Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb The Indiana Jones game franchise has been around for a very long time, initially based on the movies, and later on coming up with their own titles. The first of these, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, was an adventure game, featuring both great gameplay and storyline. The game was a great hit, and are still being remembered by some enthusiast gamers today. Several years later, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine is released, and this time it was a third person action game (ala Tomb Raider), which is agreed by many to be a suitable new perspective for the Indiana Jones game franchise. The Indiana Jones movies were, well, action adventure movies after all. However, The Infernal Machine was a disappointing failure, with crappy gameplay and a not so involving storyline. Four years later, Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb is released. The game, initially released on the XBox console platform earlier this year, is found to be quite buggy, crippling its gameplay value. The PC version, however, is released only recently, and PC gamers will be glad to find out that most of the bugs from its Xbox counterpart are now cleaned up. This makes the game much more enjoyable and playing as what it was originally intended to be. The Middle Kingdom Beckons The Emperor's Tomb is set in the pre-World War II period, just like most Indiana Jones adventure. As always, Indiana Jones is placed in the task of recovering an ancient artifact, this time a Chinese artifact, rumoured to possess an immense power (don't they always do). This artifact, of course, is buried deep within the tomb of the first emperor of China, the great Chin Shih Huang Ti. Hence, The Emperor's Tomb. But of course, the adventure not only takes place in China, but also throws our favourite adventurer all over the world to locations like Sri Lanka, Prague, and Istanbul. Along the way, you will fight your way through numerous enemy types, namely the Nazis (as always), hunters, Chinese gang members, and even some evil spirits later on in the game. To help you with that, the game offers you several weapons at your disposal. There is your ever-trusty whip and your standard six bullets revolver, which will accompany you on almost every mission. There are also the standard array of pistols, submachine guns, grenades, and so forth. What really differs The Emperor's Tomb from The Infernal Machine is how the melee combat system works. Surprisingly The Emperor's Tomb offers one of the most enjoyable melee combat system to date on a 3rd person action adventure game. Although the game allows you to pick up almost all sorts of melee weapons in the game (a torch, a shovel, and even chairs), you will eventually find your favourite melee weapon to be your... Fists. That's right, the game follows true to the Indiana Jones movie by even allowing you to beat up your enemy using your fists. And trust me, it handles tremendously well, too, and it is the most pleasurable moment in the game - this is no joke. Use Your Whip! The game is quite long, with around 30 levels altogether, but here is another surprising note - Chances are, you will not get bored of it. Sure, the gameplay is quite typical in almost all of the levels, with you jumping, solving puzzles, fighting through enemies, but most of the time you will do all that in a different environment. The game switches locations fairly quickly (with average of around 3 missions only in each location), which is a very nice way to keep the boredom factor away while using the same recipe for gameplay. Also, while you are in all these locations, do note that there is always a number of optional artifacts to be found (3 in each location, to be exact). These artifacts are usually hidden away from plain sight and requires you to observe and search an area carefully. And when you have finally collected all of them (30 in total), you will be treated to a nice gallery of concept arts, which is very much well worth all the effort. I Have A Bad Feeling About This... Like most games developed for the console platforms, The Emperor's Tomb uses a checkpoint system for saving games (basically one checkpoint per level). Although I always oppose the use of checkpoints for saving games, most of the levels in The Emperor's Tomb are pretty short, and as such I do not really find it annoying if I have to replay a certain level from the start. The game controls are basically the same as with most 3rd person game, using the standard W,S,A,D keys on the keyboard for movement, and the mouse for camera control. However, I find the camera controls for The Emperor's Tomb quite frustrating, as it does not really sync with your movement controls very well. You will need to spend some time practising them before you can really become adept with the controls, which is crucial if you need to pass the later levels. Suffice to say, the last few levels are filled with a lot of timed jumping and whipping, so it is imperative that you get yourself comfortable with the controls beforehand. This & That Graphical-wise, I would say that it is okay. The characters in the game are richly detailed, as are the environments. Shadow and lighting effects are mediocre, but sufficient enough to make the game looks good. With all details turned on, the game can still pump out smooth frame rate even on an ageing Ti 4200 graphics card. The animations are done nicely, you can even see Indy's pouch dangling here and there when he is running. And when it comes to melee combat (especially when you use your fists), the animations are top-notch. There are a lot of moves available, and the game conveys these moves pretty well on the screen. At times you can even feel like as if you are playing some fighting game (eg. Tekken). However, I do note that there are still some clipping issues where at some instances a character can fall through walls (or even the floor), but that is not enough to ruin the game entirely. The sound effects are average, nothing extraordinary, but good enough to please the ears. There is no 5.1 support, however. The music comprises of the standard Indiana Jones theme, and also modified versions of it. The voice-over, on the other hand, varies depending on the characters. Basically, most of them are okay, except for the Chinese voice-overs - They are spoken in Mandarin and Cantonese, but mostly with an American accent. However, the voice-over for Indiana Jones is very good, at times I am sure you can even mistake his voice for Harrison Ford himself! Conclusion Overall, the game is a good play. The awkward camera controls will throw you off at first, but when you get comfortable with it, you will find that you have not wasted your money and time by playing this game after all. Well, this is certainly one game to play while waiting for the next Indiana Jones movie (keep your fingers crossed!). Rating Gameplay - 4 / 5 stars Graphics - 3.5 / 5 stars Sound - 3.5 / 5 stars Overall - 3.5 / 5 stars The Good A lot of levels, but you will not get bored! Also the exceptional melee combat system (especially when you are using your fists!). And of course - It's an Indiana Jones adventure! The Bad The checkpoint save game system. The Ugly The last few levels require precise timing. You will find yourself dying several times and this annoying factor really takes the kick out of the game sometimes. To make matters worse, some cutscenes just cannot be skipped at all! *All screenshots attached are taken from the official website.
Hmm...not bad for second attempt. Actually I didn't read the first one! The content is pretty good, especially the story. But I find it lacking in the technical parts, like the graphics, sound etc... Otherwise, no complain!
