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LEGO Indiana Jones Preview (PS3)

Hollywood's most famous archaeologist meets LEGO in this imaginative retelling of the popular trilogy.

by Chris Buffa on Friday, February 22, 2008

Just in time for the May 22 release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull comes LucasArts' newest adventure, LEGO Indiana Jones: The Videogame. The game chronicles Indy's adventures through the first three films, as he goes for the Ark of the Covenant, among other artifacts. Yet despite all the booby-traps and bad guys out to get him, the game features colorful humor that'll make it appealing to gamers of all ages.

If he takes it, chances are good he'll get chased by a giant rock.Click to see more screenshots from the game.

Similar to previous LEGO games, namely LEGO Star Wars, Indiana Jones sees you exploring detailed worlds constructed from LEGO pieces. During the course of your adventure, you'll break containers, plants and other objects to collect studs, solve simple puzzles by constructing things using various parts and engage in some sweet co-operative play with a friend or the computer. Furthermore, you can expect tons of characters from the Indy universe, including his dad, Sallah, Marcus Brody, Belloq, Mola Rahm and countless others, and the odds are good that you'll get to play as them all. Developer Traveller's Tales even spices things up by including characters' phobias, so expect Indy to be afraid of snakes and be unable to proceed past certain points, while his dad will steer clear of rats.

As you complete the journey, you'll visit numerous locales from the films, exploring the temple at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark and traveling to India to eventually recover the lost Sankara Stones. Whether or not we'll see LEGO hearts pulled from characters' chests remains to be seen, though LucasArts has confirmed that the chilled monkey brains from Temple of Doom will pop up.

Lego Indiana Jones Screens

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures takes the fun and creative construction of LEGO and combines it with the wits, daring and non-stop action from the original cinematic adventures that enthralled audiences everywhere (Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade).

Lucas Arts

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures takes the fun and creative construction of LEGO and combines it with the wits, daring and non-stop action from the original cinematic adventures that enthralled audiences everywhere (Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade).

Lucas Arts

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures takes the fun and creative construction of LEGO and combines it with the wits, daring and non-stop action from the original cinematic adventures that enthralled audiences everywhere (Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade).

Lucas Arts

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures takes the fun and creative construction of LEGO and combines it with the wits, daring and non-stop action from the original cinematic adventures that enthralled audiences everywhere (Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade).

Lucas Arts

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures takes the fun and creative construction of LEGO and combines it with the wits, daring and non-stop action from the original cinematic adventures that enthralled audiences everywhere (Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade).

Lucas Arts

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures takes the fun and creative construction of LEGO and combines it with the wits, daring and non-stop action from the original cinematic adventures that enthralled audiences everywhere (Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade).

Lucas Arts

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures takes the fun and creative construction of LEGO and combines it with the wits, daring and non-stop action from the original cinematic adventures that enthralled audiences everywhere (Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade).

Lucas Arts

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures takes the fun and creative construction of LEGO and combines it with the wits, daring and non-stop action from the original cinematic adventures that enthralled audiences everywhere (Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade).

Lucas Arts

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures takes the fun and creative construction of LEGO and combines it with the wits, daring and non-stop action from the original cinematic adventures that enthralled audiences everywhere (Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade).

Lucas Arts

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures takes the fun and creative construction of LEGO and combines it with the wits, daring and non-stop action from the original cinematic adventures that enthralled audiences everywhere (Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade).

Lucas Arts

Combat works very similar to other LEGO games, as you build things, beat up bad guys (in this case, Germans, though they're not labeled as Nazis) and solve simple puzzles, some of which require you to position another character to open a door and what not. But instead of slicing enemies with a light saber, ala LEGO Star Wars, you'll hit them with Indy's whip and blast them with his pistol.

At this point, the game looks cute but we're not rushing to play it. For starters, Traveller's Tales changed content from the films. In particular, the opening scene in Raiders annoys us, as Indy, instead of carefully stepping across a booby-trapped floor en route to the golden idol, now jumps across floating platforms. We get it. Traveller's Tales wanted something a bit more gamer friendly for younger players, but we're not ok with them altering content, especially with such a well-respected trilogy.

In addition, it doesn't appear that the game does anything vastly different from its Star Wars predecessors. It looks better, thanks to better use of the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 hardware, but you're still going through the same mechanics and they're growing tired.

Despite our issues, we'll still line up the play the game when it releases alongside the film in a desperate attempt to get our Indiana Jones fix. We just hope there's some substance to the potentially monotonous gameplay.