Films at the touch of a button

I don't envy video game designers who have to work on movie tie-ins. Artists have to duplicate the look of a film with a smaller budget. Writers have to stick closely to someone else's script, even as they stretch a two-hour story into an eight-hour epic. There's hardly any room for creativity.

Still, movie tie-ins have become a lot better since the Atari version of E.T. nearly destroyed the gaming industry in 1982. The licensed games we've seen so far this year (Iron Man, Speed Racer) have been solid if not distinguished; and diehard fans won't regret buying any of the games reviewed here.

—Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (LucasArts, Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Dh200; PlayStation 2 and Portable, Dh160; Nintendo DS, Dh120):

Some of the most enjoyable Star Wars games have been the adventures in which Luke, Han Solo and the rest of the gang appear as Lego characters. Now Traveller's Tales has turned its attention to LucasArts' other big franchise: Indiana Jones.

The Original Adventures draws from the first three Indy films. You can play as Indy, but dozens of other characters, from Marion Ravenwood to Short Round to Henry Jones Sr, help out. The game is entertaining in co-op mode, where two players fight off the bad guys.

All of the iconic scenes from the original trilogy are recreated in Lego form, with plenty of fresh puzzles added to stretch the running time.

—Kung Fu Panda (Activision, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, $49.99; PlayStation 2, $39.99; Nintendo DS, $29): Kung Fu Panda seems like a title better suited for a video game than a movie, but this week we get both. The game delivers some exclusive material, and most of the levels feature Po using his martial arts skills to fight off enemy critters. He can belly-flop, causing a minor earthquake, or roll up in a ball and carom around the arenas.

The other heroes known as the Furious Five – Monkey, Tigress, Viper, Mantis and Crane – all show off their skills. While fighting the smaller villains gets tedious, it's broken up by decent puzzle levels and fights.

—The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Disney, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, $49.99; PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, $29.99): Prince Caspian was developed by the studio behind Lego Indiana Jones, but it doesn't have the same flair. Fortunately, there are more than a dozen other playable characters, including centaurs, minotaurs and a talking mouse. The excitement comes in the large-scale battle scenes, where the minotaur can hop on a giant's back and cause havoc. The best puzzles in the game require switching between brawnier beasts and more limber ones.

Prince Caspian is filled with footage from the big-screen epic, but you won't be able to make sense of the story from the game alone.

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