Indiana Jones
It wouldn’t be strange to assume Indiana Jones had fallen off the edge of the Earth. Following its announcement back at E3 ’06, LucasArts hasn’t really revealed anything about the game, with its official page telling us the availability of it is TBD. So based on that, why are we bringing you a preview of a game that could be delayed beyond 2008? Excitement, that’s the answer!
You see, Indiana Jones never emerged with a goal of having the best graphics (though at the time they looked damn impressive, now showing the game’s age) or showcasing how the PS3’s processor can be used by throwing enemy after enemy on the screen. Instead, it focused on one area most games are lacking in these days, the storyline. Set in 1939 and written ‘with direction from’ George Lucas himself, you are put in the shoes of Indy with your trusty revolver and whip, and sent across the globe in search of ancient artefacts containing clues. There’s no doubt many people reading this won’t like the sound of it at all, in which case it’s probably best you don’t read on. We understand this will mainly appeal to Indiana Jones – or indeed, adventure – fans, and if that’s your thing, great, but if not, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to appreciate how the story is going to turn out. It sounds generic, but we’re certain originality isn’t needed to make this game fantastic.
There will always be people who disagree and think originality is the key, and that’s where the second half of Indiana Jones’ promise lies. The thing LucasArts is really pushing with the game is the NaturalMotion technology Euphoria, in watered-down terms, intelligent intelligence! What this bio-mechanical AI delivers is an incredibly realistic reaction from enemies, in real-time. On top of that, the action is not scripted, so what enemies will do is unpredictable. This is complimented by destructible environments – imagine fighting with enemies that react more like humans and less like apes. Now send that enemy falling off the edge of a ledge, or who’s to say they won’t try and do the same to you if you don’t make the move first? Another outcome could be a failed attempt at pushing the enemy off the ledge and watching as they climb back up… you just don’t know.
Let’s put this into context. In the E3 demo of the game Euphoria was presented in various scenarios, but the most impressive was where Indy was walking across a rope bridge. The thing that would make anyone visually stunned here is that you have control over the bridge, while our man is automatically making his way to the other side, trying not to stumble with the movements of the surface beneath him. If anything similar makes its way into the final game, it’s bound to go down in videogame history as an example of how things should be done.
Euphoria promises to be designed so no two reactions will ever be the same. You can see this for yourself in the game’s official trailer, where Dr Jones throws an enemy into a stationary vehicle, with different reactions being shown. The first time, the idiot goes flying at the windows sending glass shattering over himself. Ho, ho! The second time he is sent headfirst into the bodywork, and the third and fourth time… well, different things happen then as well! The same basic principle can be applied to all manner of situations, whether it’s using a gun to fire at objects or fighting on the top of a moving tram (which does happen)!
As far as graphics are concerned, as we’ve already mentioned, the game has showed its age, looking like a top-notch title at one point and now being bettered by most of the other PS3 releases you’ll find on the shelves at the moment. It’s pleasing to the eye though, which is all that matters, and with LucasArts not releasing any new trailers or screens, there’s no doubt the current development build behind closed doors looks miles better than the trailers and screenshots show.
With no release date in the open Indiana Jones could still be a long way from completion, but either way, it looks like it will be a fine game if the screws are put in the right places. It certainly has the promise, and the only thing that really needs to be worked on is the graphics, which shouldn’t be such a task for a developer like LucasArts. Finally, before people start saying this will be like every other movie tie-in to date, it’s a completely original story, not related to the fourth film in any way, so now you know. If adventure has a name… we’ve just found it!
