Tuesday 23 Sep 2008

You might have read about how great the PS2 version of this game was on another review on this very site, but I’m afraid the DS version got given the “Let’s squeeze some more money out of the consumer” treatment. With all the hype around the LEGO franchise I was expecting a lot more from this dismal title.

Think of LEGO Indiana Jones as a modern, not so well crafted, pseudo 2D Pandemonium game with no charm and puzzles thrown in that your three year old brother or sister could solve if they were blind folded while holding the DS upside-down. Did I mention that the platforming bits are useless?

Following all the other versions, this game takes you through all of the Indiana Jones movie franchises including “The Lost Ark,” “Temple of Doom” and “The Last Crusade.” The latest movie “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” has been excluded from the list; lets all hold thumbs that this game never sees the light of day on the DS. From the word “go” the menu system is just far too confusing.

Instead of following a classic style of browsing, it tries to be fancy by using Indiana Jones’ University, where he teaches at, to browse the menu by running into doors and then running to a certain part within a room to activate an option, extra or start a chapter. The thing is that you don’t even know where you are most of the time and thus just getting the game started is a mission all on its own. So, not a good start then.

Well, once getting through all that, setting up your options and being misguided through the building (I even ended up outside once, being lost) you will eventually find your way to the door that takes you to the first adventure, “The Lost Ark.” Oh, hang on! More doors? A door for every chapter in the game? Spare me!

This game just feels so ordinary and unoriginal. You get to hammer a button to beat up the enemies and once in a while, if you feel like adding some kind of depth to the battle system, you can use your whip to slap an enemy’s weapon out of their hand before beating them up by pressing that same button you did earlier. The puzzles work as follows: Find a lever – pull it, raised platform – stand on it, pile of LEGO pieces – press a button to build a solution…It’s just so straight forward and more boring than watching a modern Sonic the Hedgehog game.

What is surprising is that all the DS functionalities were used. To pull a lever you stand in front of it and stroke downwards on the touch screen to pull the lever. To extinguish fires you stand next to the fire and blow into your mic. Very nice little touches, but it is a pity that after the first chapter in “The Lost Ark” you will be doing the same thing for the rest of the game. There are elements where you use your side kick to access sections on a level that Indiana Jones cannot, but that too is very simple. This game is just exceptionally shallow.

Movie-licensed games have always had this problem surrounding them where you have amazing graphics and problems as those I explained above. Graphically this game is decent but not even these visuals will be able to convince you that you spent your money well. Everything is intact, but it just looks dated even if it is only trying to be a LEGO game.

The DS has some of the most amazing games available on the system with titles like New Super Mario Brothers, Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney and Soul Bubbles to name a few. There is absolutely no reason to waste your money on this title.

If you desperately want to play an Indiana Jones game then I would recommend that you rather pick this up for your home console. If you enjoy the LEGO franchise then buy the real thing. In the case that you dearly would like to purchase a DS game then there are many other titles to choose from over and above this rubbish. Let’s hope that this is “The Last Crusade.”

Pros: Boring, Far too easy; repetitive.

Cons: At least the touch screen and mic are put to use.

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Contributor:	Dawid

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