In 1981, Roger Ebert called “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark” “a film of out-of-body experience, brilliant imagination and breakneck pace that grabs you at the first shot, sending you into a state of incredible thrill.” takes you through the series, and brings you back to reality… breathless, dizzy, wrinkled, and with a silly smile on your face.’ In 2024, MachineGames takes the opposite approach with “Indiana Jones and the Great Circle,” the first “Indiana Jones” video game in nearly 15 years that lets you explore and adventure between main scenes. Inspires to discover, and while the pace is far from breakneck and the excitement lower than one might expect, “The Great Circle” is an adventure on par with Steven Spielberg’s “Indiana Jones.” Original Trilogy.
MachineGames may have placed “The Great Circle” right after “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” but it has the narrative soul of “The Last Crusade.” After a prologue that recreates the ending of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and teaches Indy the basics of how to move and survive, the adventurous archaeologist returns to his academic post at Marshall College in Connecticut. Marion, his fiancée, is fed up with Indy’s emotional distance and leaves, but soon he has to deal with bigger problems. Literally. An exceptionally large man sneaks into the college at night, destroys some exhibits, and tases Indy before making out with an unexpected prey – a mother cat. He also conveniently leaves a medallion that Indy believes to belong to the Vatican.
This strange series of events sends Indiana Jones across the world to stop Nazi leader Emmerich Voss from uncovering an ancient secret about the so-called Fallen Angels. Indy travels from Rome to Egypt, Shanghai, and the Himalayas, among other places, to stop Voss, and it’s another example of a cryptic Biblical mystery that could make Adolf Hitler’s army unstoppable. MachineGames’ approach to telling the “Indiana Jones” story is refreshing. Despite still focusing on Biblical mythology, the narrative unfolds in dozens of small pieces and becomes as much about the secrets buried in a place’s past and the challenges facing the people of Indiana Jones as it is about is about the search for a specific thing.
The advantage of telling the “Indiana Jones” story in the modern video game format is that MachineGames has time to more effectively develop the supporting cast, and they certainly make the most of that opportunity. Indy’s network of helpers around the world comes close to stealing the show, from lovable R&B-loving priest Father Antonio to Indy’s close family friend Marcus Brody, the latter of whom is played by David Shaughnessy in a performance that Has given a voice which is as close as possible. To Denholm Elliot’s Marcus Brody in movies without Denholm Elliot. Gina Lombardi, Indy’s counterpart in “The Great Circle”, is easily one of the franchise’s best companions, a smart, independent journalist who doesn’t suffer from any of the damsel in distress she appeared in the ’80s film trilogy.
No matter how strong the supporting cast, the intricately designed locations visited by Indiana Jones are the highlights in “The Great Circle.” The “Assassin’s Creed” games also recreate specific periods of history in exquisite detail, but those adventures are about power. His main characters are practically superheroes who can climb anything, overcome any obstacle, and leap from impossible heights with grace and land with athletic elegance. Indiana Jones is not that kind of hero. He is an ordinary man with above average luck who makes rapid leaps down stairs and struggles against gravity as he climbs a wall with the help of his bullwhip. That sense of ordinariness is what makes “The Great Circle” feel exciting and almost subversive at times. These excellent feats are many No within your power, so completing them feels even more satisfying, even if the methods available To Fulfillment of them is relatively limited.
“The Great Circle” operates under a specific set of rules that seem restrictive until you learn to work with them. For example, Indy can only climb a specific type of drainpipe, and his whip only works as a rope or grapple in certain areas. A decanter breaks when it joins a fascist, but not when you smash it into a table. The nuns have no problem seeing a priest walking around the Vatican City campus with a rifle, even if he shoots an Italian fascist, nor do they particularly mind when that priest walks around on a rooftop. -Running there.
At some point during its development cycle, MachineGames may have envisioned “The Great Circle” as a more in-depth project in the style of Arkane’s “Dishonored” or IO Interactive’s modern “Hitman” games. It sometimes retains that freedom and improvisation, but most secret sections and quests give you few options to work with and only one or two paths to uncover. These restrictive elements are most prominent in linear areas, like exploring ruins or dealing with traps, where you often have a set path and a single solution, though they’re easy to ignore when “The Great Circle” forces you to do it. Free to explore. More open areas.
“The Great Circle” may only give you one or two ways to reach a specific area, but finding those ways requires you to become familiar with the layout of a place and learn as much as possible about your surroundings. forces. MachineGames bucked the trend of heavy-handed guidance with “The Great Circle” and gave you the chance to figure things out for yourself. Quest markers only appear if you have a map of Indy, and the only way to learn more about a mysterious object or troublesome situation is to search for clues. You might find a document that alerts you to someone being held captive somewhere else on the site, or solve a puzzle that rewards you with an item with no context for its significance. .
Letting you explore freely seems like a simple concept, but it’s the kind of immersion that most big budgets have left behind in the last decade. Even if the actual objectives are the same as you might find in similar games – for example, locating Gives emotion. These are not intended to be ticked off a list. They’re little adventures in themselves.
Combat in “The Great Circle” has a similarly scrappy, improvised feel, thanks to Indy’s iconic whip and the impressive variety of objects he can use as tools of violence. You can use the whip to disarm or stun enemies, depending on where your target is, and bring everything from brooms to wrenches to combat the fascists. Combat has a weighty feel that makes killing a Nazi with a shovel feel good, though it never really develops over the course of Indy’s adventure, even with some of the additional skills he acquires. Can learn.
Fist-fights are intense and require a careful balance between blocking, dodging and finding your way out, although when more than one enemy is present – which they often are – it’s a bit pointless. “The Great Circle” isn’t designed for Indie to handle more than two enemies at a time, so later, more open areas, become puzzles that task you with figuring out how to kill enemies. Be separated.
This is far from the only type of puzzle “The Great Circle” comes your way. There are all kinds of brain teasers in Indiana Jones, from number puzzles to hiding the combination to a safe to more complex matters, such as pouring wine into a goblet meant to contain Jesus’ blood after his crucifixion. Most are entertaining and well-designed, although the quality sometimes varies greatly. For every few brilliant little puzzles involving investigation, logic and synthesis, you get one that forces you to bounce rays of light off reflectors. Light puzzles and pressure plates are exactly the kind of traps and puzzles that George Lucas populated the “Indiana Jones” movies of the 1980s, but in 2024, there’s not much for game designers to go on beyond such rudimentary concepts. It is being said.
Still, solving puzzles outside the main questline nets you Adventure Points, which you can spend on skill books that teach Indiana Jones a small new skill. For example, he can upgrade his punch attacks, or gain a chance to dodge a fatal blow. It’s nothing special, and the abilities are less useful if you’re playing on lower difficulty settings. However, this experiential educational learning from illustrated books made for children is only worthwhile for entertainment.
That idea, “just for fun”, is what makes “The Great Circle” such a good “Indiana Jones” adventure. This is not the newest game. It sets strict limits on how you can interact with this world and the people in it, and it pushes you toward specific solutions during traversal and puzzle solving. But the fun of working out these solutions for yourself, using unconventional, exciting ways to accomplish familiar tasks, even using your whip to knock a gun out of a Nazi’s hand for the 50th time, is just as fun. Shows the feeling of happiness that you get from the best. “Indiana Jones” movies.
The publisher provided a review copy of this title, which is available now on Steam and Xbox.