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To fully understand the problems of this title, we must start at the beginning -- Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb was originally developed for the Xbox, its controllers, and its hardware in mind. Skipping on development time, it appears that the game was directly ported to the PS2 with no special consideration given to the necessary things required for a port to be successful. This means that graphics are overly blocky with a terrible, game-inhibiting framerate; the controls are superfluous and awkward; and the loading times are minutes in the making. This all lends to an overall tone of a rushed and very unpolished game. In true Indy fashion, the story starts as Indy heads off to some ruins outside of Ceylon in order to find a relic; soon thereafter, the Nazis (who else?) get involved and a full-blown, epic movie plot unfolds across the expanses of Istanbul, Hong Kong, various locales of China, and even the Nether World in 10 missions with a varying amount of levels in each. But the story fails to explain the point of each level--What are the objectives? How do I accomplish them? And just why exactly do I need to find the elevator in this section? Indy is on his own with only the pause menu and occasional cut-scene for reference to figure out what exactly needs to be accomplished in each section, although the formulas are remarkable similar--walk, fight, pull switch, fight, platforms, level ends. Each level unfolds in a very linear fashion--see a switch? Better pull it. See some guys? Better fight them. See a platform across yonder way? Better jump over there. The level design just feels forced and ends up providing a very ho-hum, generic experience. But there is an oasis in the desert of tedium--the combat. With a full third of the game concentrating on Indy, his whip, and other fun weapons, I'm more than happy to see my turbaned nemeses bear down on my archaeological avatar. With his bare hands alone, Indy has a score of combos readily available in true, bar brawling fashion. Expect to see roundhouse haymakers, hammer punches, and desperate kicks as Indy fights it out with the denizens of the respective levels. Additionally, each weapon--from the necessary whips to sub-machine guns to innocent bystander chairs--has its own fighting system. Guns have a firing mode (naturally) as well as a melee attack mode (because nothing beats pistol whipping Nazis for maximum gaming satisfaction). Indy's whip has a horizontal attack, a vertical attack, a combo system based off of those, and even a grab attack for latching onto an enemy's weapon or head, whichever is closest, to pull it over for additional whomping. Combine this with some Solid Snake-esque moves like taking cover behind walls and then leaping out to shoot, and the game's combat is very stylistic. There is even an enemy lock-on feature that makes fighting Hong Kong ninjas that much easier, but it helps little to combat the camera problems. Also available are several usable items--cranes and machine gun turrets--that help to spice up gameplay and offer an interesting diversion from falling to inevitable platforming doom. Unfortunately, no weapon at Indy's disposal can ward off the dreaded 3rd person camera, as that quickly turns into the combat system's most difficult opponent. However, combat is only responsible for a third of the overall gaming experience. When the combat stops and the player is forced into the navigation challenges and puzzle and trap negotiation, the game turns into a frustration festival. Navigation challenges is just a fancy way of saying "platform jumping." And, this is where the game takes a very, very bad turn. 3rd person platformers have a nasty habit of being difficult, and while some games have enabled features like auto-jump or auto-grab to simplify arduous jumping, Indiana Jones decides to incorporate platforms as an integral part of the game. That means, fall and you'll, at best, have to start the jumping over from the beginning--at worst, die and restart the level due to the lack of mid-level save points. Combine this with a camera that doesn't always make the best choices, and curses will commence. I don't have a problem with difficult and challenging, but rewarding games; but I do have a problem with plummeting to my death at the fault of a game's camera. In my term of playing, a full half of my deaths could be directly attributed to the game's poor design or camera. The savior of many 3rd person platformers is the ledge auto-grab, however Indiana Jones relies on a perfectly executed, perpendicular approach in order to get the feature to work, which makes it just about useless--approach at any kind of acute or obtuse angle and some serious plummeting is sure to commence. Puzzles, thankfully, shy away from box-pushing, but still lean toward the ol' convention of switch pulling. None of the puzzles are overly difficult for the puzzles' sake, but figuring out exactly what is a switch and what objects can be moved where insures that the frustration quota will be met. Due to the lack of clear objectives, some puzzles just don't make any sense, and the player is left confused. I have to free a glider from the clutches of a clock tower in order to advance? Sure, whatever. Luckily, on-screen icons appear when Indy can interact with an object, and with one swift button push, the corresponding inventory item comes out and the interacting can commence. A very good feature for a game where the ladders appear to be parts of the wall. However, bump the game up to Hard mode, and these icons disappear, making the game much, much more confusing. Of
special note is the game's amazing manual. Every detail, right down the software
license and mail-in registration card, has been created to appear as part of Indy's
research diary. If you are the type of gamer that savors manuals and game art,
this is one to be seen. Everything is incorporated into a 1930s-esque style that
puts other black and white manuals to shame. Kudos manual designers--you are the
MVPs of the development team. Graphics:
3/10 Many of the environments in Indiana Jones are large, expansive, outdoor locations that are actually kind of impressive--Istanbul and Hong Kong in particular. The cities reveal many gorgeous buildings in the distance that really lend a certain feeling of immersion--if only I didn't have to view them at 15 frames per second. Play in a tight room with no enemies, and the game is smooth. Once the screen is populated with enemies and buildings, it takes but seconds and eyes water from the blurs and terrible frame rate that does all but make the game unplayable. And although, I have to compliment the developers on making the camera see through Indy when pressed against a corner, I could rarely get that feature to work without manipulating it through walls that weren't so transparent. Every section of the game is a battle versus a camera that just refuses to cooperate. I hate it, and no armed ninja in the world makes my Indy avatar quiver as much as a bad camera angle. Indy,
himself, looks good. His face is recognizably Indy, and being able to see inventory
items represented on Indy as he collects them is a very cool feature. However,
watching Indy as he falls into a wall or through a platform is not. The collision
is terrible; it's not uncommon to see Indy half in a wall or an enemy's sword
poking through a shut door. On several occasions, I even fell through a platform.
These are problems unbecoming of a finished product. Control:
4/10 Add
to this the aforementioned grievances with platforming, and there seems little
reason to get involved with this title. But there is a light at the end of the
tunnel. Manipulating Indy's whip is a thing of beauty as he uses it to swing,
fight, and pull enemies' weapons from their hands. And although it is a bit too
unwieldy in the later battles, it's a joy to use while he can. The game also makes
cover an important part of the game, and luckily Indy can duck behind a wall,
then jump out to fire some shots, and jump back into cover to reload and evaluate
the situation. If the camera decides to agree, it's just awesome when executed
correctly. Overall: 4/10
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