Review: Lego Indiana Jones (Wii)
Review: Lego Indiana Jones (Wii)
You know, when I bought I Wii I was expecting to get tons of game play with it much like I did with my Gamecube, sad to say that just hasn't happened, beyond great games like Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime Echoes, and Super Smash Bros Brawl my tiny white system had been largely ignored this year, so when Lego Indiana Jones came out I decided to go with the Wii Version since I figured the versions wouldn't be too different from the versions released on the 360 and PS3, and it is $10 cheaper. Will Lego Indiana Jones live up to big pedigree left by the great Lego Star Wars games or should you wait and hope that Lego Batman is better?
Story :
Relive the Classic Original Indiana Jones movie trilogy, Raiders of the Lost Arc, Temple of Doom, and The Last Crusade, as told through the cuteness that only a company like Lego could provide, enjoy the classic tales along with some comedic twists on the venerable old series that will appeal to all ages as you romp through the story lines of all three films, which basically consists of 3 large missions to find artifacts before your opponents do using the justification that you aren't doing it for money like your rivals, but for the actual love of archeology and to have your work displayed in a museum to inspire future generations to do the same (which is why I felt that the movie Kingdom of the Crystal Skull failed since it broke from this tradition, but that is my opinion and deviates from this review so I will move on)
Graphics:
You know what this game looks good and as predicted it didn't look any better on the competing consoles, and to prove my point I have done a head to head with my copy of Lego Star Wars Complete Collection on the 360 for reference sake, and they look the same in almost every respect, for instance my friends had come over and saw that I was playing Lego Indiana Jones they were amazed that I was playing it on the Wii as it looked every bit as good as Lego Star Wars that I had been playing the week before, for some odd reason I really don't see why the graphics wouldn't be equivalent since Lego Star Wars came out in the last generation of game consoles originally. While I will admit that the graphical system on the Wii needed to have been better, games like Lego Indiana Jones are of the sort games that help justify the graphical decisions that Nintendo made when designing the console, since they always have chosen to go with a more family oriented approach when it comes to the look of their games by in large.
Music & Sound:
Did you like the Music to the Indiana Jones movies? If you did then you will be plenty happy with the music in Lego Indiana Jones since the music collection is exactly that of the original trilogy of games. Do you care if there isn't any voice acting; rather everything is pantomimed so you know what is going on, if this bothered you in Lego Star Wars well it is back so take this as fair warning. Personally I would have liked to see a bit of voice acting but I am cool with it since I was fine with it in Lego Star Wars, and it still works well with the source material here in Lego Indiana Jones, I just hope that this changes for Lego Batman, since that could get confusing fast, especially since Batman is normally narrative driven, that and I really would like to hear Kevin Conroy as Batman again, or even Adam West for that matter depending on the approach they want to take with that game.
Control & Game play:
If anyone out there played the Lego Star Wars games on the Gamecube then you know what to expect here, that is right no limb flailing involved or pointing at the screen just sit back relax and play like you would have with a Wave bird controller on my Gamecube. Though to be honest I ended up playing a lot more lazily than normal since the nun chuck attachments cord allowed me to sit back in probably one of the most slovenly positions I have ever played a game in which is cool especially for a lazy weekend at home in front of the boob tube playing video games and eating junk food which is how most of us gamers play games (admit it, you know you do), it is a shame then that if you still own a Gamecube controller that you can't use it to play the game, since the play style is exactly the same, and could have been easily converted to the old controller as well.
Design & Fun Factor:
I think by now that all of you have noticed that I have been comparing Lego Indiana Jones with Lego Star Wars, and for good reason since this game is essentially Lego Star Wars with an Indiana Jones Facade, which is not entirely a bad thing considering that the Lego Star Wars games were pure gold in their simplistic yet engaging game play, and that is every bit present with Lego Indiana Jones and while many of the fundamentals were different I found my self as sucked into Lego Indiana Jones ever bit as much as Take 2's previous attempts with the Lego series of games, my biggest worry is that the series of games may start to dilute it's self with continued usage (or over usage since there are 2 Lego games out this year) of the play mechanics, and since I love the games I would hate to see the experience start to get stale, but that has nothing to do with this game or its design, and as it stands Lego Indiana Jones is still a ton of fun for just about everyone one and anyone will have a blast playing this game
This game is a great diversion from the normal glut of games that have appeared on the Wii thus far, and would be a welcome addition to any collection, and since it is a full $10 cheaper on Wii than on the 360 and PS3 why not give it a play though on the Wii. Lego Indiana Jones is good enough for a Thumbs up!
Lego Indiana Jones (Wii):
Pros:
Fun game play
Good graphics
Good music
Fun for the whole family
Cons:
Formula is starting to feel a little old
No voice acting yet…..
Can't use Gamecube controllers