Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb Preview

When a movie serial achieves the success Indiana Jones movies did, the cunning video-game producers will in no time realize that this is a potential gold mine worth exploiting. Indiana Jones already appeared in several relatively successful games (Last Crusade, Fate of Atlantis, Indy and the Infernal Machine). And as the cinema audience expects to see the new installment of this serial (which will in all likeliness appear by 2005), those who like to play on their PCs, Xbox's or PS2s will have the pleasure to meet Indy in Indiana Jones and The Emperor's Tomb somewhat before that.

Wee, I feel like a little kid!

Tyson vs. Lewis.

Indiana Jones is under strict copyright by Lucas Arts (and as everyone knows it was them who published all Star Wars titles), so it is not much of a surprise that they will publish the game. The Collective (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Fallen and Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the X-box) has been put in charge of the development process. The game should hit the stores by fall this year, and it is still in development, but what we can do is inform you of the facts about the game we learned so far.

Indiana Jones and The Emperor's Tomb is a third-person action adventure game, and is in a way connected to Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Doom (the movie), as it ends where the movie begins. But let us start from the beginning - the story is involving as always, set in the Far East in 1935. The bad guys are the members of the Black Dragon Triad, who made a pact with the obligatory German villain - mercenary Albrecht Von Beck wanting to find the so-called Heart of the Dragon, a miraculous black pearl which can give its wearer mind control abilities. According to the legends, this pearl lies hidden in the crypt of the first Chinese emperor for two thousand years already, and the crypt can be entered only if one finds all three parts of the Dragon Seal which has been hidden in three different places around the globe out of precaution. Marshal K'ai, a rich Asian businessman, hires Indy to find this jewel before the villains and return it to the Chinese government. The task at hand is far from easy, but it sure is enjoyable, considering the fact that Indy will be assisted by the beautiful Mei Ying - K'ai's right-hand-girl on this quest.

Some ten levels promise interesting voyages all over the planet; adventures in the sunken palace in Istanbul, fifteenth-century castle in Prague and a mountain fortress in China, rickshaw outruns on the streets of Hong-Kong, and action in the Ceylon jungles.

Apart from his attractive assistant, Indy will constantly be using his standard service revolver, whip, machete, and fists. The enemies will have quite a versatile arsenal at their disposal including a spectacular flame-thrower. In contrast to the Infernal Machine where you didn't know where you could use your whip, in IJ and the Emperor's Tomb a special icon will light up and tell you when you're near an item that can interact with the whip. This should enhance playability for the less intelligent players (I knew they'd remember the AT editors - ed). The trailers showed that the video-game rendition of Indy became as proficient with his fists as his movie version, including all the dirty moves like kicking an opponent on the ground, etc. All combat animation looks very good and realistic. Enemies will come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from common bandits to martial arts masters or even ninjas.

Sliding down is always fun.

Looking for the missing pearl.

Besides your weaponry, you will be able to use all sorts of objects from your surroundings like shovels, branches and chairs. The increased interactivity of the surroundings will require players to carefully observe the terrain and plan on how to use it, which will increase playability. All this will function thanks to the new 3D engine developed by the Collective. Many scenes will be directed like movie sequence, using advanced camera control, and lighting techniques.

The game will have many visual improvements in comparison to its predecessor - The Infernal Machine. All objects in the scene will contain a far greater number of polygons; the surroundings will be richer, and more interactive, and Indiana Jones will actually look like Harrison Ford; and really if you look at that face without the hat on it, it is a spitting image of Harrison Ford! Nice detail... In one scene, we had a chance to see Indy is holding his hat while going down a slope, and it's details like these that actually create a good 'realistic' atmosphere. As this is a third-person adventure, the camera's tracking system will take care that you always have a good sight of what is going on.

The music and the sound effects are equally important game elements, and they will be given special attention in this project. There was some talk that the music would simply be takes off the movie soundtracks, but it finally turned out that it would be written by Clint Bajakian who did the music for all other Indy games, and for the Escape from Monkey Island (Lucas Arts). All in all, we do not doubt that the music will help create a near-movie interactive experience.

The game will appear by fall 2002, and the developers will devote their remaining time to polishing and tweaking the game engine to make it really shine once it appears. As for the players, everyone who liked Indiana Jones movies (which is a humongous number according to official records) will certainly want to try Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb - the best Indy game out there. So, hold on a couple more months, and in the mean-time you can play with your bedroom-whips.