➤ A brick treasure for Indy 🎮

Version tested: Xbox 360

For those who in the past have had the opportunity to try one of the games of the Lego series something, regardless of the type of license, this Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues it certainly won't be a surprise. Following the path already trodden several times, Traveller's Tales brings back on practically all platforms the winning formula inaugurated with Lego Star Wars almost five years ago. A few small changes to the setting of the levels and the game actions do not radically change the structure of the series but make it, if appreciated, even more pressing.

The second Lego Indiana Jones consists of 6 chapters. Three of these concern the latest film dedicated to the archaeologist personified by Harrison Ford, or "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", the other three are dedicated each to a film of the old Indy trilogy. To access the locked chapters you must first complete those available in the initial menu, consisting of a series of wooden crates that recall the one that contains the lost ark at the beginning of the new film. In addition to these there will also be a box for bonus levels and for the adventure editor, a simple tool to bring your "story" to life, by choosing the levels, the player characters, and the artifact to be recovered.

It feels like walking on cookies ...

Unlike past games, to access the levels of each chapter you have to complete some tasks / puzzles in the central map, which gradually unlock new accesses, new characters and new vehicles. If to complete the chapter it is probably necessary to play less than half of the levels available, to unlock everything, and therefore have access to the "Super Bonus" level, you will need to find a way to access each level and have the requirements to complete it.

At first it seems a bit complicated, also because the game is not clear enough on many of its aspects, but once you understand the structure you will only have to set the brain in motion ... and make assumptions. The levels of a chapter are divided into "campaign" and "bonus". The first are the essential ones to move forward in the story, the second ones are additional and unlock a treasure, which together with others, will allow you to build a useful tool to reach the final prize. Once completed, the campaign levels will have to be replayed as bonus levels themselves, with some minor variations. The diabolical mechanic that holds it all is that to unlock some levels you need to have certain characters (or vehicles), and to have certain characters you will need to have completed other levels, and many of these also require specific characters to complete. The Central Hub is a kind of interlocking game where you have to unlock everything step by step, without having the faintest idea of the order to follow. Furthermore, the characters and vehicles must be bought with the bricks collected during the levels by destroying the destructible backdrop or simply by passing over them. This brings us to the next step ...

Luck and glory, boy ... Luck and glory

The pivot on which it strengthens Lego Indiana Jones 2 it is undoubtedly that of collectibles. Tackling a level would not require too much effort, luckily it is littered with objects to be destroyed to make cash and receive the status of "Adventurer" once you have scrapped enough money (which is essential to reach 100% completion of the game). The more time you spend examining every inch of the level, the more money you will have to spend on our venal purposes. In addition to these treats, each central map hides 30 colored blocks, 10 red, 10 green, and 10 blue. The reds unlock cheats (such as the points multiplier), always to be bought at exorbitant amounts, the greens of the graphic effects as curious as they are useless, and finally the blues, allow you to speed up some operations such as excavation, construction and things like that. Those who for some reason find themselves immune to this tunnel of expenses will lose much of the attraction that the game has to offer, because the rest must be sought in the puzzle structure, certainly not least, and in the fights, these are indeed only one. pause between one search and another. In addition to the classic fist fight, Indy can use his whip, very useful for overcoming some points by shooting it against the holds or to collect and activate distant objects. A novelty compared to the past is that each character can use his own weapon by aiming directly at the areas of interest. By holding B a crosshair will appear that allows us, for example, to cut a rope, set a spear, or hit a target, all of which are necessary in resolving the level.

Xbox 360 achievements

Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues is a stingy game of points. To unlock the first objectives you will have to complete the chapters, one for each. Others will be unlocked once you have completed all the levels in the chapter and then completed the Super Bonus. In addition to these there will be some secrets and independent from the progression of the game such as firing 100 shots of Bazooka. Reaching the thousand points is more a matter of time than difficulty, but time is really needed.

You'll be crawling back in five minutes!

At the beginning we talked about characters and vehicles. Each chapter offers a vast fleet of machines (and related) and a large roster of characters to control. It's not just about graphic variations, but in many cases the characters have their own characteristics. Meanwhile, all the women jump higher, thus giving meaning to those points marked by floating flowers, which the game talks about too late. Many of the others instead have their own arsenal, Indy obviously has his whip, but there are those with the shovel, those with the spear, the sword, the bazooka and more. Each one can be indispensable both to open access to the levels and to complete them. In fact, if once inside a pulsating message appears that reads something like: "You will need a character with secure access to complete the level / You will need a character with a gun to complete the level", there is nothing else to do. than to go out and wait until you have found the right characters. When in the map you can jump from one character to another by pressing the Y key, and the last two selected are the ones that will enter the level. The vehicles, on the other hand, allow both to move around the map quickly and to complete some challenges that consist of going through some doors with the right means in a limited period of time. These too will unlock characters and allow you to move forward. One last quick tip to remind you that Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues it can be done in full in the company of a friend who can come and go as he pleases. Everyone will have their own character at their disposal (to be exchanged at will on the map) and will do their part in the level (instead of the continuous change between the two characters as in single). When the two players move too far from each other, a black line creates a dynamic split screen that allows everyone to follow their own portion of the level.

Comment

Resources4Gaming.com

7.9

Readers (13)

7.2

Your vote

Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues it owes much of its strength to the sheer amount of content. There are a lot of things to unlock and in order to do that you will have to find the right order. Completing all the chapters could be 6-8 hours of work, reaching the "Super Bonus" levels of each level, however, will require at least twenty. The adventure continues from puzzle to puzzle and this continuous testing removes the boredom that could occur due to the repetition of the structure. Where you can move some criticism instead, in addition to a button smash combat system a little tarnished, it is in the control of the vehicles that proves problematic both for the system used and for the slightly odd physics. The same physics that creates collision problems and occasionally wedges characters and vehicles into the folds of the levels.