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Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Review

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Review

I am a massive fan of Indiana Jones, there’s no doubt about that. So when I saw that there was a brand new game coming out you have to know that I was all prepared to find out if it belonged in a museum or if it was truly the Holy Grail. I am referring, of course, to the latest release: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

There’s been something of a trend when it comes to ‘80s nostalgia games recently. For instance, we saw the release of RoboCop: Rogue City a few months ago and The Thing: Remastered was only recently released. From a developer’s perspective, releasing a game based on nostalgia is an easy way to get engagement, but there’s more to making one of these titles than just sticking a recognisable face on the cover. Ideally, you want to build on the love of the franchise by recreating the excitement and moments that we remember. 

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle starts just after the events of the first movie: Raiders of the Lost Ark, with a brief familiar opening, and sees Indy race across the world to find a mysterious relic stolen from the museum. The plot is filled with mystery, intrigue, and that glorious mix of historical fact and mythology that makes Indiana Jones so fun. In the course of the adventure, you’ll find yourself exploring areas from the catacombs of the Vatican to the great pyramids of Egypt and each one is made even grander by the first-person perspective. I should also give special praise to Troy Baker, as if he needed more, for his recreation of Harrison Ford’s voice which sounds almost exactly like the gruff archaeologist we all know. 

In truth, the sound design and visuals were all perfect, at least to me. I took the time before playing to rewatch the Indiana Jones movies to hype myself up, and I felt like I was stepping into the same comfortable fedora while playing the game. The music builds as you expect John Williams' score to, mixed with the voice acting and general graphical quality, make it feel like a movie as much as a game. 

The gameplay is equally as fluid… mostly, although there are some hiccups and one major issue at the time of writing. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is the child of Machine Games, the same company that released Wolfenstein: The New Order games and The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher’s Bay. That pedigree is apparent here to a fair degree, although there’s much, MUCH less shooting here. As mentioned, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is primarily a first-person game, which helps to build the feeling of immersion and makes it much easier to imagine yourself as Indiana. While you will occasionally get access to a gun, the primary focus is more on stealth and the odd bit of fisticuffs. 

Indiana isn’t a superhero, and he can’t fight off a horde of fascists with one hand. More often than not he needs to sneak past the guards and dogs that might harm him. There are a couple of ways to do this, including finding the odd costume to help you blend into the crowds. You can also sneak around and take down guards with a well-placed strike from one of the many weapons around the map (each with its own special takedown). The stealth is functional, and the maps leave you enough room to find different routes around guards and patrols. However, like Wolfenstein, you’ll spend a lot of time crouch-walking around to take out the odd guard. Also, you can scare the dogs away without having to kill them but don’t try to pet them after, no matter how cute they look. Trust me on this. 

Sometimes stealth just isn’t enough, and you’ll have to fight your way out with your fists. Fist fights are incredibly entertaining and cinematic; you can see the history of Machine Games with the Riddick series here. You can punch, block, and even grab weapons scattered around the map. While it might be fun to take someone out with a hammer, there’s nothing more Indiana Jones than using an umbrella. I want to make special mention of the punch sound effects, which are seemingly lifted straight from the movies. Here's what happened to me for an idea of how cinematic the fight scenes can be: I threw a hammer at the guy, which he magically caught, so I used the whip to smack it out of his hand and quickly knocked him out with a one-two combo. 

However, the combat isn’t perfect, and it can get a bit chaotic. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle wants you to mix blocks and parries, but you’re often better served just wildly swinging your fists until everything stops moving, especially if there’s more than one enemy. The stamina bar, yes there’s a stamina bar, is a bit unforgiving at first too and you really can’t take a lot of hits. However, you can supplement your health and stamina by eating fruit for the latter, and bread for the former. 

You might have noticed that I said whip, and yes there is (of course) Indiana’s whip. You can use it to stun enemies, take the weapons out of their hands and traverse the environment. You’ll be doing a lot of the latter as Indiana is a world-renowned archaeologist. Most of the maps are large areas that are filled with secrets, mysteries and side objectives and you’ll have to go both vertical and subterranean, while talking to everyone, to find everything. This is also where the puzzles, ancient or otherwise, come into play.

The majority of the puzzles take the form of ancient mysteries that you’ll need to figure out using items and the environment. For instance, one of the first involves using sanctified wine to represent the blood of Jesus. They’re all fun to complete, and there are some pretty ingenious ones, including some real headscratchers. However, to the game's credit, I never felt overwhelmed or confused about what I needed to do. 

The whip is also where I ran into my biggest issue because there is a bit of a bug problem. The issue arises once you get the camera, which you have to pay for, making it impossible to select the whip or use it to traverse, and as such, it completely blocks progress in one area. The only solution is to go back through the saves to find one where the whip works enough actually to get anywhere. It’s a major issue, but one that will likely be fixed pretty sharpish. 

I’ve praised the game a fair amount here, but it isn’t perfect. The graphics look great generally, but some faces can look a bit plastic sometimes, and the non-character models tend to spasm. For instance, I’ve seen the hair elements on characters go nuts on more than one occasion. 

I also found the perk system, where you find books around the world and use archaeology points to upgrade damage and health, to be a bit pointless and easily forgotten. Also, while the guns are a welcome break when they happen, it's not enough to warrant much attention. Finally, the climbing is just bad, it’s slow, and the game is apparently terrified you’ll miss a ledge so it just slathers white paint everywhere. 

As I said at the start of the review, I judge a nostalgia game like this on how it makes me feel while playing. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle created the emotional response I needed, even if some of the mechanics are a bit rusty. The combat might not be as deep as you might want, but the sound effects and weapons make it feel amazing. The climbing is slow, but it works well enough that you’ll barely notice it and it only becomes an issue on some of the longer sections. Overall, if you’re a fan then this will be perfect, if you're not then it’s a fun adventure and different enough from the current trend of arena shooters and live service games that you’ll have a fun time, even with the odd bug.

8.00/10 8

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (Reviewed on Xbox Series X)

This game is great, with minimal or no negatives.

There are some issues, but Indiana Jones and the Great Circle does everything it needs to for me as a fan and as a gamer. However, one major bug keeps it from a perfect score in my eyes.

This game was supplied by the publisher or relevant PR company for the purposes of review
Joshua Render

Joshua Render

Staff Writer

Became a writer and all he got was this lousy bio

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