Indiana Jones and his six best video game adventures
Indiana Jones has experienced many video game adventures in his more than 40-year history. heise online presents the six best of them.
(Image: LucasArts)
There have been many official games about Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones Junior over the past 42 years. Some good, many bad (did someone here say "Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures"?), a few very good. Heise online has picked out six from the latter category. There is still some time before Bethesda Softworks and MachineGames release "Indiana Jones and the Great Circle", the first official Indiana Jones game since 2009's "Lego Indiana Jones 2".
6th place: "Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb"
Many people probably haven't heard of the development studio "The Collective" all that often. This is hardly surprising, as the Californians have not existed under this name since 2007, and their best-known game was most likely the rather unknown "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Fallen" (2000). At least until 2003, when "Indiana Jones and the Legend of the Emperor's Tomb" was released. This was the official sequel to "Indiana Jones and the Tower of Babel" and, as such, had to contend with high expectations.
Indy finds himself in a daring new mess involving Nazis, ninjas and beautiful women, as well as artifacts that are supposed to open the legendary tomb of the first emperor of China. He overcomes tricky jump-and-run passages, fights all kinds of enemies, solves puzzles and presses laracrofty levers. The whole thing is much more action-heavy than its direct predecessor, and the melee combat system in particular has been redesigned from the ground up: Indy can set up his enemies with varied combos, grab them and push them away, or give them various dents with tools such as chairs, table legs, bottles or a shovel. Of course, it is still important to master the whip, with which you can not only give opponents a beating, but also swing Indy over chasms. And all this with much better graphics than four years earlier, some of which can still be seen today.
The only real disadvantage of this game, which still exists today, is its inexplicably mean save system: a save game is only created automatically at the end of the levels, otherwise there is no option to save your progress –, which can of course quickly cause frustration in the sometimes very long sections. Apart from that, this is still an excellent Indy adventure that consistently conveys the spirit of the films.
Available from: GOG, Steam
"Indiana Jones und die Legende der Kaisergruft" (10 Bilder)
LucasArts
)5th place: "Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade"
It may sound bizarre from today's perspective, but it's true: released in 1989 shortly after the release of the film of the same name, "Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade" was the first Indy adventure from Lucasfilm Games. All the whip man's previous games were licensed to external companies such as Atari or Mindscape. The expectations for the game, which had to be developed in just six months so as not to completely miss the film release, were correspondingly high. A damn short period of time for such a project – so it's no wonder that three of the most experienced Lucas game designers, Noah Falstein, Ron Gilbert and David Fox, were allowed to work on the game.
The result, the first Lucasfilm Games adventure game that was no longer developed for the C64, but primarily for the PC, generally sticks very closely to the plot of the film, but concentrates largely on three key locations (Venice, Brunwald Castle and the Temple of the Holy Grail) and expands on these considerably – So if you know the film inside out, it's easier to get through the game, but you still don't know all the answers.
"The Last Crusade" is a very difficult and sometimes frustrating game: there are a number of random elements, many illogical or very obscure puzzles and, above all, many opportunities to die – something that was frowned upon in the Lucas adventures as recently as "The Secret of Monkey Island" (1990). At the same time, the game is dripping with atmosphere; for the first time in the Lucasfilm games universe, there are multiple-choice dialogs and several solutions to a problem, which boosts the replay value enormously. Just don't confuse it with the gruesome jump-n-run from U.S. Gold, which was in the stores at the same time and with a similar name, and was guaranteed to bring tears to the eyes of many 1989 Christmas trees.
Available from: GOG, Steam
"Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade" (10 Bilder)
LucasArts
)4th place: "Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine"
Developed directly by LucasArts and released in December 1999, "Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine" was Dr. Jones' very first 3D outing, and as such was extremely inspired by the first "Tomb Raider" games, which were at the height of their success at the time. Just like the pseudo-archaeologist Lara Croft, Indy jumps and runs through blocky 3D levels, from Kazakhstan to the Philippines to Mexico, this time not to stop the Nazis, but the Soviets, who are striving for power after the end of the Second World War.
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And just like the early Croft adventures, this Indy is much more a game of skill and puzzles than action: there are lots of huge stone blocks to move, levers to operate, old machines to start up and bells to ring. Indy has to master a number of precise jumps, swing over abysses with his whip, shimmy along ledges, swim through small and large lakes or paddle through wild waters in a rubber dinghy. Now and again, of course, fists, pistols, guns or the good old whip are allowed to speak – but the lion's share of your time here is spent climbing and puzzling.
The main reason why this game is so popular with Indy fans is its detailed and interesting storyline, which was once again penned by Hal Barwood, the project manager of "Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis". As a game itself, Indy's first 3D adventure suffers from the same problems as the early "Tomb Raider" games: Bulky controls, difficult camera control, lack of overview – and of course it looks like cabbage and turnips today, the chunky 3D graphics really haven't aged well. But once you've got the hang of it, there's still a remarkably captivating adventure waiting for you.
Available from: GOG, Steam
"Indiana Jones und der Turm von Babel" (9 Bilder)
LucasArts
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