Like Activision's recently-released Band Hero, LEGO Rock Band seeks to be the E for Everyone answer to the band-based rhythm genre, delivering songs that parents don't have to explain to their children while blushing profusely. Unlike Band Hero, however, LEGO Rock Band has the power of one of the world's most popular toy lines behind it. There's really no doubt that the familiar red logo on the front of the case will attract game buying parents like moths to a flame. Will they get burned?

Loved
Rock Band's Gameplay: It's the same Rock Band gameplay we've all come to know and love, plastic instruments and all. Cosmetic changes aside, there's nothing stopping anyone who has played previous Rock Band titles from picking up the mic, drumsticks, or guitar and rocking out.

LEGO Charm: If you don't find the LEGO video games charming on some level, you might as well treat LEGO Rock Band as a giant, $50 track pack. If you do find the LEGO-brand cuteness adorable, then the game has plenty for you to gush over, from the LEGO block notes on the highway to the ridiculous hijinks your band and crew get up to during jam sessions. New venues are opened up by unlocking new, increasingly absurd LEGO vehicles, with each new location loaded with cute little touches that you'll only notice if you are watching someone else play. Once again, Traveller's Tales manages to squeeze refreshing water from a LEGO block.

Rock Challenges: While they aren't particularly challenging, LEGO Rock Band's Rock Challenges do split up the monotony of playing song after song after song. These special stages have specific goals, like blowing up a building with the power of rock, or ridding a haunted mansion of ghosts. In single player you simply play through the song presented as per normal, but with a friend the action is broken up, giving each player a bit of solo time to accomplish their goals. Again, not all that challenging, but a welcome distraction. Plus, the Ghostbusters challenge features some of the most adorable moments in gaming this year. To quote my girlfriend, "Cutest. Thing. Ever."

Eclectic Selections: Despite its family-friendly theme, LEGO Rock Band has managed to gather together a nicely varied list of music that might not have seen the light of day in any other Rock Band title. The introduction of my favorite band, Counting Crows, to the Rock Band universe was almost worth the game's $50 price tag for me, while songs like "Kung-Fu Fighting," "Ghostbusters," and "Walkin' on Sunshine" are exactly the sort of light-hearted fare that other Rock Band games lacked.

It's A Brick House: Like other LEGO games from Traveller's Tales, LEGO Rock Band is all about collecting bits, and once you've collected those bits you can use them at the in-game store to buy new outfits, instruments, staff members, and even decorations for your LEGO headquarters. Your headquarters acts as the main menu for the game, so being able to add your own personal touch is kind of nice. This is really the feature that separates the game from the rest of the Rock Band lineup, even if it doesn't allow for in-depth customization of your pad.

Super Easy: A new addition to the standard Rock Band difficulty settings, Super Easy means even your most uncoordinated friends can pick up a guitar and play, as long as they have even the most rudimentary grasp of the concept of rhythm. Just push any button and strum, or hit any drum pad. We don't care which, just pound the damn thing. There, now you're playing Rock Band. Perfect for those singers in your group who are afraid of the plastic instruments.

Export Business: If all else fails, LEGO Rock Band functions as a 44 song track pack. A code included with the game allows you to export the songs on the disc to regular Rock Band for $9.99, meaning that if you'd like to play "Accidentally in Love" with your friends without worrying about LEGO Rock Band's lack of online multiplayer, you still have another option.

Hated
Skimpy Track List: Three years ago we would have been perfectly happy with 44 songs, but these days that's around half of what we generally expect. The songs might be a nice collection of tunes, but when you have to play them over and over again throughout your career in order to progress, they wear thin rather quickly. In one venue I played through two songs I wasn't particularly fond of, only to have both of said songs show up in the mystery set list I played next. That's not fun. That's annoying.

Offline Only: I suppose stripping away the online play from previous Rock Band titles was one way of making LEGO Rock Band more family friendly, but its presence is definitely missed.

