The adventure film saga par excellence has given great games. And these are some of the best.
“You call this archeology ?!”, Henry Jones senior
Although it is the most criticized of the 4 -and rightly Mister Lucas, the monkeys …-, in The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull there is a scene in its prodigious beginning that continues to be the quintessence of the character: some soldiers take out someone from a car, they throw a hat on the ground, they throw a man too, who gets up, takes the Fedora and, reflected in the shadow, the most iconic silhouette that exists in adventure movies appears, while John Williams only needs a minimal orchestration of the musical theme to put a smile on our lips.
The whip, the Fedora, the Adventure
It is Indiana Jones, who, although he entered the Adventure genre in the 80s, picking up the baton from others such as the Stewart Granger from The Mines of King Solomon, forever became the paradigm of adventurers: exotic scenarios, X’s that mark always the place, the divine / messianic supernatural touch of the relics of Christianity, the pure evil of the Indian divinities, or the Sci Fi touch of the ancient aliens.
This week, Bethesda gave us a brutal blast with a teaser for a new Indiana Jones game, so cold. A renowned publisher, with a signature Triple Aces development studio such as the recent Wolfenstein, and all under the new Lucasfilm Games label. The powerful commercial machinery is put into operation now that Indiana Jones 5, Harrison Ford’s farewell, is a year and a half away from being released – July 2022 and not Spielberg, but James Mangold, author of excellent films like the remake of The Train 3:10 to Yuma or Logan, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine Goodbye.
The Indiana Jones of Bethesda
In this new game, whose teaser has opted to play the visual icons -the Fedora, the whip-, Indy starts his adventure in the Vatican, so the McGuffin of the plot may be the Spear of Longinus -for many years the basis of the Indy 5 script. Be that as it may, a game for the new consoles and with a good budget behind us has already fallen in love with many of us around here. In fact, it will be the character’s first game in many years since the failed PS3 – 360 project that looked so good.
And since the Atari 2600 Indy games there have been, not many but a few. And among them a handful with some that can boast of being a masterpiece of its kind – and it just so happens that the signer of this began to replay it a day before the announcement of the Bethesda game. Are you coming to review a Top 6 with what we consider the best of the Indiana Jones games?
Indiana Jones Greatest Adventures
Super Nintendo – 1994
Although when it came out, the adventurer saga had already a dozen video games since the Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1982 for the Atari 2600, all based on his three films and the Young Indiana Jones series, truly this Super Nintendo title became the second best IP-based game to date. Because Indiana Jones’s Greatest Adventures for Super Nintendo set the bar for Indy’s adventures in the stratosphere.
In the golden age of the 4th Generation, and exactly the same year as Super Return of the Jedi, the Super Nes received the other great Lucasfilm license. An exclusive JVC bet for the brain of the Beast that followed the same steps as the sacred Super Star Wars trilogy -Top 3 of the best Star Wars games without a doubt-, although putting all three films in a single cartridge and not matching per film.
In fact, in a funny wink, the character had a rolling motion on the ground making the ‘croquette’, exactly the same way of rolling that Han Solo’s character had in JVC and Sculptured Software’s Super Star Wars – the other characters were sliding straight.
Crafted by the long-awaited wizards of Factor 5, Greatest Adventures was the demonstration of the quality that could be achieved by adapting a license well. The game, true to the canons of the time, was a 2D platformer with combat, shooting and lots of jumps. But it also had elements of puzzles – the labyrinth in the Temple of Doom level – and even vehicle phases, such as the descent of the mountain by boat to the beginning of the Doomed Temple, or the part of the plane behind the airship in The Last Crusade, all solved with the portentous Super Nes Mode-7 as well as the vehicle phases of the Super Star Wars trilogy. And of course: the swinging with the whip, which was a joyous fanservice.
Difficult, quite difficult at the time, today it is directly screwed up in terms of the amount of things that appear on stage and take your life, ending the bar in no time. In fact there are frustrating parts, hitting with the punch requires perfect ‘timing’, and the password system was appreciated, but it was also the time when we were given at most 2-3 games a year, so it was built to last.
He took a license or another – the fight with the skeleton of Marcus Donovan – but his best asset was his incredible fidelity to the films. That and the ‘cutscenes’ that digitized -to the resolution of the time- key moments of the films. A game that some / as was very engraved at the time.
