Games for Lunch: LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures

7/23/2008 10:39 PM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 3

Developer: Traveller's Tales
Publisher: LucasArts
Release Date: June 3, 2008 Systems: Nintendo DS (reviewed), every other system ever made.
ESRB Rating: E10+
Official Web site

0:00 I played the Wii version for a few hours at an absolutely wild July 4th party, so I think I know what to expect from this DS version.

0:01 "Indiana, f***ing Jones... Indianaaaaaa, mother-f***ing Jones!" Come on everyone, sing along with the title screen.

0:02 So I'm in control of Lego Indy in a three-piece suit, running around what looks like a university and being trailed by another suited guy with an umbrella. The only open door is "Raiders of the Lost Ark." At my college, the rooms had names like "101."

0:04 Seems I can also wander outside, whipping benches and such for little bits of LEGO gold and silver. Even the LEGO shrubs shatter to reveal coinage. One annoyance already: I can't seem to whip in midair.

0:05 With a tap and hold of the A button, the rubble from some destroyed lion statues can be rebuilt into... another statue! I get money for both the destruction and the rebuilding. What a racket!

0:06 "The Lost Temple" is the first level. A cut scene shows some grainy LEGO jungle natives shooting some grainy poison darts at a grainy LEGO Indy. A grainy sidekick falls off a grainy cliff. Did I mention the video is kind of grainy?

0:09 There's a nice line of LEGO coins showing the way down the jungle path. Plenty of shrubs and such to destroy for coins along the way, though it still seems a bit empty.

0:11 So I have to switch to controlling my sidekick character to dig up some treasure. The switching is easy enough, but shoveling means using my thumb to slide a shovel up from the touch-screen up to the top screen. I can't seem to do it without busting out the stylus. Unnecessary use of the touch-screen is the first cardinal sin of DS game design.

0:13 I can't seem to hurt my teammate directly, but I can push him over the edge of a cliff. He screams as he falls. Heh.

0:14 I need to use more unnecessary touch-screen controls to rotate a switch to raise a bridge. Grrr.

0:17 After solving a bunch of generic puzzles, it's the first enemy... a red LEGO jungle-dweller. My whip can disarm him, but not hurt him. I guess they don't want kids whipping each other in imitation? But punching is A-OK? OK, my theory needs work.

0:21 Barely one-third of an hour in and the gameplay is already getting extremely repetitive. The process tends to go something like this: Indy uses his whip to get somewhere; Indy builds something for his cohort to get the same somewhere. Repeat. The low-res graphics and relatively empty environs (especially compared to the console versions) aren't helping things. Luckily, destroying stuff for coins is as fun as ever.

0:23 Native fight update: Two at once! My cohort seems reluctant to help this time. Stupid AI.

0:24 "Blow out small torches by standing next to them and blowing into the microphone." ARGH! This is cardinal sin No. 2 for DS game design. I'll let it slide, though, because I just found a trophy. I like games that give me trophies...