Xbox Review
Indiana Jones And The Emperor's Tomb

The first name in adventure finally ends up with a decent video game that keeps the faith of the movies...


Classic Indy gameplay. Jump, climb, fight and run your way through a fantastic adventure.
Indy's weapons range from lethal shotguns and submachine guns to improvised weapons picked up along the way – and don't forget about Indy's trusty whip and pistol!

Finally! Indiana Jones on the XBOX! Lucas Arts has kept me happy on my XBOX with some great games. OBI Wan, Jedi Knight II, now Indiana Jones. In all honesty, this game doesn't do anything new for the genre in terms of anything really fresh, but it's done right and it's Indiana Jones, and that's why it succeeds.

This latest adventure, although not based on a particular Indy movie, it's basically the Raiders of the Lost Ark story with a different name. Indiana Jones has been hired to search for a very holy and ancient artifact before the Nazi's do.

Indiana Jones and the Emperors Tomb is reminiscent of the Tomb Raider series. Much like Lara Croft's adventures, it's in a 3rd person perspective. You take control of Indy behind his back. I personally have always loved this perspective as I can see more of the environments. Indy's moves are standard like others in the genre. You can walk, jump, crawl, and even creep around behind walls. But of course you got his infamous whip at hand. But what makes the game more interesting is the plethora of weapons he can acquire and use them at will. You'll find shovels, chairs to throw, hand and machine guns, maggetes, and even knives to take care of your annoying Nazi scum. For the most part, the game plays adequately and most will be pleased with the final turnout. You will have occasional fits with judging jumping distances, but for the most part, Indy controlled well and the game has a lot of fun and surprises to offer.

Gameplay - Indiana Jones doesn't erupt the scene with new benchmark gameplay, but it's success lies in executing old school gameplay right. It takes after the likes of the original Tomb Raider which came out 5 years ago. Indy jumps, he crawls, he fights, he shoots, he whips. It's nothing we haven't seen before, but it's Indiana Jones on the XBOX, and for most, that should be an appealing aspect.

The game consists of constant exploration and finding new items to continue to different levels. You'll need to find keys, maps, secret passages and different weapons to access new locations. The game never lets you get stuck to the point of being frustrated. Captions come up on screen and give you hints on what you need to do throughout your adventure. From the start, Indy obviously comes equipped with his trusty whip. He also has a pistol and a canteen to hold water. The canteen surprisingly is his most important item for Indy because the developers made it his "life force". You have to continuously fill the canteen with water so you can recover your injuries. Maybe this is holy water huh? Anyway, water fountains are scattered throughout the environments, so every chance you get, fill up!

The whip can be used for different things. The most obvious is to whip some Nazi arse. But the appealing aspect of the whip comes into play when you need to get somewhere where Indy's feet won't take him. When you can't jump a large space, look at the environment and see if there is an obstacle or something the whip can latch on to so Indy can swing across an open area. Once again, the "captions" come up to aid you in your journey, so getting stuck and quitting will not be one of your constant nuances.

Taking down enemies can be done several ways. In most situations the "whip" seemed to do an acceptable job. But this is Indiana Jones, he likes to use his bare fists too whenever he gets the chance, so the developers did not leave this aspect out. Fighting with Indy's bare hands works very well. Both the X and A button are for swinging Indy's left and right fists. It's very fun to watch and the controls seem very responsive. You can also zoom in for a 1st person perspective to get close to the action by pressing the "L" button, but most will want to stick with the "behind the back" view with 3rd person. Hey if you don't want to fight? No problem. You can load up on Ammo and use Indy's gun to take out the scum, it's easier to do and you don't risk as much injury. In different locations you can also use objects that are just laying around to take out the bad guys. You'll find shovels, bottles, chairs, empty boxes, knives, what have you. Each can cause some deadly injuries toward your opponents. Some of the items are so big you can't carry them with you on a permanent basis without dropping it first, so you can only use them in certain occasions.

