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Indiana
Jones & the Infernal Machine
Reviewed
by Jetsetter
3/1/00
Article
Discussion Forum
First
Impressions:
The
year is 1947. The Second World War is over.
The two great superpowers have now begun the
Cold War and the Soviets are in search of the
legendary Tower of Babel. The CIA wants to know
what they are looking for, and have recruited
Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones, Jr. to find out.
And so begins a globe-spanning adventure to
discover the mysterious "Infernal Machine".
Upon
first sight and trial of the game, my first
impression was that Indiana Jones was undoubtedly
just Lara Croft sans ridiculously large breasts,
and with the addition of sweaty armpit stains.
It didn't take very long to discover that I
was wrong. The Infernal Machine (TIM) uses the
same format as Tomb Raider, so the depiction
of scenery and characters has the same blocky
polygon effect. Indy also moves in much the
same way, and has the same actions. There are,
of course, differences - differences that set
TIM apart and ahead. Some of these include the
use of the whip to swing across giant gaps and
the added feature of auto-grab when jumping
to a ledge. This saves a lot of time doing reload,
if you forgot to hit the action key/button.
Another feature (if sometimes a little disconcerting),
is Indy will fade into invisibility in order
to keep the line of view clear. This really
helps when trying to manoeuvre or jump in tight
places. The cut scenes really help to keep the
plot moving along, and make you feel a part
of the adventures you are undertaking. There
are loads of puzzling situations,
which really require quite a bit of thought.
The truism 'look before you leap' really applies
to TIM. The dialogue is also very Indy-esque,
with the sarcastic barbs and one-liners you
would expect from Indiana Jones. For example,
he says when reading an inscription: " 'The
light of knowledge opens all doors' - oh sure,
and a dime will buy you a cup of coffee!". And
when finding an object: "A possibly useful doohickey!".
I found myself chuckling on more than one occasion.
Graphics:
Woe
to you if you desire to run this game at higher
than an 800x600 resolution! This is about as
high as you can go unless you've got a great
set-up. Any higher than this and the game was
jerk-city. There were still some points where
the screen would struggle to handle the detail
(and Indy's animation is quite stunted, especially
when negotiating stairs), but overall it was
fine and ran smoothly almost all of the time.
The lushness and scale of the locations was
quite impressive, especially considering the
limitations of the engine which is geared towards
panoramic vistas, and not close intimate textures.
And one could never say that this game isn't
colourful. TIM is pleasing to the eye, and the
graphics are more than satisfactory.
Sound:
Okay,
to tell you straight away, the music (if it
can be called that at all, sometimes) was a
big disappointment. With a character as prominent
in pop culture as Indiana Jones, you'd expect
some dramatic music akin to what we hear in
the movies. Alas, this is not the case in TIM.
Although the developers tried hard to come up
with memorable musical themes by themselves,
none of the pieces come close to the original
soundtrack by John Williams - which astoundingly
is hardly used at all. I found the bit segments
of music to be rather tinny and annoying, like
someone with a cheap synth keyboard. In some
places, the sound wasn't quite so bad, but a
full score (by a proper orchestra) would have
been nice, and would have given this game the
proper show of respect I feel this character
deserves. As far as general sound goes, I have
no complaints. The .45 revolver, which is the
never-empty firearm in the arsenal, has a nice
full-bodied sound to it. The whip crack is also
quite clear, as are the various sounds of other
weapons (machete, submachine gun, grenade etc.).
There are several species of animals found throughout
the game, from piranhas and wolves to leopards
and monkeys (let us not forget snakes, of course!).
All of the animal sounds are quite good as well.
The voices of the characters were also fine;
Doug Lee, who also did the voice of Indy in
Fate of Atlantis, once again does an admirable
job. To sum it up, you might be disappointed
as I was with the music, but otherwise nothing
really stands out.
Gameplay:
You
get to do some pretty cool things as Indy, such
as navigating the rapids in a rubber raft, and
driving a jeep at breakneck speeds. The inventory/menu
is very easy to use, with weapons accessible
through hotkeys, and gameplay is fairly predictable
in other respects. Despite the favourable features
mentioned above, one recurrent problem that
I did have was the constant and frustrating
fighting of the controls. Indy turns around
with the speed of molasses in January. If an
enemy shows up behind him, by the time he turns
and draws his own weapon and fires, he's already
dead and buried. Saving frequently became a
necessity because of situations like this. The
collision detection also has glitches, such
as Indy getting stuck on obstacles he should
bump off of, like the bottom edge of a ramp
for example. There is a patch available, but
it won't help much in the first two thirds of
the game and it also fails to handle these basic
gameplay problems.