LEGO Rock Band makes several painful trade-offs in order to present a game that can be considered family friendly, and your enjoyment of the game hinges on whether or not you can handle the changes. You get half as many songs as a normal Rock Band release and no online multiplayer, in exchange for a rhythm game that's brimming with unique LEGO personality and music you won't find anywhere else, until Harmonix releases the tracks as paid DLC for the regular versions. Plus, LEGO Rock Band is by far the most accessible of the Rock Band titles, with a lower level of difficulty making it an excellent gateway game.

There's a lot to love in LEGO Rock Band, as long as you don't try and take it too seriously.

LEGO Rock Band was developed by Harmonix and Traveller's Tales and published by Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii. Retails for $49.99 USD. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played through complete career mode on the Xbox 360 version both alone and with a friend.

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Traveller's Tales does what they do best in this cinematic launch trailer, lampooning existing properties through gratuitous use of LEGO blocks. Why simply stop at a tour bus, when the whole of LEGO creation is at your fingertips?

You may remember Blur from their runaway hit "Song #2," which made its way into nearly every sports game published in the late 90's, early 2000's. The song's profound lyrics included the haunting "Woo-hoo," which brings to mind carefree reveling and the strangling of unsuspecting owls. "Song #2" is one of the tracks in LEOGO Rock Band, and all four members of Blur have gotten the tiny LEGO guy treatment , joining Iggy Pop, David Bowie, and Queen in the family-friendly LEGO lineup. Woo-hoo.

Rolling Stone has a video of the band's LEGO avatars doing their thing, so click the link below if you feel the desperate need to.

Blur Join "LEGO Rock Band": See the Band's Avatars [Rolling Stone - thanks Noble!]

The Lego series lost me after the first Star Wars game was released. Batman was interesting, and nostalgic, but not that much fun to play. I own the first Lego Indiana Jones game but haven't been able to force myself to play for more than an hour. I guess the charm of the concept just came and went too quickly for me. Seeing classic scenes recreated in Lego form is novel, but when the core gameplay is more or less the same, it just isn't enough for me.

Now, if they did a Lego Indiana Jones Dance Party game...

Luckily, LEGO Indiana Jones 2 does it right. Not only is it adding a gameplay element that you'd kind of expect based on what went down in the movies, it's actually really fun. And entirely made of LEGOs.

What Is It?
LEGO Indiana Jones 2 is a complete rehash of the first LEGO Indiana Jones game – as in, no re-used levels whatsoever. It also adds the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull movie, the new Builder Mode where you can go nuts putting together endless LEGOs and also driving segments.

What We Saw
I was allowed some hands-on time with just the driving portion of the game on an Xbox 360 build. I think we were playing in a car chase scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark because Marcus Brody and Indy were there. However, like all LEGO games, you can replay levels with any characters you've unlocked. So it could have been from The Last Crusade, I suppose…

How Far Along Is It?
The game is out November 17.

What Needs Improvement?
Nothing: No, I'm serious. I didn't find any kind of actual fault with the way the driving levels are designed or executed in LEGO Indy 2.

What Should Stay The Same?
Easy Controls: The left analog stick makes the car go, B is the break and can be used to back the car up if you get stuck and A will pop the car up if it falls over or needs to make a jump. Not a lot to keep track of and everything works right when it's supposed to.

Excellent Physics: Like most LEGO levels, pretty much all of the setting is destructible in the driving segments. You can ram your car into carts, buildings and other cars to cause huge explosions of LEGO pieces and blue pick-up pieces. You can also drive your car right over a cliff and bail out just before it, too, explodes in a shower of LEGOs. The car will just respawn right at the edge of the cliff so you can keep on wrecking stuff by driving into or over it.

Everything: I can't believe just how fun the driving section felt. Maybe I've just been shell-shocked by too many poorly-made driving segments, or maybe LucasArts drugged my water cup. But I do strongly consider the possibility that this part of the game is just so well made that it deserves to be enjoyed by everybody. Even cynical critics like myself.

