''HOLD ONTO YOUR POTATOES!''
Developed: MachineGames
Published: Bethesda Softworks
Genre: Action Adventure
Release Date: Dec 9th,2024
Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC, Gamepass
*Review copy provided by Bethesda Softworks
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is the latest adventure for the greatest adventurer of all time and it is developed by MachineGames and published by Bethesda. Indiana Jones is back in the saddle and whipping into action in what is being called his grandest adventure yet, but this time coming way of our gaming screens. But does it live up to the hype as promised? or is it just another Crystal Skull and Dial Of Destiny? Only one way to find out, so lets go!
''THE LEGEND IS BACK''
GAMEPLAY:
I've been playing this game for nearly two weeks now due to being provided early access by Bethesda and I'm going to start off right away being very blunt with what I say. Its been a long time since we've had a genuinely entertaining or rather GOOD Indiana Jones experience. With Crystal Skull and the recent release of Dial Of Destiny completely missing the point of what Indiana Jones is and was. We as Indiana Jones fans have been feeling forgotten and tossed to the side since The Last Crusade and the same time frame holds up for the video game realm too with the last glimmer of hope for a proper video game being Indiana Jones Great Adventures on Super Nintendo, which gave us an action game based off the trilogy in the same vein as the treatment Star Wars got on Super Nintendo as well - and both ended up being amazing. But now here we are at the very end of 2024 with the promise of Indy's next big adventure being his grandest and one that is MachineGame's biggest outings in development they've ever attempted, and for the most part, I think their efforts paid off, albeit not 100% fully, but then again no game is truly perfect... well, except for Dizzy and his Fantastic Adventures, but that comparison isn't fair to use, so we'll refrain for Indy's sake. Set between the events of Raiders Of The Lost Ark and The Last Crusade, you take on the role of our whip wielding archaeologist in the year 1937 who is still teaching at Marshall College. However, no down time is given to our wise cracking hero as someone begins breaking into the college campus, looking for something specific. Chalking it up to just some ''dumb kids'' who are about to get expelled, he follows the mayhem left behind, before ultimately running into a mysterious figure and giant of a man named Locus, who is played by the late Tony Todd. Even putting up a fight against him, Indy doesn't stand a chance and gets knocked out. Upon awakening he realizes one of the artifacts has been stolen, a Cat Mummy. ''But why'' he thinks to himself, what importance does it hold?. Finally not being able to take it, he sets off on his newest adventure to figure out the mystery of the robbery, Locus and the significance of the statue. ''Wait, hold up? our manly bro Indy got beat up? dude is that weak? ''you say. Oh shush.. don't you dare call him weak, bro's been through a lot and also remember ''Its not the years honey, its the milage''. These adventures take a toll on someone's body, so let's see you try to dodge poisonous arrows and run from gigantic boulders. Oh you've done that before too? well never mind then, moving on.
Immediately from the start of the game, due to the setting, atmosphere and amazing voice acting by Troy Baker, you feel like this game was plucked straight out of a movie screen and thrown on your console and PC and it actually feels like... an adventure... weird, right?. This is made apparent by all the various locations you will venture off to with Indy, some of which I won't speak of as they involve major story plot points that I do not wish to spoil, but areas I can speak about though are lush jungles that you must trudge your way through, which has great foliage and dense trees, being able to explore Marshall College to see just where Indy has worked all this time in greater detail to see just what all has been collected over the years, being able to visit the Vatican and its ancient chambers to see a lively city with civilians, guards, secret areas and use candles and torches to traverse dark and eerie catacombs while solving puzzles with precision as one of the worlds leading archaeologists. Everything feels alive, vibrant and it WANTS to you explore it and feels completely authentic to the world that was built within the first original trilogy of movies. This becomes more clear the more you play the game with Indy's classic quips and sarcastic humor coming into play, especially between him and tag along buddy, Gina. These two are constantly going at each other with back and forth quips to one up each other in instances like when she invites herself along on his adventures and hes annoyed because he always works alone and thats how he likes it, so when shes looking around a Vatican treasure trove and spots a painting she likes, he has to scruff at that and ask her ''what are you a paintings critic now too?'' just to throw out some sass. This is also evident in other scenes as well after having knocked out an enemy, Nazi's and other enemies come to barge in the room, so you and Gina hastily try to figure out how to get out of sight so you don't get caught. But what makes these scene funny in particular and 100% on brand with the charm of the Indiana Jones series is the camera pan shot to show a side shot of the Nazi's talking to each other and in the background, you see Indy and Gina slowly dragging the body out of sight as the Nazi's turn around to enter the room. Its great. Same feeling is had when you knock out a foe and they start to wake up and Gina constantly taps Indy on the shoulder like ''Indy, look, hes waking up'', only for him to ignore her like ''beat it kid''. Then for him to finally get annoyed and just goes ahead and decks the guy in the face again to re-knock him out without saying anything. Its classic Indy for me personally and gives me vibes of him just shooting the sword guy in Raiders Of The Lost Ark because he cant be bothered with trying to fight him - and I love it. The developers really got the tone and charm of what makes Indiana Jones works in regards to presentation and character. But character and presentation isn't all this game has to offer because adding to it is the way you tackle your missions and its combat.