Enjoyment:
This
game is quite pleasing in several ways. The
benefit of the tried and true format is reassuring
for those who sometimes struggle with a new
gaming interface. But the puzzles and storyline
are refreshing for those who want a change of
pace. I had a great time with this game, wondering
where I would end up in the world for my next
adventure as Indiana Jones. If you enjoyed the
previous Fate of Atlantis, you will like this
game as well, as there are many similarities
(other than the new 3D for Indy.)
Multiplayer:
This
is a true solo game, hours and days by yourself,
with no one else to interact with. :o)
Overall
Impression:
If
you're looking for an especially challenging
game, one that will require months of your time
to get through, then TIM should not be your
first choice. I found that only rarely did I
get stumped or hopelessly stuck at any point
in the game. This aspect only served to keep
me interested however, because the plot moves
forward so swiftly, and level advancement and
scenery changes happen so frequently. I can't
say that I ever lost interest in the game. I
am surprised that it took LucasArts so long
to make a 3D Indiana Jones game. I think it
would have been even better if TIM had the smooth
artistic ambience and wonderful orchestral scoring
that I experienced in playing Outcast by Infogrames
(another great adventure game), but I can't
find many faults with TIM. TIM is a highly enjoyable
adventure game, where the more you play, the
more interested you become. All in all I would
have to give this game a good recommendation.
It's lots of fun, and come on, it's Indiana
Jones!
Marketing
Efforts Towards Women:
There wasn't a whole lot of push prior to this
game's release date; the news seems to have
travelled mostly by word of mouth in the UK.
The few ads that were published in gaming magazines
depicted basically just a large photo of Harrison
Ford as Indy, and what is shown on the back
of the game box: screenshots of various game
locations, features and weapon choices, and
a very brief summary of the plot. And let us
not forget the tagline: 'Pure Indy Pure Action'.
Most of the hype was regarding the supposed
competition between Indy and Lara Croft, and
failed to place emphasis on the attributes of
TIM standing on its own. I think more attention
could have been invested in marketing this game,
especially because Indiana Jones is LucasArts'
most important license, secondary only to Star
Wars. I don't think the game's popularity was
or will be diminished by this, but it will also
hardly spread like wildfire or break any sales
records.
Editors
Comments (Strider):
There
are a couple of points I would like to make
in addition to what the reviewer has said. One
of the most disturbing parts of TIM is the voice
of Indiana. Normally voice actors get little
comment from me unless they are exceptionally
good or bad. I'm sorry to say that the voice
for Indy is exceptionally bad. So bad in fact,
I often turned the sound down just to avoid
hearing his non-enthusiastic, droning voice.
I discovered that WinAMP runs nicely in the
background. To further aggravate the problem,
I found many of the lines said by Indy to be
plain annoying. For example, when you pick up
a health item, he says, "Look a Medpac!" As
if I couldn't tell that little pack with a '+'
sign is a medical pack? After hearing this a
few dozen times, it became excessively annoying.
For every standard item, you will get some goofy
exclamation about what you have found. Alas,
if only the voice was that of Harrison Ford.
 To
further shatter the illusion you ARE playing
Indy, the actual face looks nothing like the
Indy we know. The model also sports slumping
narrow shoulders, further breaking the illusion.
Early
on in the game you already feel that you are
playing a "sorta" Indy. So how about the gameplay?
It's only fair to compare the gameplay to Tomb
Raiders, since without a doubt TIM borrowed
heavily from Cores concepts. Where Lara Croft
glides, jumps, and swings with grace, Indy bungles,
hops and moves like a marrionette on a string.
Despite this criticism, Indy does move somewhat
more like a real human, but I don't want realism.
After all, how many people do you know who would
have the guts to jump from rock to rock hundreds
of feet in the air? In Tomb Raiders, the first
vehicle you might get is a jeep or speed boat.
In
TIM, you command an annoying little raft. I
prefer to speed through the waterways of Venice
on a powerboat than paddle my way through rapids
in an air raft. It's not just that the idea
of an air raft is lame, it is annoying and difficult
to control. To further compound the problem,
you get a very limited number of raft repair
kits. Each time you nick a rock with your raft,
you will need to apply a repair kit to keep
going, or else you drown. Nicking a rock is
easy to do on this particular level, and you
must navigate through many waterways to reach
the end.
Cheats,
Hints & URLs:
In
the market for a great cheat book? We highly
recommend Prima's
Official Strategy Guide. Usually ships within
24 hours.
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