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine
Windows – 1999 Nintendo 64 – 2000 Game Boy Color – 2001
After it became clear that after The Last Crusade, neither Spielberg nor Lucas, much less Ford had any intention of an Indy 4 in theaters, Lucasarts realized the potential of following the Jones universe in other media, especially after the great reception of their Fate of Atlantis and other titles such as The Lost Kingdom (1985) or Revenge of the Ancients (1987) in compatible and 80’s systems. And at the turn of the century, he decided to tell another great adventure of the character in The Infernal Machine, released right on the mega-wave of popularity of Lara Croft and her initial 5th Gen pentalogy.
And it is that the universe of Jones Jr., like that of Star Wars, expanded considerably beyond the movies with comics and novels. In fact, after Fate of Atlantis, George Lucas conceived a sequel to this called ‘The Iron Phoenix’, in which Indy got into a post-World War II race with the Nazis to find the Philosopher’s Stone and prevent them from resurrecting their dead leaders. Hitler was the villain, and the project ended up being canceled due to several problems, one of them distribution in Germany, which required that Nazi symbols not appear. If you are curious to see what its plot would have been like, Dark Horse published a homonymous comic based on the game’s script.
Lucas then came up with a title that would be about Indy searching for the Spear of Destiny – we’ll talk about it again – a graphic adventure just like Atlantis. But in 1996, the first Tomb Raider brought the Indy formula to the PlayStation 90s generation, and Lucas decided that Indy should embrace that style. Thus was born Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine.
Anticipating a bit what we would see in the Crystal Skull, Indy left behind Christian relics and chose to immerse himself in the search for a mythological source of power created by the Babylonians, which opens portals to another dimension. A mission with the enemy Soviets seeking a source of power greater than that of the atomic bomb to win the Cold War. On the mission, Sophia Hapgood was with us again, and her plot showed its quality because the whole project was designed and written by Hal Barwood, the same from Fate of Atlantis.
Absolutely embracing the Tomb Raider concept, The Infernal Machine is a 3D mix of platforming, puzzle solving, and combat. In fact, the jumps and puzzles acquired more prominence, and there were them extremely difficult as well as superb like the one in Egypt, that you needed a Jeep to go from one place to another given its extension -similar to that of the pyramid in Mexico from the later Tomb Raider Underworld, you needed the bike.
With the difficulty and frustration typical of the time – the raft part in the rapids required a lot of expertise and spare inflators – The Infernal Machine has passed as another of the great Indy games, thanks to its scale and attention to the plot. Exclusive to a single system, the PC, a year later it had an improved version on Nintendo 64 with changes and adjustments -the great OST of Clint Bajakian was added new pieces by Chris Hülsbeck-, but along the way the port to PlayStation remained , canceled after several delays.
Big, demanding, and pure Indy although its controls were somewhat frustrating – imagine now, with that lag in the jump – the best thing about Infernal Machine lies in its ‘easter eggs’, like those Star Wars figures that Indy draws in the walls. In fact, on PC and by typing the correct code, you could turn Indy into Guybrush Threepwood no less. And right at the end, in the interdimensional madness of the Aetherium, you could find the best Easter egg in the history of Lucasarts… Or almost the best.
LEGO Indiana Jones 1 and 2
Windows, DS, OS X, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360 – 2008/2009
After the ‘sleeper’ that was the first LEGO Star Wars -released the same year as Episode III of Star Wars-, and the great reception that the sequel had, at Lucasarts they saw the potential they had in their hands. And for the premiere of The Crystal Skull in 2008 they released the first LEGO Indiana Jones, a safe bet that followed the same canons as Lego Star Wars, but with the Indy skin.
Reviewing the initial trilogy, LEGO Indiana Jones invited us to go through the three films in different phases that recreated or enhanced scenes from the films, adding touches of humor in the darkest parts of each film – after all, these are games for the whole family. All this joined by a central ‘hub’ in the form of the halls of Barnett College – where Indiana teaches as a professor – to see the treasures that are being recovered.
Featuring the same signature platformer gameplay, battles, and puzzles, instant co-op allowed a second player to enter the game whenever they wanted, and out as well. As with LEGO games, the difficulty is low, you can never die – just lose Lego pieces – and the combat in these early LEGO titles was basically hitting the button. But in its favor it has 2 things: the absolute charm it has, and the extreme fidelity.
Yes, it is true that he rewrites some parts, but when it comes to adapting IPs, nobody like LEGO for it. If their Star Wars were an example of how to be faithful to the base material, in Indiana Jones they recreated even the phobias of each one -If Indy sees a snake, he stops and you must surround it or choose another character, and the same with his father if you see a rat. Everything was there, from the initial temple of Raiders of the Lost Ark and the iconic chase of the stone, to the elephants and the sacrifice of the Cursed Temple or the ‘X marks the place’ and subsequent chase in boats of The Last Crusade.
