LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (PS3)

This is a great tongue in cheek lego replication of the three classic Indiana Jones original adventures, brought to us by Lucas Arts, the manufacturers of the ingenious Lego star wars.

Can be played in 1 player mode or 2 player mode and is fun for all the family enjoying humurous lego moments throughout.

Each chapter of the story has 6 levels where Indy embarks on an adventure along with the help of his friends (a total of 60) bringing unique abilities to each level to help him find treasure and artefacts, battle with his enemies and solve puzzles. Each character has the ability to build things, swim, climb and shimmy along rock faces, as well as the ability to turn their environment into weapons by picking up chairs to throw or guns to fire, along with many many more.

In each level you can break up lego and release coins and hearts to power up your character, and also reveal useful objects such as spades or spanners or lego that can be built into something to aid you in your quest. Collect treasure chests to build artefacts and mailboxes to unlock additional features. Completing each level unlocks freeplay which allows you to go back into the level as any character you like to retrieve additional treasure only accessible by certain characters.

"'About the adventures"'

1. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the lost ark
1. Lost Temple
Indiana begins his adventure in the South American Jungle in
search of a Golden Idol with his guide Satipo. Together they
solve puzzles and fight their way through traps as they make their
way to the lost temple of the chipuayan warriors where the idol is
resting. Indy attempts to replace the idol with another artifact of a
similar size and shape but just as it seems to have worked, the
temple begins to crumble all around them and they have to dash
out of the temple with a giant boulder in hot pursuit. It becomes
apparent when Indy and Satipo escape the temple and are
greeted by Rene Belloq, Indy's arch archeological rival and
forced to hand over the idol hat Satipo has betrayed Indiana.
Luckily Indy's friend Jock shows up and the two of them escape
in a nearby sea plane.

2. Into the Mountains,
After having returned home Dr Henry Jones (Indy) finds himself
back at Barnett college teaching his students, when he receives
a request to embark on a new adventure and to go in search of
the long lost ark of the covenant. Indy begins his adventure in
Nepal where he runs into his old love Marion who is in
posession of the headpiece of the staff of Ra, which has the
ability to reveal where the ark is hidden. indy and Marion find
themselves face to face with Major Toht who has secretly
followed Indy to Nepal and barely escape with their lives. They
leave and make their way into the Mountains.

3. City of Danger
After having escaped Nepal and travelling through the
Mountains, Indy and Marion go in search of their friend Sallah
who is located in Cairo. German Soldiers are still hot on their
heels and they are chased through the streets of Cairo. Indy
does his best but is unable to prevent Marion from being
captured by the German soldiers.

4. The Well of Souls
Indiana and Sallah continue on their adventure without Marion,
and stumble upon the resting place of the ark of the covenant
(the well of souls). As Sallah climbs back out of the well after
their discovery he finds himself face to face with Belloq who
once again take what indy has found - the ark. Indiana is still
down the well and Marion is thrown in with him as the Germans
place the stone lid back over the opening of the well.

5. Pursuing the Ark
After finding their way out of the well of souls Indiana and Marion
find themselves faced with having to fight their way through the
German camps in their attempt to locate the Ark and take it back.
Just as they find the Ark on a nearby transport plane, they are
faced with a very large, very scary looking German boxer who
has to be defeated before they can continue on their quest to
save the Ark from the Germans. Sallah shows up just as Indy
has defeated the boxer to help him catch up with the truck that is
now speeding away with the ark in tow. It's a race to save the Ark.

6. Opening the Ark
Once again, whilst Indy is attempting to take the Ark to safety,
German soldiers turn up in a German submarine, taking the Ark
and Marion along with it. Indiana is not captured and manages
to sneak his way onto the submarine as it heads back to a
German submarine base. Indiana cleverly disguises himself as
a German soldier in an attempt to escape with Marion, but the
pair are discovered by Belloq. Belloq opens the ark, but to his
disadvantage all manner of ghostly beings escape and scare
the Germans until they break apart with fear. Indiana and Marion
are now free to transport the Ark home.

2. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
1. Shanghai Showdown
As the title suggests, this time Indy's adventure begins in
Shanghai where he is attempting to exchange the urn of Hirachi
with Lao Che for a rare diamond. Indy is tricked by Lao into
drinking poison and gets sick fast. Lao demands the Diamond
back in exchange for the anti-dote. In this level Indy makes a
new friend, Willie Scott who helps him to deliver the diamond
back in exchange for the cure and escape the club. Outside
prepared with a getaway car is Indy's little friend short round who
helps them escape to the airport with Lao's henchman hot on
their heels.

2. Pankot Secrets
After having escaped to the airport, Indy Willie and Short round
find themselves on a plane out of Shanghai, but unfortunately for
them it belongs to Lao Che and the pilots bail out with the only
parachutes. Indy and his friends are forced to jump out of the
plane with only an inflatable raft to break their fall. Their fall is
broken by a soft snow patch on the side of the mountain and the
raft slides all the way down into an indian Village. It is here that
Indy is told about the sacred Sankara stones by the village elder
which have been lost along with children from the village. Indy,
Willie and Short Round agree to help the village and head off in
search of the Sankara stones and the missing children which
takes them to Pankot palace.

