Indiana Jones and The Great Circle on Xbox Series X
I was incredibly skeptical when MachineGames senior narrative designer Edward Curtis-Sivess first spoke about Indiana Jones and The Great Circle. His promise that the game would be “a chance to tell a new Indiana Jones story for a modern gaming audience” was a bold and hard-to-believe statement.
The bar for storytelling is already set high due to the rich narratives of the film series, and movie-based games have a history of being cash grabs that want to use the brand to make a quick buck. Thankfully, Indiana Jones and The Great Circle not only live up to the hype but also unearths an experience I never knew I was craving.
From the outset, the game does a fantastic job of setting the tone to match what made the series great: comedy and adventure. The story of Indiana Jones and The Great Circle is set between the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade, and kicks off by having players recreate the Golden Idol treasure hunt, an excellent choice that caters to both movie veterans and newbies.
Veterans will love the wave of nostalgia they feel reliving the opening adventure from Raiders of the Lost Ark alongside the rush of getting to live out their dreams of being Indy, even if it is just in a video game. Anyone without previous knowledge of the story can use it to get a feel for what to expect from the coming adventure. Like most action games, this opening mission serves as a tutorial for the traversal and puzzle portion of Indiana Jones and The Great Circle. Indy can use his whip to swing on beams, pull chains, and set off traps that would otherwise lead to his demise.
Controlling Indy in first person was a little jarring at first, especially since all the cutscenes are in third person, but if you’ve ever played a game from the modern Wolfenstein series, it doesn’t take too long to get used to it. Once the quest is completed, Indy is confronted by a massive man who is breaking into the historical department of his job at Marshall University. After getting beaten down by the giant, he awakes to find a valuable cat mummy stolen, forcing him to set off on a mission to get it back.
Even though it’s entirely new, outside of the opening sequence mentioned above, it is clear that MachineGames took the time to get the nuances of the character and setting just right. Troy Baker does a phenomenal job channelling his inner Harrison Ford, adding just the right amount of snark, quippiness, and charm to the character. At the same time, the supporting roles also help bring out the best in this performance.
Whether it is a sassy journalist love interest or a priest bestie who loves American music, I craved every new interaction Indy had with the NPCs that made up the cast, especially the side stories. Since exploration is set in a semi-open world via multiple act-specific locations, it was very easy to get sidetracked exploring pyramid secrets, helping nuns, or solving puzzles.
There is a surprising amount to do and an equally surprising amount of approaches in which to do it. Not since Deus Ex have I been so impressed with all of the different ways you can approach navigating through missions. Indy can either go in fists swinging, find routes to climb under or around guards, or use specific disguises to get through restricted areas. I found myself leaning toward the former two options rather than the latter. A lot of this came down to not wanting to get into combat with big groups.
The core combat loop of the game revolves around using melee weapons and Indy’s whip to disarm and defeat enemies. Connecting and blocking shots can be a little clunky occasionally, as punches sometimes feel more like wet noodles flailing, especially with multiple enemies, but I liked that there wasn’t a massive emphasis on gunplay in Indiana Jones and The Great Circle.
Yes, there are guns in the game, but ammo is scarce, and it isn’t one shot, one kill, even if you get a headshot. Heck, one boss fight took 12 bullets to the head and still didn’t go down, so don’t go looking for realism in that regard. Tie this in with the fact that gunshots alert the guard, fighting animations can be clunky, and a limited lack of stamina, and you can see why I preferred to approach things a bit more cautiously. A stealthier approach also usually led to more secrets, which in turn doled out more XP that can be spent to upgrade health bars or other helpful buffs.
When it comes to puzzles, I don’t think I found a single one that wracked my brain. Most of them usually require you to input a code from a note or turn dials a specific way to unlock the way forward. Despite this, I found that the unique areas you got to explore while solving these riddles – like a Vatican crypt – more than made up for the lack of creativity.
Overall, Indiana Jones and The Great Circle is exactly what a video game inspired by a movie franchise should be. It does everything the source material does right while being sure not to rehash the same concepts and also properly accounting for significant differences between mediums.
While combat and puzzles could undoubtedly be better, I’d recommend this title to anyone craving a fun adventure, regardless of whether you’ve seen the movies or not.
Indiana Jones and The Great Circle is now available on PC and Xbox Series X|S.
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Summary
Indiana Jones and The Great Circle might be my new favourite adventure in the series. It blends the nostalgia of the movies seamlessly with the fun of going on adventures controlling Indy in video game format.
