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Indiana Jones and the Emperors Tomb Review
TVG Staff
25/03/2003
Offering an excellent combat system and perfectly capturing the films atmosphere, Indy's return is well worth a look.
The developers behind Indiana Jones and the Emperors Tomb are rapidly beginning to make a name for themselves on the Xbox scene; having treated us to a brilliant adaptation of âBuffy the Vampire Slayerâ, the talented team decided to give Indiana Jones a shot.
On initial inspection, Indiana Jones and the Emperors Tomb shares a lot of similarities to the Buffy game; an amazing combat system, great story and more importantly it captures the Indy spirit perfectly from the movies. However thereâs no denying that the game places more emphasis on jumps and platform areas in a similar style to Tomb Raider â“ you are looking at the original Tomb Raider after all.
Taking place in the 1930âs, the game places players in the role of the rough yet suave archaeologist Indiana Jones; within a short while youâll learn of the games main goal, to rescue a Chinese artefact known as âThe Heart of the Dragonâ â“ an item powerful enough to control peoples minds. In keeping with Indy tradition, players will find themselves performing death-defying leaps across the world, whilst fighting with Nazi factions who are also after the relic.
Focussed in a third-person perspective, controlling Indy can feel a little twitchy to begin with; however persevere for a short while and youâll soon find the controls become second nature. Equipped with his trademark bullwhip, (which Indy can use in combat), the most common use will come from swinging between point to point in true Indy style; fortunately an icon appears on-screen whenever you can use the whip in this fashion. The execution is also surprisingly well implemented, you feel a fair degree of control over Indy and can quite easily make up for mistakes with rapid presses of the A button when swinging.
In large the game gets the fundamentals spot on, so you wonât be having any problems with camera controls and the control system, whilst the games levels have been brilliantly designed on the whole.
Whilst a lot of the game will involve swinging between multiple levels and performing death-defying jumps; youâll spend a large amount of time in combat fighting the various bad guys out to stop Indy in his quest. Thankfully the wonderful combat system from Buffy returns along with a number of enhancements.
Indy has basic attacks when unarmed and can perform a wide amount of moves that are easy to execute and more importantly look very cool in action due to their exaggerated animations. However the game features a large number of weapons to help Indy in his quest; a range of guns and explosives join the traditional whip, whilst Indy can also pick up a number of items such as chairs, bottles and table legs to help in a scrap. The best point about the combat system is how cinematic and close to the film the fights look; smash an opponent against a table and heâll agonising crash into it smashing it into pieces. Indy can quickly and easily pick up objects during a fight by tapping Y, which has the effect of enhancing the film like nature and eradicating the frustrations usually levelled at games such as this; chuck in the ability to whip weapons from the hands of the enemy and lasso their throats to pull them in for a whacking and youâve got one of the best combat systems in a third-person action/adventure title to date. The end result is a combat system that perfectly captures the wild antics and heated nature of fights in the Indiana Jones movies, where literally anything was used as a weapon.
Although the AI of the foes at times is a little questionable, itâs good to see opponents who will run for cover, duck and dodge out of gun fire and try to gain the advantage by picking up any weapons in the area. Enhancing the look of the fights are the rag-doll physics; fallen foes will slump against walls, players can easily knock unsuspecting foes off a cliff and as Iâve said before send them crashing into objects scattered throughout the environment. We would have liked to see a little more interaction and perhaps more use of the whip to swing into position to give you an advantage during fights; but on the whole the level of interaction offers a cinematic edge that far exceeds the likes of The Getaway and other titles in this genre.
In between the combat and death-defying jumps, players will have to solve a variety of puzzles that usually revolve around the âswitch lever to open doorâ technique. To spice the experience up, sometimes switching a wrong lever will result in a booby-trap in true Indiana Jones style or
Each of the games 10 levels are huge affairs, which are guaranteed to last an average gamer quite a considerable time. At the end of each stage youâll come across some brilliantly designed bosses, which again help to capture the movie feel and ensure excitement levels are kept to a maximum throughout the entire game. To vary the experience certain levels will put you in a fixed gun turret position, whether shooting down Nazi planes in spectacular fashion or trying to stop pursuing foes in a car chase around Hong Kong. Throughout each of the levels youâll have the opportunity to collect 30 secret artefacts, which opens up a picture gallery; unfortunately because of the linear nature to the game, itâs unlikely youâll return to it once youâve gone through it the first time.
Unfortunately the visuals are a mixture of the good, the bad and the ugly. Main character models such as Indy are wonderfully detailed right down to the creases on his well-worn shirt, whilst there are times when the overall look is nothing short of stunning; however probably because of its multi-platform development, there are times when textures lack the detail weâre accustomed to in Xbox titles and the frame-rate judders to a near halt. On a positive note the game mixes large environments with beautiful static backdrops to create a seamless effect that gives a great sense of depth to the environments, whilst the exaggerated animation perfectly captures the Indiana Jones feel, especially during the games fight sequences.
The trademark Indiana Jones theme song is used frequently throughout the game, whilst other tracks are used well to heighten the atmosphere or give a sense of reward after performing a particularly tough task. On our copy music had a habit of jumping and skipping, an issue that apparently plagues the US retail copies and appears to be unsolved for the European release â“ tsk, tskâ¦
