Retro Review-Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb (PC)

I saw the Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time at age 14.

16 years later, the Indy movies are still some of my favorites. The exotic locales, treasure hunting, action scenes, and Harrison's sarcasm meld together in a culmination of timeless entertainment.

My first Indy gaming experience was Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, on PC.

Boasting a well-written story and amazing graphics for it's time, Indy traverses much of the globe including Iraq, Egypt, Peru, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, New Mexico, and the Sudan.

My dreams of playing it again were crushed by the sad reality that it's not available digitally. It was a late 90's game, and is not really compatible with modern systems.

(Once I find a physical copy, I'll find a way)

EDIT- Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine IS finally available digitally- on GOG as well. Click here.

In the meantime, unable to play Infernal Machine and jonesing for more Indy, I began searching the web for other Indy titles, and found

one on gog.com (Good Old Games).

It was developed by The Collective, a studio I'd not heard of previously.

That made me nervous.

When Disney bought out Lucasfilm, they also acquired it's subsidiaries, including Lucasarts.

Lucasarts was shut down on April 3rd, 2013.

Disney cancelled all existing and future projects, and laid off most of their employees. Their reasoning? They wanted to "minimize the company’s risk while achieving a broad portfolio of quality Star Wars games.”

What a wasted opportunity.

With fond memories of Infernal Machine in mind, I prepared myself for disappointment and booted up Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb.

A 15 year-old game with a 6 dollar price tag. How good could it be?

The year is 1935. We find Indy in the jungles of Ceylon, Sri Lanka, where he is looking for the fabled idol of Kouru Watu.

This acts as a tutorial level of sorts, teaching the player to navigate traps, fight, and solve puzzles.

Indy is voiced by David Esch this time around, and he actually sounds a lot like Harrison. The character model's detail is impressive for such an old game too-right down to Harrison's trademark chin scar.

I quickly learned that this Indy game is a lot more action-oriented than Infernal Machine.

It takes a little time to get used to the PC controls, but they aren't bad once you've had a bit of practice.

The combat system is pretty cool.

You can brawl with your fists, put your enemy in a headlock, bash them over the head with a chair, whip a gun out of their hands, throw them over a cliff, you name it.

You'll encounter ivory hunters, a prehistoric crocodile, lots of treasure, and a stereotypical Nazi asshole who wants to steal Indy's new find for the Third Reich.

And that's just the first level!

You'll whip, fight and puzzle your way through ten huge levels, each split up into 10 different stages.

(I'd prefer to have a save option, but the game autosaves at the beginning of each new 'stage', which works well enough)

Emperor's Tomb is very combat focused, but still has puzzles to solve and traps to dodge.

There are a ton of references to the films and lore throughout the game, and the material it borrows is just enough to feel at home with the movies.

The full motion video sequences showing travel between locations are great too.

Idol in hand, Indy heads back to the University in New York.

There, he is visited by Chinese official Kai Ti Chan and his assistant Mei Ying.

Kai tells Indy about an ancient black pearl buried with the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huangdi. The artifact is said to grant great power to whoever wields it, and Marshall Kai asks Indy to get it before the Nazis do.

Of course, Jones can't resist.

You'll visit 10 different locales across the globe.

-Ceylon-

-Prague-

-Istanbul-

-Hong Kong-

-Peng Lai-

-Siam-

-The Netherworld-

There are some genuinely cool moments to be experienced, from a rickshaw gun battle on the streets of Hong Kong to a fistfight atop a moving cable car in Peng Lai.

You'll infiltrate a secret Nazi submarine base, use a mounted machine gun against divebombing attack planes, explore ancient tombs, a sinister old castle and more.

I really don't have much to say about this game that isn't positive.

My only real gripes are:

1. The camera is occasionally finicky when close to walls.

2. On-the-go inventory access can be a bit troublesome when in combat.

3. Guns feel like they should do more damage, but Indy's powerful fists are generally effective in every situation.

Overall, I enjoyed it thoroughly-and if you're an Indy fan, I highly recommend it.

Despite some minor glitches and occasional annoyances with the controls, Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb is a lot of fun, and may sadly be the last real Indy game, so go pick it up!

Edit: newly available on Xbox One. (Backwards compatible)

Score:

8.5/10