It’s too bad the AI can be rather stupid, even for a movie villain variety. For example, I had one scenario with two guards and while I was beating one up the other was oblivious to the situation even though the sound of my fists smacking on the guy’s face was pretty loud. Also, there were times were the enemy saw me off in the distance and kept on going about his business like I wasn’t even there. But there were times when they acted well with some enemies hiding behind pillars and peaking out to shoot me or performing a few dodge movies before trying to get a bead on me.
Levels are divided up into sections and like most console games you have to finish the section in order to save the game. I’m one who really hates save points and if you take the time to port the game to the PC, you should add a save option. While most sections are short enough, there are some that can be rather frustrating and my idea of replaying it over and over again from the beginning isn’t what I consider fun. Is it too hard to ask for the ability to save whenever you want on a PC game?
The various non-jump puzzles that are presented to you aren’t bad. Some change the perspective to an almost top down view with controls adjusted to what is entitled adventure setting where you can hop or roll from tile to tile. Anytime you come to a point where you have to use an item, a little icon pops up in the upper right corner giving you the symbol of what you need to do making the game less frustrating in this aspect.
If you don’t like jump puzzles, absolutely stay away from this game as
Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb is full of them. Many require some good timing and will require many tries to get right. Since this was a console game, I expected a few jump puzzles here and there but not this many. The amount and frequency of these types of puzzles were just too much for me and without a save feature, the frustration of having to do one over and over again is magnified tenfold.
The graphics are ok with some models looking pretty good. The various environments are also done well giving you a good variety of areas to go through. While the graphics aren’t top notch, they do justice to the game nicely with good animation. The various maneuvers that Indy pulls off are smooth and executed well.
Sound has always been a strong point with LucasArts and
Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb continues the strong tradition. The familiar theme will bring back memories as it’s rendered well digitally. Various sound effects you hear in the game show off the good job that the team did. From busting crates to the sound of Indy beating up on a grunt, the game’s sound effects are one of the strong points of this game.
I tested the game on an Athlon XP 2200+ with 512MB of PC2700 ram and an ATi All-in-Wonder 9700 Pro. The game ran very well and I didn’t notice any slowdowns or stuttering. With a few graphical options to adjust, you can get it to run well even on slower machines.
Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb is an ok game that’ll give you a lot of exploration to do. It’s just too bad that there are so many jump puzzles and the lack of a real save feature can really make some levels a frustrating experience. The fighting is a lot of fun to watch. Personally, I would pick it up on a console system than the PC but you might be able to find it cheaper as a PC game. It will feed your Indy fix until the movie comes out sometime in the next few years.
C-
Buy this game if you love jump puzzles. You'll find some nice Indy moments but the lack of a true save feature and some frustrating puzzles will keep keep this game from being the Holy Grail.
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