''UP UP AND AWAY''
As you start diving into the gameplay mechanics, which are intricately designed in itself, you are given the freedom to approach your missions and adventures in relation to picking and choosing whether you want Stealth your way through a mission or area or fight your way through, its your choice. The best part about that? NO INSTANT FAIL STEALTH MISSIONS. Hallelujah!. Finally someone had the balls to do it. Now I won't have to let my face melt off in annoyance like I have to do in nearly other game that uses a stealth mechanic and it makes me happy. I feel like like Dobby getting a sock, I AM FREE.. master has presented me clothing. Only thing missing was is my own Short Round side kick, but hey, cant win them all. Should you be having trouble in with the combat, which will we dive more thoroughly into in just a moment, the game offers you a good amount of flexibility with the difficulty setting as well that lets you adjust it and tailor your experience to the way you wish to play. Do you want to quietly sneak past enemies or punch a Nazi in the face? me? well of course, I chose to punch a Nazi in the face because its just so satisfying to do. I mean come on, running up to them and being like ''YOU DID NOT NOT-SEE this coming'' and begin whaling on them with punches. Good times... wait wait wait, oh crap, noooo. Never mind, looks like I'm the one that got Zerstört. This is where the difficulty levels comes into play by switching to Adventurer mode, you're able to lower enemy interactions and lower their strength, giving you an ideal playthrough for people that like to coast and enjoy a leisure story. Puzzles for me however, played a huge part in my enjoyment of the game and instead of just being obstacles you need to bypass to make it to one area or another and just be done with it, here in Great Circle, they're integral parts to the story and narrative and designed specifically to match your environment and its culture, which leaves each feeling significant in their own ways. Puzzles can range from turning a pillar to spin a monument which houses another puzzle that requires a whip pull and intricate movements of the stones to fit them just right, others involve facing statues the correct way by finding claws for dragon statues, moving through fiery lairs to take part in trials by swinging over fire pits to grab stone tablets or dodging swinging blades as you make perfectly timed jumps and even some that require you to figure out the correct numerals to choose from as you move a dial back and forth until all align with the crucifixion Jesus painting, etc. There are many many more, but to show all the ones I've encountered would be a disservice to the creativity put into them all. However, what if you are having a brain fart and cant figure out the puzzles? thankfully that's been thought of too by the developers by the introduction of Indy's camera. Using this camera that you obtain by overpaying for it after robbing innocent civilians like yoink, my money now, chump. I mean not civilians, enemy combatants, yes.. that's who I'm stealing from, you heard NOTHING. Using the camera and taking pictures of ancient text or even the puzzle itself will have Indy document specific hints on how to solve the puzzle to help you in your plight to solve it, should you need it... or just take pictures of random people and invade the privacy, either one works.
Even if you get lost or lose track of what you want to do, you're able to utilize the Journal System. With this system, not only does it allow you to track progress of all main quests, side quests and fast travel, but also is able to let you use your accumulated ability points you have obtained to upgrade Indy's abilities with things like faster regeneration of your health after knocking out an enemy, stronger attack power, better grappling when holding enemies, etc etc. These abilities, while not anything overly amazing, do work in conjunction with your combat as you Parry your opponents and punch them in the face with a combination attack with fists, get rushed by a group of enemies and have to mow them down with a rifle or pistol, switch clothes on the fly to move through Rome as a Cleric or as a soldier, use your Iconic whip to stun enemies, knock weapons out of their hands, or give them the Mortal Kombat ''GET OVER HERE'' to long whip them to pull them towards you, etc etc. It all feels very smooth. Maybe not robust as it COULD BE but enjoyable enough to where it doesnt feel repetitive. Plus using the whip also allows to you traverse buildings, mountains, catacombs, airplanes, and other major areas as you shimmy across ledges and make hard to reach jumps as some have you use your whip as a hook to swing and jump over areas.. and it really makes you FEEL like you're the true Indiana Jones, which is awesome. DUH NUH NUH, DUH NUH NAH, DUH NUH NUH NAH, DUH NUH NUH NUH NAH!
''SLIP N SLIDE!''
Overall:
At the end of the day Indiana Jones and the Great Circle ended up being the Indiana Jones adventure I've been wanting and waiting for since the original trilogy of movies and even since the Super Nintendo line of games. Is it perfect? not really. Issues I can see people having with it include things like its not as set and action heavy as something you see in more modern action games like Uncharted, combat isn't as in depth as people might think or want and maintains are pretty level mellow pace, then last gripe I can see people having is that its not very long either, clocking in at around 12 to 15 hours if you skip the side quests. However with classic Indy humor and gags, the iconic Indiana Jones theme playing during heroic moments, amazing voice acting by Troy Baker that immerses you in Ford's character, creative puzzles that are fun to do rather than feel like an hindrance to the games pace, awesome locations to explore that range from jungles, to blimps to deserts to the Vatican itself, fun combat system that utilizes the cheesy ''POW'' sound you heard in all old 80's movies when someone punched, great characters and humor, easy to follow journal system, etc etc. All of the positives outweigh any negatives I personally had and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the game, and I feel any long time Indiana Jones fan will feel the same. So with all that having been said, my verdict is clear, GameNChick sagt: Jetzt kaufen. I mean GameNChick says BUY NOW. German's almost got me. Thanks Indy.
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