Final Thoughts
LEGO Indy 2's driving section may be incredibly fun, but it's not the majority of what you'll be doing in the game. This is as it should be – because it's an adventure game with a driving segment in it, not the other way around. If the rest of the game (which I didn't get to play) is as fun as the driving section, then we're all set. If not, it's going to result in the tragic reversal of my adventure-game-plus-driving-segment anxiety.

Not the catchiest title, we know, but it gets its point across, with players given the option of controlling Harry, Ron or Hermione as they work their way through the first four books/movies of the Harry Potter series.

Long-time LEGO Star Wars/Indy developers Travellers Tales will again be developing the title, which is scheduled for release sometime during 2010.

No platforms were specifically indicated, probably because you can bet it will appear on all of them.

However, according to a PDF of an earlier version of the designer's session, the version "sent for speech approval rather than the version that I actually showed at GDC," according to Teasdale himself, LEGO Rock Band was planned to be announced prior to this year's Game Developers Conference. Teasdale's slides show that the game, rumored to be in development by LEGO video game development house Traveller's Tales, will hit in 2009.

One of Teasdale's slides — which, when shown at GDC did not feature the "Lego" title on the time line — shows the game may be expected to hit between the release of Rock Band Unplugged for the PSP and The Beatles: Rock Band.

A later slide, on the page following brief details on Rock Band Unplugged, a placeholder image for a "project to be announced before or at 9 AM Friday" is featured, which we're assuming to be LEGO Rock Band. Teasdale's notes on that slide read: "There's a project that I'll be talking about here, but it hasn't been announced yet. BUT - I will be showing it at GDC!"

As you can see, Teasdale also lists a few Guitar Hero titles schedule to be in development, including what may be the oft-rumored Guitar Hero: Van Halen title and what appears to be Guitar Hero: Band Hero. Whether Teasdale's in a position to know Activision's publishing schedule isn't perfectly clear. What is clear is that Activision has plenty of Guitar Hero exploitation planned for 2009.

We attended the Rock Band design session, but Teasdale made absolutely no mention of the LEGO branded version of the game. Promise — we would have told you.

Kotaku has reached out to Harmonix and MTV Games public relations reps seeking comment. We have not yet heard back.

Many thanks to Stephen for the tip! [Image credit]

LEGO Harry Potter, eh? Pardon us if we're less than surprised. Still, surprise isn't the point. The point is, it's LEGO, it's Harry Potter, it will, in all likelihood, conjure money.

The Indiana Jones game, meanwhile, sounds like one giant, crushing disappointment. The right thing to do would be to take the rich "universe" of Indiana Jones and pit him against some kind of nefarious Nazi scientist and/or plot. Maybe a LEGO Fate of Atlantis. But no.

We're getting LEGO Indiana Jones: The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

So, so sad. Anyway, let's move on. Onwards and upwards, as the resume leaks a third possible LEGO project: a demo pitch (remember, it's not a done deal, just a pitch!) put together by Traveller's Tales for the upcoming Hobbit films, the first of which is due in 2012. LEGO Lord of the Rings? With that many characters and that much combat, it could - like Star Wars did - actually work.

Charlotte Parker [CV, via GamesIndustry.biz]

Why does the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood find LEGO Batman, of all games, so distasteful for our children, nominating it for a TOADY (Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young Children)? Is there a special broken glass bottle controller included that we're not aware of?

In their words, it's the crass commercialism and forced marketing that's so icky.

"How do you turn the ultimate creative toy into a symbol of commercialized childhood?" writes the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. "Begin by partnering with media companies to sell that toy in branded kits designed for recreating movies like Star Wars, rather than creative construction. Then, dispense with hands-on building altogether by turning your toy into a video game so that instead of deciding what to build next, children choose which cyber weapons to use to beat up their opponent."

