Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb

Everyone’s favorite Nazi-fightin’, whip-crackin’, snake-hatin’ archeologist is back in a new adventure, Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb.  This is Indy’s first PC outing since the lackluster Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine a few years back.  The Collective, the same team that handled the very fun Buffy the Vampire Slayer game on the XBox, developed the Emperor’s Tomb.  In fact, the game even uses a modified version of the Buffy engine.  Therefore, the game features a very well conceived fighting engine.  However, the game does have some very notable flaws, like poor controls, clipping issues and a lousy camera.  However, the game is pretty fun and Indy fans will do good to check it out.

The story takes place a bit before the Temple of Doom.  The year is 1935, and Indy’s been hired to take on the task of discovering the burial location of Ch’in Shih-huang-ti, the Chinese emperor who unified the seven states of China in 246 B.C.  It is believed that Shih-huang-ti had buried himself with a variety of priceless artifacts.  One such artifact is the Heart of the Dragon, a black pearl with the ability to control the minds of men.  Indy won’t be alone on his search, as many are currently seeking the Heart of the Dragon, including Nazis and other nasty archeologists.

As I said earlier, the game’s fighting engine is very similar to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  You have a variety of combos at your disposal that are very fluid in execution and pretty easy to pull off.  If the hand-to-hand combat gets to heavy for you, you have many weapons that you can use to filter out the tough baddies, like an assortment of guns and your trusty whip.  The whip can be used to swing from ledge to ledge if you can’t make a jump and there is a proper outcropping to swing from, but in combat the whip can be used to back off several enemies or snatch a weapon from one of their hands.  While this all sounds well and good, the whip is actually quite cumbersome and slow when compared to Indy’s fists or a gun.  However, the combat system is done very well overall and is certainly one of the highlights of the game.

The puzzles are quite entertaining at first, but the tough controls eventually turn them into a frustrating experience.  The game is uses jumping puzzles quite frequently, and these can get annoying thanks to inaccurate jumping.  When aiming in first-person, the reticule moves very slowly, rendering aiming pretty much useless if you’re within a close range of your enemies.  Also, switching weapons is a big problem in the middle of a battle, since the key layout is far apart.  The game’s camera also poses a problem, since it gets caught in the walls and behind objects when the action gets heavy.  While you can control it somewhat with the mouse, it’s still quite problematic, especially if you want to play the game with a gamepad.

The graphics are great.  Indy looks tremendously accurate and detailed, from his clothing to his hat to the scar on his chin.  Plus, he even looks like Harrison Ford.  The characters are nicely animated, and move very naturally both in combat and normal interactions.  The environments are huge and gorgeous, and teem with atmosphere.  The texture details are great, and all the action occurs at a pretty decent framerate.  The only real problem I had with the graphics is the occasionally nasty clipping problems.  Sometimes, Indy would get caught in the walls to the point of not being able to move.

The sound is done very well.  The parts of the music that weren’t lifted from the films are very similar to John William’s score and provide a nice atmosphere for the game.  The voices, especially David Esch’s dead-on Indy impersonation, are great.  The rest of the sound effects, from the crack of the whip to the gunfire, are very good and sound straight from the movies.

Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb is a solid adventure title that features great graphics, nice atmosphere and excellent sound.  However, poorly implemented controls and a tricky camera mar the gameplay.  Aside from these problems, Indy fans should enjoy the man in the fedora’s latest quest.

Gameplay: 7.9
An excellent combat system is marred by troublesome controls and a bad camera.  The game does, however, provide a nice balance of puzzles and fighting.

Graphics: 8.5
The graphics are great.  The characters look good and are nicely animated and the environments are nicely textured.  The only problems are some nasty clipping issues.

Sound: 9.0
Everything from the gunfire to whips sounds accurate.  Plus, the voices (while not authentic) are extraordinarily faithful to the films.  The music also does a great job of conveying the atmosphere.

Difficulty: Medium               

Concept: 8.0
The game’s story provides some nice continuity as a prequel for the films, but isn’t quite on the same level plot wise.

Overall: 8.3
The Emperor’s Tomb has some flaws that will undoubtedly frustrate some gamers, like the nasty camera and controls.  However, the graphics, sounds and action make this a very faithful experience to the films and should appeal to Indy fans or someone who’s looking for a solid adventure game on the PC.