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| | Genre: Action | | | Min OS X: 10.6 |
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Requirements: Mac OS X: 10.6 | CPU: 1.4 GHz Intel Processor | RAM: 2 GB | HD Space: 8 GB Graphics: 128 MB - The following cards are NOT supported: NVIDIA 7xxx series and Intel GMA series.Review: The LEGO games haven't changed much over the years. Ever since Luke originally used his lightsaber to explode scenery into tiny colored gears in LEGO Star Wars, the core gameplay has remained almost uniform through the various stories the series has entered. This most recent release, LEGO Indiana Jones 2 from Feral Interactive, is no exception. As you play through the three-part Crystal Skull episodes, there are hundreds of destructible objects, multiple weapons and tools to play with, and quite a few unlockable options. Naturally, you won't find yourself ordering armies or engaging in heroic duels.There are a few differences between this iteration and the games that came before, however. For one, you have to find each character needed for the bonus levels each time you use them. You can only store two characters in your usable list. That can get a little annoying when you realize the one character with the skill you need is on the other side of the episode map and have to run, drive, or fly back again. Still, if you keep the rarer characters in your party until you need to switch them out for a more common skill, you can generally bounce from level to level without much pause. It would just be nice to have the "Free Play" option and pick the characters from a list. However, the way the separate Indiana Jones movies are handled in this sequel is much better. Each movie has its own hub world with levels scattered around inside, many of which require solving a mini-puzzle or a purchased character to complete, and each has its own collection of vehicles and characters to buy. The core abilities remain mostly the same, but the unique skins and layout somehow manage to keep things fresh from one episode to another. There are also various advantages you can purchase if you collect all the mini-blocks (blue, red, green) from the episode, and those add a great reason to hoard all the bits you can find. The unlockables come in three flavors. There are multipliers that greatly increase the amount of goods you gather from the worlds, upgrades to your skills that speed their use considerably, and visual gags that can be fun to play with. The only really broken ones are the multipliers, and they're all fun to play with. Still, if you don't want to get so rich you can buy everything in the game and have millions of pieces left over, it's best not to activate more than a couple multipliers at a time. When you get them all, you'll gain millions of pieces just from whites and golds, never mind blues. Of course, if that's what you want, you'll only need the patience to get the first couple multipliers. From there, it's ridiculously easy. You'll definitely get good use out of the various abilities along the way. You'll have to jump from whip swing to whip swing, blow up armored goods with a rocket or grenade launcher, slice ropes with knives, fix broken objects with a wrench, and so on. Each level has two or three abilities needed, and they work them to death. You'll generally never end up stuck if you just find a place to use each ability, as the puzzles really aren't that hard. It's just fun to go through a level from start to finish while switching between the different tools needed and hacking down the enemy groups as you find them.
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