Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures review

After a hiatus of almost two decades, Indiana Jones recently returned to seek out The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, but his latest adventure failed to reprise the same level of excitement as his earlier cinematic exploits in the 1980s.

It's lucky then that Traveller's Tales has focused on the fedora-wearing hero's classic adventures for its latest Lego-branded game.

Each of the three classic films is broken down into six chapters that recall the trilogy's most memorable scenes, from the jungle temple in Raiders Of The Lost Ark, riding mine carts in the Temple Of Doom, and culminating in the trials of God to reach the final resting place of the Holy Grail.

Liberties have been taken with the certain scenes in order to incorporate puzzles into an interesting level structure, rather than replicating the film sets exactly. Your brain won't have to work too hard to solve each problem as the difficulty level is firmly geared towards a more casual audience and, of course, children, but it's a comfortable game to dip into.

After steadily progressing through a stage or two, you'll find that you want to save the next one for another day. Lego Indy is best savoured in small chunks because, enjoyable as it is, the gameplay mostly consists of unvaried jumping between platforms and puzzle solving. There's some variation from this theme in the form of a couple of vehicle-based levels, including a motorbike chase and a brawl on top of a truck - staple ingredients for any good Indy adventure.

The Lego Star Wars games were able to draw upon a more diverse range of creatures and settings, but Indy's world is no less appealing despite a more restrictive set of locales such as lost temples, desert encampments and jungles. The adventures are decorated with humorous cut-scenes, comical cross-franchise references and a cast of endearingly rendered characters, such as the feisty Marion Ravenwood, to keep you coming back for more.

Characters communicate with short guttural sounds, entertaining facial expressions and surprisingly effective animation that will warm even the most cynical heart, and Lego Indy takes on Nazis with no less gusto than his cinematic equivalent. Sometimes he'll drop them to the floor with a flying kick, flip them over his shoulder onto their backs, or trip them up with a crack of his whip. Fighting makes a decent contribution to the game, but it's outweighed by steadily-paced puzzles that form the bulk of the game.

Many revolve around locating keys and missing mechanisms, digging up piles of Lego bricks, and assembling useful objects. You'll also need to keep in mind each character's skills and neuroses, and switch between them to accomplish specific tasks.

Puzzles are neither too taxing on the mind nor your dexterity, instead focusing on steady progress by unlocking doors, using Indy's whip to swing across chasms in a single press of a key, and there are plenty of visual clues on how to progress along a path. This aspect lends itself much better to Indy's world than Lego Star Wars, and the gameplay is a better fit for a character famed for exploring trap-ridden temples.

Progression is fairly linear, though you have the option of replaying each stage in Free Play mode. Here you can use the additional characters that are unlocked during Story mode, some of which can reach previously inaccessible areas. A little more freedom to be inventive, rather than having fixed solutions, would add further to the replayability. Compulsive gamers will want to amass the small Lego studs that serve as the game's currency to purchase other unlockable features at Barnett College, the game's hub area.