Steven Spielberg and Traveller's Tales are in a similarly tough place, both fine purveyors of last-gen thrills struggling to find relevance in the modern day. Indy 4 showed the director selling out his brand of practical derring-do for a handful of CG monkeys. Tales too try something glitzier, and under the extra weight their creaky design shudders like Harrison Ford's knees.
Dropping the traditional six level per film structure, a new format is revealed. Plots are now told through the hub itself, placing key incidents in their own separate levels. Crystal Skulls carries most of the weight - three of six hubs - which is a shame, as it doesn't have enough action needed to carry one. Visiting Oxley's cell, a café kerfuffle, boarding a train. Yes, these events certainly happened in Crystal Skulls, but they're hardly iconic Indy fare.
Lego Indiana Jones 2
Official trailer
0:58A trailer for the upcoming sequel
Lego Indiana Jones 2
Official trailer
0:58A trailer for the upcoming sequel
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Many stages are two or three minutes long, focusing on individual Lego disciplines: building, fighting, platforming, driving, etc. As gameplay mechanics these were never designed to carry whole levels, but gelled pleasantly enough as a lightweight gang.
Pulled apart you realise how mind-punchingly repetitive each actually is. Using character A on interactive thing B isn't puzzle design and platforming remains a depth perception nightmare. Combat is button hammering - new whip techniques negated by the infinite lives policy.
Of course, if you've made your peace with the technical flaws in past Lego games there's no revelatory badness to throw you. Fall into the stop-start flow and you're soon overcome with soothing waves of studs and a ludicrous volume of trinkets to feed any sufferer of Lego OCD. Considering that individual hubs pack in more play than most kid's fare offer in their entirety, it feels downright mean-spirited to write these last two paragraphs. But if the stud fits, and all that. No, for you and us, only the new level creator offers an authentic gamer thrill.
Comprehensive enough to produce levels fit for the main game (five in each hub), the tool is thrown together with immense charm. Rather than pilot some disembodied god hand you physically move furniture using Lego miniatures - the theory being, stages designed on foot can naturally be completed on foot. A sharply constructed toy, it goes some way to reminding us why Lego games ensnared us in the first place.
The last movie was a confusing mish mash of events with old old Ford unconvincingly trying to look hip fast and youngish.
The above poster said it better than I ever could.
'Oh dear'
Only positive thing I remembered from the movie was when the spaceship rose through the ground, rocks flying around then stopping and all.
Just like Transformers 2, too much and too confusing. 'Is this the climax, oh wait, is this the climax, no this must be the climax', only waiting for the final climax, so that you know the movie is over.
I agree that Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull is actually a massively underrated movie, and people willing to complain about "CGI this, that and the other" are simply using a weak point to disregard an excellent film.
What about the filling-in of the back story with regards to WW2? How about Indy's treacherous "friend", Mac? What about the long-awaited return of Marion, and the fact that it's the first true Indy sequel, what with being the only Indy flick so far to back-reference previous films?
The first three, by Harrison's own admission, were B-movies. Crystal Skull was finally an A movie.
As for Lego Indy 2, it's okay, but I feel a little cheated. I wanted proper levels, and this is closer to a mini-game compilation. For shame. If the previous lego games were As, this is a B.
WW2? Wasn't that done a million times better in Last Crusade? Long awaited? Marion does bugger all in Crystal Skull. The only reason she's there is so his kid has a mother that isn't a complete stranger. CGI isn't a weak excuse, it's just one of the horrible, horrible mistakes.
George Lucas will never make a good film again because he thinks special effects constitute good film-making. Jar Jar Binks. And why did we need aliens? With spaceships? Surely Atlantis would have been better. Or ANYTHING ELSE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD.
Sorry, but there's no defending that film. They didn't even get the music in the right places. The Indiana Jones music! It's not hard! Just play it when Indy does something exciting!
@darry: I totally agree, CGI doth not constitute a gd film (2012 anyone?). The sooner Lucas & Spielberg understand that the better.
A film adaption of Indy and the Fate of Atlantis would be AWESOME. That was how to make an Indy game (anyone know wot's going on with the Fountain of Youth game?).
This game is as worthy as Crystal Skull. I loved the Lego franchise of games but Indy 2, seriously, wtf?
My biggest complaint with the fourth film was that I never really got the sense that Indy was doing anything himself. Hell, he get's maybe one fight scene where he's allowed to be on his own for a few minutes and not pestered by the mad professor/ annoying sidekick/ ex lover/ Ray Winstone/ CGI gopher.
Anyone - and I mean ANYONE - who truly believes the 4th IJ movie is actually better that any of the first three is as f**king retard. No other way to say it.
Crystal Skull was clichéd, cheesy, and - even in the fantasy world of Indy - made no freaking sense. The script was s**t, Harrison phoned it in, and even the potential saving grace of some sexy CG wasn't even that good! Way to destroy a franchise George and Steve.
A bloody awful shambling car-crash of a movie. If you really enjoyed it more than the earlier versions, then you're either 1) seven years old or 2) a mental.
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Terrific level creator
