Genre: Action Adventure
Developer: The Collective
Publisher: LucasArts
# of Players: 1
Memory: N/A
ERSB: Teens
Released On: February 18th, 2003
Also On: PC, Playstation 2
Features: Progressive Scan, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Introduction:

As a child, certain movies can have a significant impact on a person’s youth, in my case, two trilogies from the mind of George Lucas left a somewhat, scarring impact on my insignificant life. These two trilogies were the original Star Wars trilogy and The Indiana Jones trilogy, both of which have been milked for all their worth since as early as the mid 80’s, if not earlier.

The Indiana Jones line of video games hasn’t been as prolific as the Star Wars line, but over the years, it has delivered some great video game experiences. Games like Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis, really got fans of Doctor Jones’ theatrical adventures thinking with a game filled with head pounding puzzles. For those fans who thirsted for action, and Nazi ass kickin’ they had a choice as well, with the great Super Nintendo platformer, the Indiana Jones Trilogy. At the end of the last video game console era, LucasArts delivered Indiana Jones and The Infernal Machine, a game that was really appreciated by hardcore gamers, but one that proved to be too puzzle heavy for those gamers looking to recreate the experience the movies deliver. So now Indiana Jones makes his first next-generation debut with The Emperor’s Tomb, a game created by The Collective, a name that might sound familiar to Xbox owners who’ve played last year’s Buffy: The Vampire Slayer.

Gameplay:

The Indiana Jones films are some of the greatest action movies in the history of cinematography, there’s really never a dull moment, and the game, for the most part, stays true to the winning formula of the movies. The Emperor’s Tomb has tons of action, and plenty of adventure. What’s there to complain about? Well no game is perfect, and in the Emperor’s Tomb there are plenty of little nuisances that really get you to frown upon the whole gameplay experience. The gameplay itself is inconsistent. Early on in the game you are treated with levels that are nicely balanced out, with tons of platforming, puzzles, and action, something which I really appreciated. Unfortunately, later on the scale begins tilt to one side, and the balance is ultimately lost. What once was an excellent balance of gameplay elements eventually becomes a one sided, action-fest, that basically involves shoot out, after shoot-out, and eventually it felt like I was reliving the nightmare that is Dead to Rights. Though, every time the need to take out Indy’s trusty whip comes, I seem to forget any problem I had with the game. There’s just something about performing a trademark move of Dr. Jones that I just can’t help but love.

I bashed the action parts of the game earlier didn’t I? Yes, I did. Well, I actually enjoyed it tinny bit, especially when in fist fights. When you’re fighting a foe or many a foe, in hand to hand combat, Indy has a nice assortment of attacks to perform, or kick ass with (whatever sounds good to you). He punches, he kicks, he can put a guy in a headlock and rub a balloon on his head, and then make it stick to the ceiling…Wait, he can’t take out a balloon, but he can put the guy in a headlock! But the best part of all is the ability to throw an enemy off a ledge. Instead of just trying to fight the guy fair in a fight; I would just grab that blonde hair, blue eyed Nazi f*ck from behind and throw him off the nearest ledge. I get a kick out of doing that every time, actually one time I pulled my revolver and shot two Nazi’s who were busy talking to each other on a balcony. I then shot the guy on the left “Ahhhhh!” boom he falls to his doom, shot the guy on the right “Ahhhhh!”, there he goes too. It’s really fun; it really makes the game just that much better.

Indy isn’t just limited to pummeling his enemies with just his fisticuffs, no; he can wield a revolver, a spear gun, a shotgun, a machete, and the oddest of them all, the leg of a broken table! Anything that looks like it can be used as a weapon is probably going to be just that. Find a chair in the room? Pick it up and start swinging. Knock a pistol out of the hands of your enemy? Go pick it up, and use it on that Nazi punk, but be careful he can do the same to you! Though, for some odd reason, I find it much easier to defeat an enemy by just using my bare fists, because for one, shooting an enemy square in the head doesn’t do a damn thing, and that just plain sucks. And since when is knife easier to use to kill a shark, (a freakin shark!) than a spear gun? Damn it, sometimes games don’t make any sense! Speaking of sharks… I can’t stand underwater levels in the majority of games out there, and The Emperor’s Tomb is no exception. I hate underwater levels, I hate crocodiles and I really, really, really, hate sharks with a passion. I freak out every time one of those damn things bites me, luckily they don’t cause as much damage as you would think, but still.

The game has a nice assortment of levels, all of which are nicely designed and spread across the globe to cities like Istanbul and Taiwan, but unfortunately these levels are too straightforward for the more experience gamer. Basically, most of what you do in the game is progress forward, though there have been one or two instances where you had to do some backtracking. And when you did do some backtracking, it was to solve some of the games more “difficult” puzzles, and I use that term loosely, though that part of the game was probably the most enjoyable. The levels themselves are chopped up into little sections, so you can easily start from the beginning of them and not be pissed off if your unfortunate demise comes. Though, sometimes they might feel as they might go a bit too long, but luckily there’s something about the game that keeps you playing continuously…I think it’s the music.

Just like any adventure game you have your boss battles, and the ones in The Emperor’s Tomb are just…odd. When I say odd, I mean crappy. Well, not crappy but more along the lines of being easy. I for one knew how to defeat most of the game’s bosses from the get go, most likely due to the FMV that tends to basically tell you what to do before fighting the boss, but I’m thinking these guys knew that I had some serious gaming skill, and decided to let themselves be killed easily. Though, I’m a bit uncomfortable with having bosses in an Indiana Jones’ game being some ancient undersea creature, some dragon, or the oddest of them all, a Nazi Frankenstein type monster (take into consideration that the game takes place in the 1930’s). I just find it a bit weird, and seeing how that in the actual Indiana Jones movies, Indy didn’t have too many encounters with the super natural, except for that time in The Last Crusade, when that dude drank out of the cup of The Carpenter instead of the actual Holy Grail, thus turning him to him to ash.

Overall, the game is nice little package that I believe any gamer can enjoy; unfortunately there’s not much to come back for. It takes about 10 hours to finish the game on the first run, and luckily it won’t feel like a burden to finish the game; actually all that classic Indiana Jones action makes the game somewhat addicting. It’s fun the first time through and that’s about it.

Visuals:

The game is good looking, no doubt about it…But does it compare to games like Splinter Cell? No way Dr. Jones!