Okay, so it's robbing our kids of LEGO building creativity. What else ya got?

"Finally, ignore the fact it was rated suitable for ages 10 & up and partner with McDonald’s for a Happy Meal toy giveaway to simultaneously promote the video game, junk food, and the violent Dark Knight movie series to preschoolers."

Well.... I guess I can see your point there. No one likes violent fat kids. But I'm still voting for the Barbie Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader Doll. She's such a bitch!

Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young Children [CCFC via GamePolitics]

Seems the rumour stems from an interview on Britain's Radio One last night, in which TT swore a new LEGO game would be out this year. Despite earlier indications their next game would be a LEGO Harry Potter, VG's source - who claims to be "100 percent correct” - has instead made the Rock Band call.

Seems like an absolute waste of the LEGO name, not to mention a pointless overcrowding of the Rock Band "genre", but hey, crazier, stupider things have happened in this business.

Rumour: Lego Rock Band in works at TT [VG247]

And that's all they know. No further info given. Then again, being a Lego game, do you really need further info? They're all, largely, the same game. Running, jumping, shooting/punching, collecting Lego bits.

Just replace the IP, add a new theme song, then wonder aloud how long Traveller's Tales can get away with it before the buying public catches on.

To anyone and everyone hoping for Lego Blade Runner, Lego Kindergarten Cop or Lego The Italian Job, sorry. You'll have to maintain your silent vigils for a little while longer.

Lego Harry Potter in development? [CVG]

"There's an expectation now that there would be a LEGO game per year, and we certainly feel that one or two games would be the right amount per year, otherwise there'd be a saturation of LEGO games and they'd lose the charm...We're also conscious that we're making games for young kids. We don't want to take the piss out of the consumer and end up making any old rubbish. We're hoping people feel our games are of a high standard and we want to continue doing that."

Thank goodness I say. Games like Lego Caligula and Lego Schindler's List need to stay in my imagination, for the good of all mankind.

TT not going to "take the piss" out of LEGO-game fans News [Eurogamer]

Happy Meals [McDonalds, via Go Nintendo]

"My understanding is that they will use the engine, the Maya files where the characters come to life, but they'll be creating animated... I think it's a 20-minute cartoon. I'm personally quite intrigued to see how it comes out. Lego, every time they've had a new brand out, they've done some CGI stuff as well, but I think this will be quite different."

This would be a perfect opportunity to bring Adam West back into the Batman fold, as I can't see Batman: The Animated Series lead Kevin Conroy's voice coming out of Lego Batman's little round head.

20-minute Lego Batman cartoon in works [GI.biz]

There I am chatting with him about the upcoming Lego: Batman game and suggesting that a Lego: Transformers game would be fun. He asks me, essentially, for an on-the-spot verbal pitch. As chronicled on my Multiplayer blog, I say

I said, you’d take advantage of the wide cast of Transformers characters and put them in the format started by “Lego: Star Wars.” There are plenty of Transformers for gamers to control and swap, certainly more characters in the pantheon than there were for “Lego: Indiana Jones.”

I said TT coul have all sorts of fun letting the characters transform to get through the levels. You have the existing good mix of character and vehicle stuff in the Lego games, so there’s a blueprint there.

“Sounds like you just want a good Transformers game,” Smith replied

I tried more. He didn't bite. Where did I go wrong? Bad concept?

How I Failed To Successfully Pitch ‘Lego: Transformers - The Game’ [MTV Multiplayer blog] [Pic]

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures looks like and plays like the Star Wars games, but is it as fun controlling a mini-fig Short Round as it was controlling the blocky, arm-ripping Chewbacca? Read on to find out.

Loved
Art Design: Traveller's Tales nails the look of this latest LEGO adaption of a beloved movie franchise. The mini-figs are lovingly detailed, from the large-dot stubble on Indy's chin to the trim of Willie Scott's dress. The environments are naturally more organic looking than those found in Star Wars with plenty of plastic spiders, bugs and snakes crawling around amid lots of jungles. And the traps, from spears to spikes to saw blades, add a much needed sense of trepidation to the game.

