Though “Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures” is released in stores today, we here at Multiplayer have been able to play the Xbox 360 version of the game for the past week.

And as fans of the “Lego Star Wars” games, we had a few questions about LucasArts’ and Traveller’s Tales’ new blockbuster game.

For one, we wondered how difficult and different it was to translate “Indiana Jones” into a Lego game. After all, “Star Wars” is a vast science-fiction universe rich in diverse settings, vehicles and characters. The world of “Indiana Jones” is much smaller and based more in reality — his vehicles are cars (no Millennium Falcon), his weapon is a whip (not a lightsaber), and his enemies are Nazis (not the Sith).

“Lego Indy’ is a much more physically active game,” LucasArts producer Shawn Storc told us via e-mail. “With respect to the interactions between the player and their environment and other characters, we’ve really opened the door for players to have a more in-depth experience as it relates to the game world around them.”

Evidenced by more puzzle elements, the ability to use more vehicles, and aim more objects (everything from bazooka shells to bananas), the developers have done their best to take what we love the Indiana Jones universe to fit a Lego-style game. But it wasn’t always easy.

“['Temple of Doom'] was definitely pretty tough to tackle,” Storc said of the most challenging movie in terms of level design. While action-packed, the film seemed to have fewer environments that could be fodder for levels. “However, everyone on the team is a fan of the series,” he said, “so that passion for the stories and their incredible creativity enabled the creation of an exciting experience across the board.”

As for the number of characters, the game promises 60 playable ones that can be unlocked. Since there certainly aren’t 60 characters in the “Indiana Jones” universe, it seems that Traveller’s Tales had to do a bit of stretching on their part (i.e. having many of the main characters available in various outfits).

“It took a bit of watching the films multiple times,” Storc admitted, “but it did allow us to expand on the individual ability range quite a bit. We wanted to make sure that each character had value and contributed to the experience as a whole, quite like the companion characters function in the film. For example, Satipo’s skill is excavation and Willie Scott’s high-pitched scream breaks glass.”

To boot, the game’s developers added the phobias of each character — like Indy’s famous phobia of snakes. “And Indy isn’t the only one with phobias,” Storc said. “Willie is scared of bugs and Senior doesn’t like rats. The game is steeped in Indy lore, but one of the best ways you can see it is in the collection of artifacts and complex puzzle-solving in the game.”

Though there are plenty pf puzzle elements, provided by some of Indy’s death-defying escapes in the films, the game doesn’t take as many run-throughs to get to 100% as in the “Lego Star Wars” titles. For instance, players had to play straight through an entire movie (six levels) to obtain a gold brick needed to get 100%, but “Lego Indy” doesn’t make players endure the marathon sessions.

“Our goal was to emphasize the nature of Indy as he is an adventurer, an archaeologist, a collector, and a great action hero,” Storc said. “I wouldn’t say that the requirements were lowered; they are just different.”

When we asked about why the new “Indiana Jones” movie, “The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” wasn’t included, he claimed, “There is so much content in the first three ‘Indy’ movies that we wanted to maintain focus on those adventures,” he said.

But then does that leave room for another “Lego Indy” game? “We don’t have anything to announce, but there’s always a chance.”

Additional reporting by Stephen Totilo.