One of the most appealing aspects of the Indiana Jones movies, aside from the fast, almost-always believable action, is the archaeologist’s “every man” appeal. Sure, he was a college professor, and sure, he could use a bullwhip to swing from platform to platform. But here was a guy who was mortally afraid of snakes and had an almost brotherly relationship with his fedora, yet still managed to get himself into the most exciting and dangerous adventures.
LucasArts is soon going to help every man, or every gamer, control that classic sense of adventure themselves with Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb, a action 3D title slated for release on the Xbox, PS2 and PC during the first quarter of 2003. With The Collective developing the title and LucasArts driving its focus on gritty Indiana-esque action, the game is sure to please movie and action-game fans alike.
The game takes place in and around the Far East in 1935, just before the beginning of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, for those of you taking notes. Traveling to a variety of locations including Ceylon, Prague, Turkey and Hong Kong, gamers will control Indiana in his quest for the Heart of the Dragon, a mystical artifact from the historically based tomb of China’s first emperor.
The Heart of the Dragon supposedly possesses mystical powers, so in true Indiana Jones fashion, the Nazis are in hot pursuit of the artifact in their quest for world domination. Enter Indiana, the unassuming history buff who just happens to find himself tasked with saving the known world from Nazi evil and preserving the historical artifact in the process. After all, it belongs in a museum.
Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb uses an enhanced version of the game engine used for the successful (and sexy) Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If you’ve ever seen or played Buffy, you’re familiar with the engine’s impressive graphical capabilities, from lifelike character models to expansive environments that deliver combat and level variation as smoothly as any next-gen game. This engine has been enhanced to be a perfect fit for Junior’s penchant for large, lush environments and battling pesky baddies mano a mano or with his ever-present bullwhip.
Since the game takes place in 10 unique environments including Ceylon, Turkey and Hong Kong, you can imagine that each level has its own distinct feel and obstacles. Deep in the jungle, you’ll use your machete to navigate a labyrinthine maze of vine-covered underground hallways. Deep underwater, you’ll swim to a submerged palace near Istanbul and face opposing forces that stand in your way.
At the beginning of the game, those forces will come at you with essentially the same fighting style Indiana uses: Western brawling. As you make your way farther East and closer to the emperor’s tomb, your enemies will start to use more appropriate and varied attacks. For example, followers of the Black Dragon Triad will use martial arts and leap and flip toward you, presenting some unique fighting challenges. And the supernatural enemies later in the game? Good luck figuring out your best strategy there.
You’ll have two basic types of combat at your disposal, hand-to-hand and ranged. Hand-to-hand allows Indiana to punch, kick, grab, crack his trusty bullwhip and even pick up chairs and bottles to take down his enemies. Ranged combat spices things up a bit with the use of pistols, shotguns, submachine guns and dynamite to mow down opposing forces with a little more oomph.
Controlling this combat is very intuitive, and in fact it only uses two buttons. Pressing these buttons in any order unleashes a variety of punches, kicks and throws, while pressing a button three times results in a combo attack. The attacks include uppercuts, knees to the gut, two-handed haymakers, throws to the ground and even kicks to the crotch – basically, everything you’d expect Indy to use in “real life.”
If you’re wondering why the game has more action than its predecessors, look no further than the movies themselves. Each one, from Raiders of the Lost Ark to The Last Crusade, maintained a good balance of romance, action, adventure and suspense. Yet many of the games to date have spent the majority of their time on adventures and puzzles. To more accurately reflect the spirit of the movies, LucasArts has designed this game to really put gamers in Indiana’s boots, action included.
That’s not to say the game won’t include its fair share of puzzles or adventure, but there’s much more attention to action than in previous games. The majority of the puzzles you will encounter involve finding the right path from Point A to Point B and reviewing your inventory to see whether one of your items will help you meet a puzzling objective.
As in any good Indiana movie, the game will also throw at you a variety of interesting traps. Remember the rolling boulder in Raiders of the Lost Ark? There’s a similar scenario in The Emperor’s Tomb, and you’ll have to use your bullwhip to traverse caverns and navigate your way to safety. You’ll also find a plethora of pits strategically covered by fallen vines and hallways filled with buzz saws and spiked logs.
A testament to the game engine’s flexibility, still other scenarios will place Indiana first-person style in the back of vehicles trying to eliminate pursuing enemies, while some put you in control of anti-aircraft guns that you use to take down incoming enemy craft.
With The Collective’s knack for integrating franchise-specific humor (again, see Buffy), LucasArts’ dedication to delivering a top-notch action game and the promise of true action-oriented gameplay, Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb is shaping up to be a sleeper hit for 2003. We’ll have more on this promising title as its ship date nears.
