[Note: This review may reveal a few plot points in the Indiana Jones franchise. If you would prefer not to have any part of the story spoiled, I would recommend not reading this review. Also, you should be ashamed for not having seen the films.]

Legos are awesome. If there is one toy that defined my childhood, it would be Legos. That’s why I was immediately attracted to Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures. It seems like a perfect equation: Legos + Indiana Jones = Adorable fun. Obviously released to coincide with the newest theatrical sequel in the George Lucas franchise, is the blocky version of the trilogy awesome or did I choose… poorly?

Lego Indiana Jones isn’t the first of its kind. Developer Traveller’s Tales has previously worked on the hugely successful Lego iterations of the Star Wars trilogies. Lego Indiana Jones follows the same basic template as the first two games. You play through all of the famous scenes of the films, but (big surprise) everything is made out of Legos. The graphics certainly won’t wow you, but the characters animate well and the Lego items seem meticulously constructed. Most of the environments are destructible, and constructing items out of the bricks is a large aspect of the gameplay. It’s definitely a standard platformer, but in a generation devoid of them, it’s a welcome break from all of the FPSes and RPGs.

The game permeates with a great sense of whimsy. All of the characters of the film are faithfully recreated as are important setpieces. The pantomime cutscenes are actually better off for their lack of dialogue, and are utterly charming. The faithfulness to the trilogy is only compromised once, when the Knight of the Grail in Last Crusade becomes an enemy to Indy as he tries to choose the correct Grail, completely changing the nature of the character. It’s also a bummer that there are no references to Nazism, but considering that target audience, it’s completely understandable.

On the subject of the game’s target audience, it shouldn’t surprise you that the game is incredibly easy. Gamers looking for a challenge need not waste their time with this kid-friendly game. It’s impossible to die, the platforming elements aren’t very difficult, and the game tells you exactly where to place parts. The problem with the puzzle elements is that some of them are not very obvious. For instance, one puzzle required finding three different crates in the environment. Two of them were no sweat, but the third was only available after destroying a specific truck. None of the other trucks gave any items, so I dismissed the rest as a waste of time and ended up running in circles for twenty minutes.

The control scheme was also a bit of a hassle. The game uses only the left analog stick and four face buttons. That means one button serves multiple functions. On the 360, the Y button is used to switch characters and to ride animals, which is frustrating when trying to hop onto an elephant sends you over to Willie Scott. Likewise, the X button is used to pick up objects and attack. I understand the need to simplify the controls for younger players, but the control scheme could still use a little work.

Lego Indiana Jones has a ton of longevity. Collecting artifacts for bonus levels, as well as stud pieces in order to purchase other playable characters will add hours onto the game’s playing time. While playing in Free Mode with any character to unlock secret areas is a treat, the unlockable characters are really digging at the bottom of the barrel. Why would I want to play as the castle butler who shows up for two seconds? Many of the 60 different characters are actually just costume swaps for Indy and his main cohorts.

The appeal of Lego Indiana Jones is to fans of the series. Those who have never seen the trilogy may not be able to follow the wordless cutscenes or get any of the self-referential jokes. If you love the movies, you’ll love the game, but if you have no idea who Short Round is, it will just appear as a standard platformer.

4/5