Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues [E10+]

I've been a big fan of all the Lego games, so my son & I were excited to pick up this one when it first came out. After playing it to about 85% completion, I have to say that overall this one is a pretty big letdown.

The format of the previous games has been pretty much the same - there's an overall hub that serves as the central area for the game. From there, levels are grouped together by story (about 5-6 levels for each movie/storyline). Each level contains a variety of hidden areas and secrets that can be accessed as the player opens new characters in the game, adding to the level's replay value.

That philosophy seems to have been rethought for this game, and not for the better. Instead of one hub, there are 6 - one for each of the 1st three movies, and three for Crystal Skull. The hub is a giant area where you can locate new characters and vehicles, and access the story and bonus levels. The hubs are fairly involved, and are set up the same way the levels were in the previous games (obtaining a new character lets you use their new ability to access a new part of the hub). The hubs are pretty well designed. My one complaint is that almost every new character remains in the area where you first purchased them, so remembering where to find the one you need can be difficult. Also, some of them are in very far-flung locations, so it can literally take about 5 minutes of just walking/driving the entire way across the hub to find the character with a wrench (for example), and then going all the way back across the hub to the entrance of the level that you need him for. I don't know who came up with that, but it's a TERRIBLE idea and a boring chore.

The levels themselves have been simplified WAY down. There are no secrets, there are no hidden areas, there is no reason to play any of them through more than once. Only the most rudimentary thought seems to have gone into each one. Gameplay is still the same as it ever was, and it's enjoyable, but the level design leaves a LOT to be desired. Generally, an entire bonus level will consist of one puzzle - for example, use the shovel to dig up a spear, throw the spear into the hole and use it to climb up to a ledge. Hit a switch with the whip and you're done!

The story levels too are much shorter than the levels in previous games. As an example, anyone who has played the first Lego Indiana Jones game will probably remember the mountain level from Raiders of the Lost Ark. That level begins in Marion's bar where you have to defeat a boss while the bar burns down, then moves into the mountain passes, then to a mountain temple, and finally to an army outpost. The equivalent level in this newest installment has players beating a boss in Marion's bar and THAT'S IT! That is the whole level. Each story level can be completed in roughly 5 minutes, and has no replay value at all - no secret areas to discover or any reason to come back to it again.

My final issue with this game is that it freezes on a fairly consistent basis - we've had it lock up about 15 times now, in all different areas, though the Raiders hub tends to get it the most. From poking around on forums, this seems to be a fairly common complaint.

If you're a fan of the Lego games, it's worth playing this one - it's still fun, even if it is a bit lacking in comparison to previous ones. However, I am keeping my fingers crossed that they do not retain this format for the Lego Harry Potter game coming out next year.

My boyfriend and I who are pretty big gamers picked up this game while taking a vacation as something to do while sitting at home, away from work. We are also big fans of all the Lego Games and have really enjoyed playing each game.

If you've played the first Indiana Jones then you know how it's set up. However with the 2nd installment things have changed. One brilliant change is that when you're playing in two player mode and one player wants to wander off without the other, it turns into a split screen allowing you to roam as far as you want away from the other player. In the first Indiana Jones you were stuck with each other and could only travel through the levels together never able to branch off. This is great until you try and do a vehicle challenge, then I would suggest having one of the players drop out. Driving/Flying around a level in split screen mode is almost impossible since the split screen moves with the player making it difficult to see checkpoints you need to hit to complete the race.

Also, if you've played the first one you might be disappointed in the amount of material in this game. While there are more levels, it seems to focus more on Bonus challenges than the material from the movies. The Movie-Levels are drastically shorter and there aren't very many of them. There are also 10 bonus levels in each stage that are quite simple and easy to solve. You also lose the ability to switch between characters once you've acquired them during game play. You get the characters by beating challenges and if you discover you need a certain character you have to go find them. It's frustrating at times.

Like other reviewers have said, this game freezes and glitches often. We played it (and beat it) in a week and had the game freeze on us several times losing all unsaved data before the freeze. There were also times where a vehicle was lost and did not regenerate in the correct spot or come back at all.

Considering we still have unfinished missions/challenges on the first Lego Indiana Jones shows that this new updated version doesn't measure up to the first one but the game is still fun. I would say to rent this game instead of purchasing it since it's much easier and simpler than it's predecessor.

I have a fairly extensive library of Xbox 360 games including all the LEGO games (except LEGO Rock Band). These games include the more popular titles including Gears of War, Halo, Call of Duty, Bioshock, etc, but my collection also includes a fair amount of what some people call childrens game or party games such as Viva Pinata Party Animals. I don't obsess over achievements in my games as long as I can enjoy them and finish them (not for points, just the campaigns/missions). As a matter of fact, my only games to 1000G comletion are Fusion Frenzy and Disney-Up (many other games in the 500-900 gamerscore range). The only reason to provide this background is to show that I am fairly open-minded when it comes to playing games and getting enjoyment out of it.

Having said all that, I can safely say this is about the worst game I have ever played in my 30+ years of gaming and of my 150+ Xbox 360 retail and arcade games. I'll put aside the lockups for now since that has been covered by other reviewers. My main problem with this game is the difficulty and poor design. I have used YouTube, online walkthroughs and I even have the Prima official guide and yet there are still many areas of the game I can't open, can't access, can't finish, etc. I was making a mental list of all the areas I had problems with so I could call out specifics in my review but the list got too big! One example that comes to mind is Kingdom of the Crystal Skull III. I was able to access the temple through story mode since it was a linear path but for the life of me, I can't get back to the temple to complete the missions/events Treasure Trail and Tie-Up High Up. It should not be this hard. Once you get into the missions, they are pretty easy (especially with a guide and cheats enabled) but to spend literally hours finding places is just not reasonable.

Another issue I have is the requirements to start a mission. This is not the same as the requirements to play a mission as that part is automatic. For example, let's say you have a guy with a sword unlocked but you are not in control of him. To start mission "x", you have to cut something with the sword. Where is he? Just roaming around the map somewhere.....could take a very long time just to find him in these new hubs. Because of issues similar to this, I am unable to complete the Temple of Doom and Crystal Skull III hubs. For those who have played the game, yes....I have checked where I unlocked the character I need.

Another issue is some of the levels. In particular, the balloon popping missions. Who designed these? Forest Forage is particularly brutal.

Finally, there are the achievements. As mentioned above, I don't need to get 100% or 1000 G to enjoy a game but I DO like obtaining achievements for myself. What this game does is link a lot of achievements together. For example, if I am missing one mission out of sixty-six, I would miss 25 G for the bonus level, 75 G for all the artifacts, 100 G for completing to 100% and depending on the level, anywhere from 10-40 more points for missing something i.e. a vehicle. That to me is a pretty big penalty for missing 1 of 66 missions.

I have gotten a lot of mileage out of the game so far and will continue to play for a short while longer - because parts of it are still fun. However, when I review a product, I think comparison to previously existing product is important and in that respect, this game fails miserably.