Fun Abilities: Any first-timer with the game is going to want to bogart Indy and run around whipping things, anything, because it's that much fun. But the other characters also have some fun abilities. Satipo comes equipped with a shovel for digging things up, some of the female characters can jump higher, Thuggees can access secret passage ways behind statues, Henry Jones Sr. can solve hieroglyphic puzzles, to name a few. My favorite? Willie Scott has a button dedicated to her famous scream... and it breaks glass.

Phobias: Call them anti-abilities, but some of the characters in the game have phobias that have a pretty sizable impact on gameplay. Indiana Jones' famous fear of snakes, for instance, is so strong that when he approaches one, or hundreds, he covers his eyes and walks around in little circles moaning until they move away. But his is not the only phobia in the game.

Lots of Depth: It may not have taken me much more than a few days to make my way through the three movies, but there's still lots to explore. A typical play-through of a chapter meant I found maybe a third of what was there for me to do. All of the chapters, once unlocked for freeplay, are going to require going through multiple times with different characters to find everything.

Happy Easter: Apart from the depth of the game, the ability to replay levels over and over again just to find everything Indiana Jones related, this game is packed, absolutely packed with Easter Eggs. Everything from out of time, out of space characters to whole scenes from other movies make appearances in the game and uncovering them is always a delight.

Hated
Plot Change: LEGO-fying a movie gives developers a lot of latitude about what they can deal with without getting a higher rating, I suspect. This game manages to deliver decapitations, people being crushed to death, impaled on spikes, all in a way that I allowed my 7-year-old to watch. So why did they decide to remove crucial scenes from the movie in this adaptation? How can it be the Last Crusade without Nazis? How can it be the Raiders without face melting? The only heart plucking going on in this trilogy is the one the developers did when they created Temple of Doom without its most memorable scene.

Perspective Issues: As with the LEGO Star Wars game, Indy has some issues with perspective. While platforming through levels, the odd perspective makes it almost impossible to tell if you're going to land on solid ground or thin air. Fortunately, this doesn't happen enough to bog down the whole game and the developers did add some visual cues to help locate hanging objects.

Not So Funny: Maybe LEGO Star Wars set the bar too high, maybe there isn't a lot of inherent comedy in a story about a death-defying archaeologist wrestling with supernatural powers and (ahem) generic German bad guys, but I really didn't find a lot of opportunities to laugh in this game. Part of the problem, most certainly, was their decision to cut some pretty memorable scenes, which would have been quite funny played out in LEGO. I also think that the writing never quite finds the proper pacing.

Weak Multiplayer: LEGO games, while fun alone, are really about playing together, often, at least in my house, with family members. It's disappointing that the game not only maintains the two-player drop-in cooperative play cap, but loses the online multiplayer ability.

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures is a blast to play and a fun way to be introduced or reintroduced to the Indiana Jones trilogy, but it doesn't quite live up to Star Wars. I suspect the problem is more with the source material than the developers. Indiana Jones doesn't really have a lot of memorable side-kicks. You've got Short Round, several woman who scream a lot and a bunch of faceless bad guys. Fortunately, what set-backs and problems the game has are more than made up for by the stunningly detailed set pieces and intricately detailed mini-figs. Rats, snakes, spiders, intricate puzzles, traps and phobias, they all help vividly capture a trilogy deserving of good games. I'd call it stunning, but deleting some of the most memorable scenes of the movies prevents it from quite delivering that accolade.

Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures was developed by Traveller's Tales and published by LucasArts. Retails for$50. Available on DS, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, Wii and Xbox 360. Played to completion on the PlayStation 3. Played half with my son and half by myself.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

Lego [have] already replaced them with an anonymous genocidal, occultist, trenchcoat-wearing master-race.