By James Booth
I love the LEGO games; Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Batman, and other franchises soon to join the family. They put you in some of the most famous universes in film and comic history, yet keep the mood light and fun. Players get to become some of their favorite heroes or villains, living out the storyline of various films.
When I learned LucasArts and Traveller's Tales were releasing a second LEGO Indiana Jones title, to include the latest movie, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I was quite elated. I have been enthusiastically awaiting its release since the announcement, and eagerly dove into LEGO Indiana Jones 2 The Adventure Continues in Figure A with some amount of zeal.
FIGURE A
Indy returns to the PSP in LEGO Indiana Jones 2 The Adventure Continues. (click for larger image)
What's new?
In addition to adding a Kingdom of the Crystal Skull storyline, LEGO Indiana Jones 2 adds multiplayer, the first time it has appeared in the PSP LEGO franchise. Also new is the Build Your Own Adventure level creator, the first time any of the LEGO games have included the ability to create your own play.
The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull campaign takes you through twelve locations from the film, beginning with Warehouse 51 in Nevada shown in Figure B, and ending with the Temple Pyramid in Peru.
FIGURE B
The elusive Area 51. (click for larger image)
In between, you tear through the campus of Barnett College on Mutt's custom Harley-Davidson, rifle through a graveyard, and my favorite part, the jungle truck chase you see in Figure C.
FIGURE C
Leap from truck to duck in the jungle chase. (click for larger image)
Like the other LEGO games, players collect LEGO studs and bricks while completing the storyline to unlock cheats, artifacts, and extra content. Completion of each chapter unlocks it for Freeplay, wherein you can go back with more characters to pick up the inaccessible items you missed the first time through. There are also Challenge games, where the object is to "live" a certain amount of time or collect a certain number of items in a specified time.
The new multiplier component allows you to bring friends and relatives along, actively taking over the role of Indy's companion for the adventure. This feature is a new and welcome addition to the portable LEGO franchise.
Finally... Build Your Own Adventure. For the first time, players are able to create their own adventures to play through by stringing together up to ten scenario segments.