With Indy you know you're going to be doing a lot of death defying stunts, and Emperors Tomb has a load of this stuff. There are tons of leaps and jumps abound in this game, more so toward the beginning of your quest. If I do have a major gripe about this game, is that Indy is wuss, at least in this game. He takes injures from the littlest of falls. And the control gets a bit frustrating when coming to judging leaping distances. Miss one jump and Indy is basically history. Aside from the jumping aspects of the game, I'm pleased. Indy will also do some frequent swimming. It's fun, but the crocodiles will get on your nerves after awhile because they are so persistent.

The game does have some 1st person aspects too it too. When you hold down the "L" trigger, you can zoom in on targets when you have your weapon activated. A target icon appears to able you to aim your gun toward an enemy. It works well for the most part, but you just won't able to move Indy in motion to do so.

As a whole, no major complaints in the gameplay department. The jumping aspect is the toughest part to play in Emperors Tomb, but everything else seems to mesh with the great movies to boot. Great puzzles to solve, the fighting, the whip, the beatin' Nazi arse, it feels like Indy and plays like Indy, Indy fans will love it.

Graphics - Not an XBOX show stopper, but it gets the job done in portraying Indiana Jones' personality and spunk from the movies. Indiana himself looks very good. Harrison Ford has been portrayed as close as anyone could want. His trademark clothes all intact, hat, whip, dirty grimy clothes, and even his 9oclock shadow is evident. His movements are also pretty fluent. When he cracks that whip it looks fantastic onscreen and watching him fight on screen is a trip. There are some clipping issues on occasion. You'll see his body go up against walls and objects magically like his body isn't even touching them and sometimes the action gets a bit jittery with a lot of action on-screen. But the problems are few and doesn't take away from the atmosphere and triumph as we all should expect from an Indiana Jones game. The game received a "TEEN" rating from the rating board. There is no blood to be found, somewhat of a disappointment as the Indy movies always was a 1st name for carnage. When taking out a Nazi, whether it'd be with Indy's pistol or with his bare hands, they just disappear on-screen instead of laying there for dead. It does take away the realism, but the violence has been toned down so anyone, including teens can enjoy the game without seeing too much violence.

Most of the environments take place in unknown and unexplored temples from ancient times. You'll encounter dark corridors with lit torches and bug infested caverns. Some of the adventure takes place outside the temples. The environments are lush and full of color and life. Birds flying through the trees, little rodents sneakin' around and tons of creepy crawly guys everywhere. Once again, the game has the atmosphere of the Indy movies, and that's why it feels right.

Sound - With the exception of Star Wars and Superman, one could argue that the Indiana Jones Theme is the best ever to hit the big screen. John Williams score is brilliantly transferred to Dolby Digital 5.1 for the XBOX and sounds terrific. The awesome theme erupts during the introduction and really makes me want to play. The actual music during gameplay is a bit more settled and not as apparent. But when things get crazy, the music pumps up at the most opportune times.

Harrison Ford does the voice-overs for this game. NOT!!! One could only wish he did, but Lucas Arts settled for a stand-in. In all honestly, I was pleasantly surprised, he almost sounds like the real Harrison, but it still would have been nice hearing the real dude! As for the rest, I'm pleased. Good environmental sounds, annoying Nazi Scum voice-overs and the sound of Indy's whip crackin up against a Nazi behind. It all sounds good and what we should expect from an Indy game.

Final Call - Not the best XBOX game ever, but probably the best Indy game ever released period. It has good graphics, tight gameplay and great sound. The "platform" part of it where you have to do a lot of jumping and hanging can be quite annoying at times, but as a whole, it's still incredibly fun. I only hope this is not Indiana's Last Crusade for console gaming.

The Good And The Bad:
+ A good adventure with a cool character named Indiana Jones plays as good as it sounds.
+ Nice graphics. Not spectacular, just well done. Indiana himself looks like the real character.
+ Musical score by John Williams is sweet.
+ The weapons are great and there are tons to find and choose from.

- Judging jumping distances.
- Needs a little more depth. Too much fighting and swimming.

By: John