LEGO 'Indy' a winner

Fun: Variety of puzzle-solving, adventure, and light combat; great two-player gameplay; film-quality music; well-designed levels; distinct character abilities; more than 60 playable characters; playful tongue-in-cheek comedy; unlockable items and extras.

Unfun: Simple combat; some boss battles could've been played up more.

Here's a winning crossover formula: take an all-ages, adored adventure film and rebuild it with a universally-enjoyed toy franchise. Tack on puzzles and adventuring that plays up the strengths of each, and you've got a retail gem worth digging through your wallet for.

"LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures" is miles away from the tired movie tie-in it could've been. Where "LEGO Star Wars" was a casual, competent combination of the two brands, "Indiana Jones" clicks in another layer of quality atop that foundation, fashioning something more centered on puzzles and platforming than straight-up combat. The game makes excellent use of the LEGO license throughout, intertwining the joys of assembly with scenes from classic Indy films.

"LEGO Indy" skips out on Spielberg's recent sequel, but delivers 18 levels across the trio of originals: Raiders, Temple of Doom and The Last Crusade. Each stage integrates LEGO's blocky aesthetic alongside the memorable movie moments. Remember the giant boulder that bowls after Indy in the first film? It becomes a rolling orb of plastic bricks. And in the game, a big LEGO airplane serves as a backdrop to the one-sided airstrip fistfight in Raiders. Reconstructed set pieces like these rarely feel forced, but it's the developer's original content that deserves the most praise.

A linear, strict reimagining of the films wouldn't have worked well as a game. Traveller's Tales fills these gaps with extended versions of the underground tombs, caverns, deserts and jungle terrain you've seen on screen. Progressing through this booby-trapped turf usually means combing an area for a key, switch or rope to open a gate or reveal a useful item. Other times, it's carrying spare parts to a workspace, then holding the circle button to click the pieces together and produce a car, ladder, trampoline, or other equipment.

A handful of boss battles and vehicle chases mix things up, but it's the cute design and gear-turning, interlocking functionality of the world that gives "LEGO Indy" its ample charm. Pulling levers, dodging traps and breaking open barrels for loose LEGO pieces seems like tedious work, but the mechanics become lovable labor when you've got well-designed, familiar scenes and characters to act them out. Making mechanisms like pulleys, cranks and elevators work gives a sense of pure, appealing interactivity. The other strong suit is level variety, as "LEGO Indy" avoids recycling too many of its puzzle and platforming elements between episodes.

Working as a two-player tandem is a consistent theme in gameplay, made more explicit by distinct character abilities that factor into completing puzzles. Female characters can leap higher to reach lofty ledges. Diminutive ones like Short Round can fit through hidden crawlspaces. Indiana can use his bullwhip to swing over gaps or disarm enemies. And academic types like Henry Jones can translate hieroglyphics to open secret passages. In a few instances, characters' phobias come into play - Indy can't cross a snake-filled pit, but his companion can use a torch to light a fire and scare the serpents away.

These abilities let "LEGO Indy" avoid telling the player what to do. Puzzles present themselves organically - you'll utilize your tools to move forward, like snapping Indy's rope over a hanging lever to release some LEGOs to build a ladder. Items like shovels and wrenches let characters repair engines or unearth treasure, too, and the game throws in weapons that add novelty to its simple, one-button combat. Spears that stick into walls when thrown, plastic crossbows, rifles, revolvers and rocket launchers are neat items to tote around, but don't expect complicated combat.

Likewise, a few uninspired boss battles rely on the game's easy fisticuffs more than they should. At the end of the Raiders episode, you'll hop ledges to punch Colonel Dietrich while he idles atop a cliff; a bar fight against Chinese gangsters at the beginning of Temple of Doom is just as boring. Still, these are merely missed opportunities.

Plastic-coated or not, "LEGO Indy"'s presentation manages to be pretty authentic. It's led by a cinematic score that feels ripped right from the films, but elegant outdoor backdrops energize the cute character animations on screen. Token humor reinforces the game's playfulness -- when a villain shoots Henry Jones in The Last Crusade to force Indy to retrieve the Holy Grail, his LEGO legs simply fall off. Even without voice-overs or captions, the physical humor is consistently charming.

In line with Indy's love for exploration, collectible items and hidden artifacts encourage additional play-throughs. Players pick up LEGO coins to purchase unlockable characters, and they can build their own inside the game's hub -- if you're inclined to replay Temple of Doom as a spear-toting cowboy skeleton that wears a fedora, here's your chance. More than the sum of its parts, "LEGO Indiana Jones" is an excellent execution of its source material, ripe with two-player fun and appealing puzzles that are enjoyable for all ages.

Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PSP, DS, PS2, PC. (Reviewed on PlayStation 3.)

Developer: Traveller's Tales

Publisher: LucasArts

Genre: Action-platformer

Rating: 3½ out of 4