Therefore, if you are a fan of the saga and you manage to get past the reluctance of being a LEGO game -there are people who are reluctant to do so because they consider them “for children” -, you find yourself with a joy that also gives you some great humorous strokes. The only thing is that this game was not as good as the previous one in Star Wars, the magic failed a bit and without a doubt it would have been improved if they had included dialogue, as it already happened in the later ones.
After the mega-success it had -in 4 years it sold 11 million copies-, they released a LEGO Indiana Jones 2, which once again influenced the original trilogy by adapting its scenes to new levels and moments that we had not played, and also adding phases inspired by The Crystal Skull, which took up half of the Campaign mode. This was not so well received -they went out of hand in the poetic licenses of the original trilogy-, and criticized for the ‘hate’ to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but being able to play moments like Area 51, Orellana’s tomb or the Akator part was the best.
Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb
PS2, Xbox, Windows, OS X – 2003
Following the results of The Infernal Machine, Lucasarts kept betting on Indy’s original adventures, and in 2003, the same year the ‘infamous’ Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness came out on PS2 and PC, we had The Emperor’s Tomb, another one of those. Titles that, although they were not perfect, did fully give what their main ‘target’ longed for most: feeling like Indiana Jones at all times while looking for the tomb of the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang.
Platforms -but without going over-, fist fights with the iconic sounds of Ben Burtt, the use of the whip, the pistol, memorable set-pieces, the cover of the game by Drew Struzan and an orchestral OST again by Clint Bajakian him they gave all those touches that fans seek.
Developed by The Collective, which would make the official game of Star Wars Episode III – and also one based on The Da Vinci Code, the power of the 6th Generation and the systems allowed that ‘stiff’ and laggy control of The Infernal Machine. polished to a more natural look, with Indy moving better. The problem? The bloody camera, always the pending subject in these titles, and that the PS2 and Xbox versions came with certain bugs and graphic problems that they did not have on PC.
Why do we put it on the list? Apart from because if not the teacher Relaño crunches me -and with good reason-, because as we say, the feeling of being Indiana Jones was full: From a Prague castle full of Gestapo agents to an opera in Hong Kong, a base of submarines or the Great Wall of China, in a story with a genuinely oriental flavor and mysticism – and something from Déjà Vu to Tomb Raider 2. To this day, the title has better ‘feedback’ from the public, who can rediscover it on Steam or GOG. And above all, its ending: a direct nod to one of the filmic installments that we will not reveal, but that put a smile on you on the spot in a canonical game of the saga.
Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure
DOS, Amiga, Atari ST, Macintosh, FM Towns, Amiga CDTV – 1989/1990/1992
Of the biggest premieres of 1989, The Last Crusade is for many their favorite Indiana film. A non-stop like the Cursed Temple to which all the sacred mysticism of The Lost Ark is added -although not its seriousness-, the inclusion of that prologue in which we discover the origin of the character -hello, Uncharted 3- and above all, Indy’s father -IMMENSE Sean Connery-, make her a jewel.
And as such, it had its playable version in a certainly intense time to be a ‘gamer’: The 3rd Gen in its heyday, the 4th Gen starting and the compatible ones of the time teaching muscle. Thus, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade had a 2D platform version for all consoles and systems of the time, and a second in the form of a graphic adventure that is the one that in the end has been most remembered.
After flirting with the genre with a conversational adventure a few years earlier, Lucasarts decided to create a Point & Click adventure under his popular SCUMM engine – it was the third title to use it and the first to adapt a license. Following the story very faithfully and with Ron Gilbert, Noah Falstein and David Fox at the helm as designers, The Last Crusade was adapted to an environment of commands and actions that took us from Venice to the catacombs, to Brunwald Castle, to Berlin to get the diary back – and yes, I suppose we all did that thing, punching Hitler … – and even the Zeppelin.
In fact, although it was a graphic adventure, it had its moments of change of perspective to isometric, and action in terms of fistfights – hence the fun tutorial of Indy in boxing shorts at the beginning – and even controlling a plane. Of course, elements such as the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword, Sallah or the Venice boat chase were left out. The best thing is that the moments that went out of the script of the film were added that Lucas and Spielberg themselves devised during the production of the film, and therefore canonical and that turn the game into a kind of ‘extended montage’ of the film.
