Aug 31, 2023, 23:44

Thu, 31 Aug 2023 23:44:42 +0000
legoindianajones, lego, adventure, mastodongaming, gaming, project365ong, project365, newplay

September 1, 2023 - Day 244 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 264

Game: LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Jun 3, 2008
Library Date: Nov 27, 2021
Unplayed: 643d (1y9m5d)
Playtime: 79m

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures is a Traveller's Tales LEGO game, which is [X] IP turned into a LEGO-based adventure game.

Looking at my remaining games; there are a lot of them, but many are sequels to games I've already played, or games like this, where it feels a bit like "If you've played one, you've played them all."

Therefore, I wasn't going to review any more LEGO games, I was just going to play it for a bit to see how it held up, which means I'm now reviewing it.

Traveller's Tales have been making this kind of LEGO game since 2005's LEGO Star Wars, and LEGO Indiana Jones was their first non-Star Wars IP-based LEGO game.

Time has been weird to it.

I grew up with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg as part of my movie lexicon. Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

As a child, I didn't think about the underlying themes in the same way I do now. Some of the tropes in the original movies haven't aged well; even in the 15 years between 2008 and 2023, it's hard not to think of most historical archaeology as stealing shit from people in other countries to put it on display in a museum.

That makes it harder to just relax and play.

But even putting that aside as much as possible, the game itself makes it hard to play.

Being 15 years old and still able to run in ultra-wide resolution is pretty impressive, but later LEGO games have refinements that are missing here.

I started the game and sat through the intro video and keyboard/mouse were set as primary control. I picked up the controller and attempted to play, and it immediately put the game into two-player mode. Get the controller set as primary controller, still can't get out of 2P.

Quit out, restart, sit through the same unskippable intro. Indy can jump over gaps using his whip. Get to a point that requires Satipo (the other character), Satipo keeps falling into a chasm instead of following. Thinking it's bugged, quit out, restart, sit through intro, same bug. Can't even complete the first level.

Google it.

If V-sync is off, the characters can't jump properly, which feels like a hall-of-famer for "weird game bugs".

Enable V-sync, sit through the unskippable intro again, I can finally move on.

Controls are a bit twitchy, and I die a lot from undefined edges where Indy doesn't bother grabbing on even when I'm mashing the button.

I finally clear the level (having lost most of my studs), and sit back.

If you REALLY like Indiana Jones, AND enjoy LEGO games, then you might get a kick out of LEGO Indiana Jones.

If you're just into LEGO video games, maybe play one of the newer, more refined iterations.

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures is (barely):

3: OK