7/10 Did you enjoy Lego Star Wars? If so then you will enjoy this.
GRAPHICS 8/10
This game looks quite good on the Nintendo DS, it looks quite similar to the Lego Star Wars titles and compared to the console version there is not a great deal of difference and even on the DS it looks visually similar to Lego Star Wars on NGC/PS2 but with much lower resolution. Also the video qality between levels is much lower but this is to be expected from a DS game. Overall the graphics deserve a solid 8 out of 10 as they look very nice and the visual style suits the console very well the only minuses are full motion video quality.
+similar graphics to console version
+good graphical style
-low resolution
STORY 6/10
Hopefully you should know the story, It follows the storyline of the original three Indiana Jones films from the 1980s. The game, like Lego Star Wars, seems to assume you already know this storyline as the script for this game can be described as minimal at best. That is to say there are no lines of dialogue in the game what-so-ever. Instead there are video spots in the game where the lego characters attempt to convey the story through body language and travellers tales have added their own comic twist, which is always a welcome addition.
+Brilliant telling of a brilliant story
+Comedy simply adds to the story
-Assumes your pretty well versed in the story already
-No dialogue what-so-ever
LONGEVITY 8/10
There are a lot of unlockables to gain by purchasing them from the in game shop in the college, not many of these really do much, there are a bunch of unlockable characters and some hidden extras (which are still hidden on my game as I keep blowing my in game money, or lego studs, on unlockable characters) however if this is like the unlockables in Lego Star Wars they will certainly help to prolong the game. It does sometimes feel as if one way they've attempted to prolong the game is with even more pointless collection aspects, but if you're the kind of person who enjoys replaying levels over and over in order to get every single last treasure map and artifact. Perhaps they put this in to compensate for the fact that you have unlimited lives so can spend all the extra times exploring every single area with every character.
+Plenty of things to collect
+Plenty of things to spend your ingame money on
-Perhaps simply too many things to collect making it a little tedious
GAMEPLAY 6/10
The game is a action platformer in the style of Lego Star Wars and to a lesser extent a kind of child friendly Devil May Cry style game. They've added some more touchscreen and microphone support which was kind of lacking in the Lego Star Wars games, this all works quite well and also if you're not really wanting to use the touchscreen you can still use the buttons and so not ever need to use the touchscreen at all. As with the Lego Star Wars games there are an awful lot of places the get lego studs which are used to buy unlockables and hints from the college in the game however there are new ways of getting these from all the surroundings which is improved from Lego Star Wars, where it took hours to finish a room as you would need to use force powers on absolutely everything so in this title there are quicker and easier ways to get these studs which make the game a little less tedious than previous offering. One thing that has always bugged me is the fact that you have an unlimited amount of lives so it does not matter how many times you fall off a cliff or get stung with poison darts you will always come back almost precisely where you left off. This is presumably for the younger audience they expect to be into the Lego francise but for any older games this can feel a little patronising and makes it a bit too easy.
+More and intuitive touchscreen/mic support
+A little less tedious than previous offering from Travellers Tales
-Still takes absolutely ages to finish one room due to constant stud gathering
-Unlimited lives make this title a little too easy
FUN 7/10
This game can be pretty fun in short bursts but does get a bit tedious if played for extended periods of time. It's not really the game where you sit and go through all the levels but is more catered towards going though a level or two every once in a while. You quickly get bored of collection millions of lego studs as the game makes it feel almost mandatory and as it is practically impossible not to complete makes you feel like you haven't really accomplished anything unless you're hunting down your millionth lego stud of hundreth artifact. That said in the short bursts of play it is definately a fun game with all the humour and lego style make it an overall fun experience.
+Humour makes it a fun experience
-Becomes tedious if played for too long at a time
OVERALL 7/10
A pretty fun game and generally more of the same from the creators of Lego Star Wars, if you enjoyed Lego Star Wars you will enjoy this in the exact same way that if you did not like lego star wars you won't like this.
Better Than: Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (DS)
Not As Good As: Devil May Cry (PS2)