Released in the same year as the film, The Last Crusade became a best-seller, in the Lucasarts game – now Lucasfilm Games already in the hands of Disney – best-selling and in a title that garnered outstanding marks in the specialized critics of the time. Nowadays it is common to see it in lists of the best PC games, and it is precisely its graphic finish that currently gives it that characteristic touch of ‘Pixel art’ so fashionable. But if you want to play it, know that it is not a walk in the field, but a wonderful challenge to your skills with puzzles as well as a fabulous recreation of the film. A work of art that only another ‘pièce de resistance’ could surpass.
Indiana Jones & the Fate of Atlantis
DOS, Amiga, Macintosh, FM Towns, Wii 1992 – 2009
The best for last: We are in 1992, the movie saga is over, and there is a series called The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones. At Lucasarts they want to continue with Point & Click games, especially after seeing the mega-success of Last Crusade. So a new graphical adventure under the SCUMM script is planned.
The problem is that many of the ‘staff’ of The Last Crusade are involved with The Secret of Monkey Island and The Dig – what a time to be a ‘gamer’ … -, so the designer Hal Barwood – who would later make The Infernal Machine – is put in front. He’s only made two games, but he’s worked with Lucas on films like THX 1138 and with Spielberg on Sugarland Express and Encounters in the Third Phase. Barwood and Noah Falstein reject a script by Chris Columbus – Home Alone, Harry Potter – for an Indiana movie and instead create a new story, choosing Atlantis as the setting. The rest is history, pure video game history.
Set in the 1930s, the same as the initial film trilogy, Indiana Jones embarks on an adventure with a former archeology colleague, Sophia Hapgood – yes, the same from The Infernal Machine – who has become a psychic expert in Atlantean mythology. Both will collaborate to stop the Nazis before they get to Atlantis sooner and seize an ancient source of power that could help them in the next world war – and yes, it also sounds like the McGuffin of ancient powers from The Infernal Machine, released 7 years later.
Polishing what they achieved with Last Crusade, Barwood, Falstein and their team documented themselves thoroughly to give the plot seriousness, while not forgetting the IP’s touch of action and adventure. The objective was to make another graphic adventure that would preserve those moments of action from the previous one, but at Lucasarts they decided to expand the limits of the genre and give users not one, but basically three adventures in the same game. How did they make it possible? Giving the user the option at a given moment of the plot to choose between three paths, providing three different game modes:
- Team Path: Indy and Sophia go together, Sophia helps you.
- Wits Path: You face really complex puzzles, one after another
- Fists Path: Fists are your thing, so there are plenty of action scenes and fistfights
The magic is that each path has its own kinematics, puzzles, and scenarios, so the game itself encourages its replayability, although at a given moment the three paths converge at the same point.
After two years of development, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis was released in 1992, and the result is an absolute masterpiece, a marvel and the maximum exponent of what Lucasarts could achieve in the genre. The game, which smashes in notes, does the same in sales and becomes an instant studio and genre classic, symbolizing all that is great about the Point & Click genre.
A year later, in 1993, LucasArts released a CD version of the game that separates the texts in the dialogues and replaces them with a voice-over -in English- that further increases the quality of the adventure, going from being Muda to Sonora -and that is included in the Wii Port of Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, game of 2009. And today, even more than the Last Crusade, Fate of Atlantis is a fixture in lists of the best games not only of PC, but of the best in the history of the video game. An absolute ‘entente cordiale’ between gameplay, narrative, graphics – today pure pixel art -, difficulty, etc.
In closing, on a personal note, ever since it came out, Fate of Atlantis has been considered the 4th Indiana Jones movie ever made, because you could take that script and shoot it with Harrison Ford as is without making a single change and it would result in a movie. at the height -or more-of the rest. To give you an idea of the canon and the importance that Lucasfilm has always given to its game, at the end of 2013 a collector’s edition of the Indiana Jones Tetralogy was released in pure luxury bluray, which included as a most outstanding extra a recreation of the newspaper of the Grail of The Last Crusade. In it, not only the pages that appeared in the film came, but others about the Temple, the Ark and the Skull … And also about Fate of Atlantis.
It was only 2 pages, but in an official Lucasfilm journal that reviewed the documents, drawings, maps, clues and sketches of Indy’s movie plots, things like Sophia’s medallion or the three stone discs were sneaking in. And if that’s not considering that Fate of Atlantis is officially the never-made Indiana Jones movie, let Nur-Ab-Sal come and shout at all of us.
And why not say it: the best Indiana Jones game. What is your favorite?
