Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb Review

Developer	LucasArts
Publisher	LucasArts
Genre	Action

Long known as the predessesor to the big tombs and bigger breasts of the Tomb Raider series, the Indiana Jones franchise hasn’t fared as well as the young Ms. Croft in the console world. The most recent game released was Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, a next-to-perfect Tomb Raider clone that was an N64 port of a PC game. But in the next generation, LucasArts has beat Tomb Raider to consoles with Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb.

Developed by The Collective, the folks responsible for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer game on the X-Box, the game places you into the shoes of Dr. Jones who, after returning from sabbatical with another artifact, discovers that it is one of three keys required to unlock the tomb of the first Emperor of China and the power that lies within. Indy is hired to find the other two keys to the tomb and prevent the Nazis from misusing the power; doing so requires globehopping, fistfighting and non-bondage related whipping, in the classic Indy tradition.

Gameplay - Offering as many game options as there are locations traveled in the films, it becomes clear that certain parts are far better developed then others. Much of the game is played from a 3rd person perspective as Indy runs around, beating up enemies and traversing expansive environments; on occasion, however, the game mixes it up with a bit of gunplay and some on-rails shooting. The game utilizes a slightly updated version of the engine used in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and those who’ve played that game will find much of the gameplay here similar - sadly, that game’s flaws carry over as well. The gameplay is reasonably fluid. The game utilizes a camera-relative control system, which works in most places, but is a bit clumsy when the game calls (often) for precision jumping.

The real fun to be had is twofold. Gamers who remember Buffy the Vampire Slayer will find that the hand-to-hand combat is as fun here; Indy throws a punch like a pro, and there are few things more satisfying then taking on a roomful of Nazis armed only with the leg of a table. The placement of walls is integral to this aspect of the game - you can throw an enemy into a wall and stun them, allowing you to start focusing on other enemies, or opening them up for a cheap shot. Use the push attack when an enemy is near a ledge, and they tumble head over heels to their deaths. Indy can also use his whip to keep enemies away, to disarm them and to pull an enemy close and deliver a knock-out punch. Various items in the environment can be used as well, from chairs to various weapons taken from enemies. The added layers of strategy give this part of the game a great deal more depth then the tacked-on beat-em-up portions of most action platformers. Sadly, the weapon combat isn’t as fun, simply because it seems less realistic; who knew that an enemy could survive almost a full submachine gun clip before finally keeling over? Additionally, the aiming is dodgy and can lead to numerous cheap deaths.

But Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb wouldn’t be true to its name if it didn’t feature a good amount of exploration and platforming, and thankfully, it does. While occasionally frustrating, overall the game provides some of the most entertaining platforming puzzles in quite some time. By no means are they really inventive, but the engine works wonders when Indy is swinging from chain to chain, hanging on for dear life from a suspended platform or making his way up a temple from the outside. It is these moments that give the game most of its accuracy, and they deliver in spades. Many of the other puzzles aren’t really as well designed, but most are at least intuitive.

The largest frustration in the game comes from poor clipping and collision detection, which extends in some way to almost every part of the game. It’s never more frustrating to be breezing along through a level, only to fall to your death because the game engine didn’t recognize the jump distance that Indy made, and the lack of a checkpoint system will cause many levels to be repeated over and over again. It’s a design oversight that should’ve been addressed, and gives the game a somewhat false sense that it hasn’t been polished; it could definetly turn off many gamers to a worthwhile game.

Graphics - Sadly ironic is the fact that despite the many locations Indy visits throughout the game, it is these locales that were given the least attention in the development process. While everything looks as it is supposed to - Turkish mosques and Chinese palaces alike look about as accurate as one could expect - there is a significant lack of polish in the background modeling, and especially when stretches of the game place you in the same area for many levels, you begin to notice the blandness. This is made up for by some really excellent character modelling - Indy’s face looks really authentic, and the lip-synching is as good as anything since Half-Life started the trend back in 1998. But the recycling of the Buffy engine shows here, as many animations are really jerky and incomplete. Granted, some are workable, but many in Emperor’s Tomb are untouched from that game, and that bit of laziness can’t be disguised.

Sound - Whether or not Harrison Ford may be starring in the rumored fourth movie to the Indiana Jones series, it appears he was too busy to voice one of his seminal roles here. But for once, that’s not a problem - the current voice actor for Indy does a dead-on Ford impression that allows many of the game’s inside jokes to work as well as they do. Most of the other dialogue is quite good as well; although it was almost my expectation to see the Chinese characters break off in a horribly stereotypical accent, many of them do actually speak in Mandarin (and the game translates), and a few of the Nazis speak in German as well. It’s a small touch, but from all the bad caricatured accents to be heard in video games, it’s a nice one. The musical score utilizes the classic Indiana Jones theme well, but many of the original compositions for the game step into bad cultural stereotypes, and are none too pretty.

Overall Value - Starting over on next-gen consoles with a new developer may have been the brightest idea LucasArts has concieved since the announcement that there would be no sequel to the PSone game Masters of Teras Kasi. The Collective’s development offers a style that doesn’t seem to perfectly emulate that of Tomb Raider, and in doing so feels more like the Indy movies then any game has in the past. And while a few flaws grab on to Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb, those willing to follow Indy’s lead and do some digging will find a fun gameplay experience that works well with the license and creates a number of memorable moments worthy of the legacy.

Review by Adam Matlock