Product Reviews

With the latest Indiana Jones movie disappointing many, Lego Indiana Jones reminds us how entertaining the original films were. It takes the most memorable scenes from the three movies and sets them in a Lego world full of brain-teasing puzzles and lashings of combat.

As well as letting you play through the finest moments from the original trilogy, the game regularly deviates from the plots, ensuring a copious amount of new content. Levels are packed with fun puzzles such as triggering doors or navigating traps, and many require

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you to use two characters in tandem.

The 60 playable characters range from Indy to the dastardly Major Toht. Each has special skills that you must use to surmount obstacles. Short Round can squeeze through small openings, while Indy's whip skills allow him to swing over ravines. Some characters have phobias, such as Willie's fear of bugs and Indy's terror of snakes, so you're forced to think carefully about each challenge.

Other key features include collecting Lego bricks (many of which are hard to reach or hidden) and battling enemies. Guns are sparse, so combat tends to focus on melee encounters. Characters can fight with their fists, spears, spades and spanners. Enemies are varied, if not very challenging, and range from giant spiders to oafish Nazis. While the melee combat is entertaining, it's also quite repetitive and a few more shootouts wouldn't have gone amiss.

Despite the lack of a combined mouse and keyboard control (forcing you to use a gamepad or the atrocious keyboard layout), Lego Indiana Jones is highly entertaining and perfect for the whole family, especially when played cooperatively.