3. The Temple of Kali
The three friends stumble upon a secret passage inside the
palace after some investigation, and find themselves wandering
down below until they reach the Thuggee temple where the
Sankara stones are being kept. Willie is captured by the
Thuggee's and as well as retrieving the Sankot stones Indy and
Short round now have to rescue Willie and escape the Thuggee
temple.

4. Free The Slaves
After having successfully freeing Willie Indy and his friends
escape into the mines of the temple with the Sankara stones
and discover that this is where the missing children are. Short
round is captured by the Thugees as Indy and the gang try to free
the children and he needs to be rescued along with the rest of
the children. They are faced with a nasty gaurd who they have to
defeat before they can escape the mines through the mine cart
tunnel.

5. Escape the mines
The three friends manage to escape to the mine cart tunnels but
first have to build a couple of mine carts to aid them in their
escape. They jump in the carts and go whizzing through the
mines only to find themselves at a dead end. What do they do
now?

6. Battle on the Bridge
In a desperate attempt to stop the ever fast moving cart from
crashing into the dead end barrier after discovering that it has no
brakes, Indiana's quick thinking has him using his shoes as a
mine cart brake. They successfully stop the cart but have to
escape the river of water that has been released into the tunnels
by Mola Ram in an attempt to flush Indy and the gang out. The
only exit available to them is on the edge of a cliff, they manage
to climb their way to the top of the cliff and dash through the
jungle in a bid to escape the Thuggees. On approaching the
rope bridge Indiana and co come face to face with Mola Ram
and his thuggee gang on the other side of the bridge. Using the
stones Indiana manages to stop Mola Ram and they all make it
to the other side safely, with the stones that can now be returned
to the village.

3. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
1. The Crypt of Sir Richard
In this adventure Indiana is on a quest to find his dad, Henry
Jones senior, who he hopes will help him search for the holy
grail, along with his friends marcus brodie. Their search begins
in Venice where they team up with Dr. Elsa Schneider who takes
them to the main library. The diary of Indy's dad indicates that
this is where the crypt of sir Richard is secretly buried. X literally
marks the spot in the big library luring Indy and Elsa down
underneath the building as they enter into the secret crypt. They
make their way through the dark and dingy underground tunnels
to find the tomb of sir Richard. They leave the crypt and all of a
sudden find themselves being chased by the brotherhood and
embark on a speedboat chase throught the canals of venice.

2. Castle Rescue
After his boat runs into Trouble and he is rescued by Indy, Kazim,
A member of the brotherhood returns the favour and helps Indy.
Indy discovers that his dad is being held captive at Castle
Brunwald and heads off to rescue him. With Elsa's help they
break into the castle and find Indy's dad but Elsa betrays Indiana
and he too finds himself tied up alongside his dad. Another
tricky situation for the hero to get himself out of.

3. Motorcycle escape
Indiana and his dad find some motorbikes in a motorbike
garage and flee the castle on them with the german soldiers
following closely behind as they whizz through the German
countryside in their desperate attempt to make it in one piece to
the Zeppelin airfield.

4. Trouble in the sky
Indiana and Henry senior are discovered trying to escape
Germany on the Zeppelin and make their escape in a bi-plane
suspended from the Zeppelin instead. Indiana crashes into a
farm house and the father and son have to continue their
escape on the ground. German piolets are flying overhead
trying to stop them from escaping. Finally they make it to safety.

5. Desert Ambush
Indy's friend Marcus Brodie lost in the desert is captured by
German Soldiers while Indy and his dad are escaping Germany.
Indiana, Sallah and Henry senior head off in search of him and
in their travels come across the location of the holy grail. Indy's
dad also ends up being captured. Indy and Sallah attempt to
save both Marcus and Henry Senior but find themselves trapped
on top of an armoured personnel carrier as it speeds towards a
cliff edge. How will they ever get out of this one?

6. Temple of the Grail
The gang make their way to the Canyon of the crescent moon
where the holy grail is hidden. Indiana and Sallah make their
way through the canyon solving all manner of puzzles and
challenges along the way. Indy makes his way to the exact
location of the holy grail and comes face to face with its
gaurdian, who has been gaurding the grail until a worthy
successor arrives. Indy chooses wisely and saves his father but
finds that the grail cannot be taken from the Canyon and so it
has to be left behind while they escape and head for home once
again bringing them to the end of their adventure.

As can be seen from my description of the levels above it really is as though you are Indiana starring in your own version of these three classic original adventures. Great fun and a bit challenging I have to admit, at some bits you really have to think about what's happening and take a good look around to see what you can use to help you escape traps, solve puzzles and battle with your enemies. Provides hours of fun and the time really does fly by when you're playing this game. One of the great things is there are always new things to be discovered during freeplay. I think it may be quite some time before I've completed 100% so definately good value for money. Plenty of gameplay and loads of fun and entertainment for the whole family.