Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures

The game follows the storylines from the original, first three Indiana Jones films: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom and Last Crusade. However, the developers of the game divided the story from the movies into six chapters each in the game, with each a story and a freeplay mode as in the traditional Lego gameplay. The story mode must be played first, restricting the player to use preselected characters, from the real scenes in the movie, in the game, with the option to use any other (unlocked) character during the freeplay mode. These characters can then be used to interact with the environment that other characters sometimes cannot do during story mode to gain new items or find new doorways, puzzles or game collectibles.

Barnett College, Dr. Jones' teaching location from Last Crusade (earlier known as "Marshall College" in the prequels) serves as the main hub of the game, and different maps on the walls allow access to each of the missions, extra unlockable content and options are found in the different classrooms. Once a player chooses a mission, a cutscene begins that introduces the section of the movie being played. Notable scenes have been recreated from the movies, such as the memorable boulder escape and the battle on the rope bridge, or Walter Donovan choosing the incorrect Holy Grail.

There are 82 (standard) playable characters in total, 23 characters which are given to players in the story, and 59 characters which may be purchased from the in-game Library. Then, there are the two custom figures which can be made by the players, and the bonus character Han Solo (much like Indiana Jones was a playable character in Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga). A few other characters can also be played with the "Secret Characters" extra on, only playable on certain levels (such as Santa Claus in "Into the Mountains" or Dancing girl 2 in "Shanghai Showdown".) Each character featured in the game has his/her own unique ability, which are required to access new areas when replaying a level in Free Play mode. Lego Indiana Jones allows players to mix and match parts to customise characters and make their own creation like "Belloq Jones" or "Colonel Toht".

LEGO Indiana Jones also allows players to customise characters and make their own creation. In addition, players can play as their custom creation in the Art Room to test their character's abilities. However, all custom characters have the Whip ability, which may clash with their custom character's appearance.

New features were added to the gameplay from the Lego Star Wars series, such as the ability for the player to interact with objects in their environment, e.g. bottles, swords and guns. Players can also build and ride vehicles. The game also incorporates character phobias from the films; for example, if Indiana Jones sees a snake, Willie sees a spider or Henry Jones Senior or Elsa see a rat, they will be frozen with fear and have limited movement capacity until the animals are either dead or out of range. Also, new melee attacks, such as the Whip snag (trips enemies), have been added.

It was initially reported that the game would allow up to four players in co-operative mode,[5] but this later turned out to be a miscommunication.[6] While four characters may be visible on the screen, only two can be controlled by players. On the Nintendo DS, up to eight characters may be in the party, but only two may be visible on the screen. Neither the Xbox 360 version nor the PlayStation 3 version support online play through Xbox Live or the PlayStation Network. The Xbox 360 version is backwards compatible with Xbox One.[7]

The music from the films was used in this game, but also some music was extracted from The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles e.g. "Attack of the Hawkmen" or "Daredevils of the Desert" or "Masks of Evil", etc. They were played in various scenes such as when Indy and Satipo approached the temple in "The Lost Temple", or when Indy, Willie and Short Round were preparing the mine cart in "Escape the Mines" or when Indy finds the true Grail in "Temple of the Grail". The original trilogy soundtrack would be used in Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues.

Reviews for the game were generally positive. IGN gave the game an 8/10 for the Nintendo DS, PS2 and the Wii[10][11] 8.4/10 for the 360 and PS3 and 7.7/10 for the PSP.[12] which is similar to the Lego Star Wars games. X-Play gave it a 4 out of 5, saying that it has everything that a fan of the films could want, but it is not as fun as Lego Star Wars.[13] Official PlayStation Magazine UK gave the game an 8/10, praising the immersive nature of the game, and praising the series' choices of source material. Official Nintendo Magazine gave the game 82%, just about the same as Lego Star Wars, saying it was very similar and not much has improved. Also, the magazine stated that, "In general, this game could possibly be one of the greatest games ever." Game Revolution gave the game B+, citing that the game, designed by fans of the movie series, provides "addictive game play" with "tons of replay value."[14]

The Nintendo DS version of Lego Indiana Jones was nominated for two DS-specific awards from IGN.com, namely Best Action Game[15] and Best Local Multiplayer Game.[16] The Wii version has also been nominated for multiple Wii-specific awards by IGN, including Best Action Game[17] and Best Local Multiplayer Game.[18]

The game's Xbox 360 version received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),[19] indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom.[20] As of April 2009, the game has sold around 7.91 million copies combining sales of all platforms.As of May 2012, the game has sold over 11 million copies.

A sequel titled Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues has been released. It includes game levels for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) as well as redesigned levels for the other three movies among other new features.

• Official website