped, but definitely worth checking out.