Critic & User Reviews
IGN Review of LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues
It seems that LEGO games will never stop coming out, despite the fact that after a good half-dozen major console releases and plenty of portable variants, the formula hasn't changed much. LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues is the latest release, and though it's also available on all the major consoles, the PSP and Nintendo DS versions of the game offer a completely different, and unfortunately worse, experience than on other platforms.
The basic formula is nothing new. You enter a chapter of the story, smash everything around you into bits, solve some simple puzzles (which usually involve moving objects around), collect a ton of LEGO studs and then go out and buy new characters, cheats and all that good stuff. At its heart, the core gameplay of running around and smashing everything is still entertaining to some degree, though as I alluded to at the start, we've played this scenario plenty of times already.
The issue with LEGO Indy 2 on the PSP and DS is that it's simply boring and the controls are very wonky. The level design is incredibly boxy, making for uninteresting environments to travel through, and as most of the areas are rather small, there's not a lot of exploring to do. While there are spots to come back and try again when you get specific characters (certain people can dig, climb, cut ropes, for instance), it's a very linear experience that really feels like it's just inching you along to the next area.
Worse though are the controls. Jumping isn't as responsive as it should be (there's a short pause between pressing the button and actually jumping), so some platforming sections can be rather annoying. In order to grab a rope and swing from it, you need to be spot on. Just being near it isn't good enough; you have to perfectly collide with it. Pushing objects is very hit-or-miss, and so on and so forth. It's just not nearly as polished and refined as it could, and should, have been.
Collecting secrets in LEGO Indiana Jones 2 is generally handled well, and while the unlockables list is much shorter than what you'll find in most console LEGO games (there are only nine red bricks to collect, for example), there is plenty of stuff to find. In order to unlock the challenges, which then in turn earn you golden hats (though only a portion of what's in the game), you first need to venture off and find map pieces. This tree-like system is kind of cool and handled well, though a lot of the secrets are delegated to areas outside of the main story. Still, it'll keep you coming back for a bit.
One welcome feature is that both versions feature local WiFi play for two players, though game sharing isn't supported so you'll both need copies of the game. It's nice to see it included here as that hasn't always been the case in the past.
©2009-11-20, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The basic formula is nothing new. You enter a chapter of the story, smash everything around you into bits, solve some simple puzzles (which usually involve moving objects around), collect a ton of LEGO studs and then go out and buy new characters, cheats and all that good stuff. At its heart, the core gameplay of running around and smashing everything is still entertaining to some degree, though as I alluded to at the start, we've played this scenario plenty of times already.
The issue with LEGO Indy 2 on the PSP and DS is that it's simply boring and the controls are very wonky. The level design is incredibly boxy, making for uninteresting environments to travel through, and as most of the areas are rather small, there's not a lot of exploring to do. While there are spots to come back and try again when you get specific characters (certain people can dig, climb, cut ropes, for instance), it's a very linear experience that really feels like it's just inching you along to the next area.
Worse though are the controls. Jumping isn't as responsive as it should be (there's a short pause between pressing the button and actually jumping), so some platforming sections can be rather annoying. In order to grab a rope and swing from it, you need to be spot on. Just being near it isn't good enough; you have to perfectly collide with it. Pushing objects is very hit-or-miss, and so on and so forth. It's just not nearly as polished and refined as it could, and should, have been.
Collecting secrets in LEGO Indiana Jones 2 is generally handled well, and while the unlockables list is much shorter than what you'll find in most console LEGO games (there are only nine red bricks to collect, for example), there is plenty of stuff to find. In order to unlock the challenges, which then in turn earn you golden hats (though only a portion of what's in the game), you first need to venture off and find map pieces. This tree-like system is kind of cool and handled well, though a lot of the secrets are delegated to areas outside of the main story. Still, it'll keep you coming back for a bit.
One welcome feature is that both versions feature local WiFi play for two players, though game sharing isn't supported so you'll both need copies of the game. It's nice to see it included here as that hasn't always been the case in the past.
©2009-11-20, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved