Is this the best Indy experience since The Last Crusade?
You are Indiana Jones. Live the adventure as Indy in a thrilling story full of exploration, immersive action, and intriguing puzzles. You will travel the world in a race against enemy forces to discover the secrets to one of the greatest mysteries of all time. When a break-in in the dead of night ends in a confrontation with a mysterious colossal man, you must set out to discover the world-shattering secret behind the theft of a seemingly unimportant artifact.
I’ve loved the Indiana Jones films ever since I was a kid and always wanted an authentic gaming experience. There have been a few games here and there, some good and some not so. But the truth is that we haven’t had a good Indiana Jones experience since The Last Crusade, Crystal Skull was terrible and I have yet to see Dial of Destiny, so I have to reserve judgment for that one.
What I never expected was the team from the more modern Wolfenstein games to make an Indiana Jones game. It’s a big departure for MachineGames and I was dubious that they could pull it off, but it turns out that those fears were groundless. I also was worried about the first-person view, but that too turned out to be a great decision on their part.
The Great Circle takes Indiana to numerous large areas like the Vatican, the pyramids of Egypt, the sunken temples of Sukhothai, and beyond. Besides the main story, you’ll find plenty of side quests for hidden treasure scattered around each and with over 700 collectibles to find, you have your work cut out for you. The good news is that you can revisit areas by accessing Indy’s journal, so you can’t actually miss out on any, even if you beat the game.
Puzzles have always been a big part of Indiana Jones, especially the traps that have been left behind in temples. Great Circle delivers them very well with clever design with clues scattered around the area to give you a hand. They’re also nice and varied so you never know what to expect. The open areas are quite impressive in both size and detail with plenty of hidden nooks and crannies to explore.
Combat is a mixture of stealth, hand-to-hand fighting, gun fights and Indy using his iconic whip to disarm/stun enemies. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it does feel authentic Indy throughout. You can even use the whip to jump gaps and rappel up walls for access to new areas.
The visuals are perhaps the best the Xbox Series X has pulled off at this point. It has a solid framerate, highly detailed characters and environments. The big surprise was how good Troy Baker’s impersonation of Harrison Ford is, who himself joked at the Game Awards that he would have done it himself if he knew Troy was going to be so good. The soundtrack has all the classic music you would expect, but the rest is also brilliant.
The presentation is just brilliant and the game has nice easter eggs for Indy fans. The whole thing seems like a big tribute to him and honestly, it rarely falters in quality. I didn’t come across any glitches through my playthrough either, while load times are also relatively short.
The Verdict
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is definitely more Raiders of the Lost Ark than Crystal Skull in terms of quality. It’s a perfect love letter for Indy fans and proof there’s life left in the old dog yet. Kudos to MachineGames for taking a risk and getting out of their comfort zone here, they’ve done a tremendous job in bringing Indiana to life and providing the best game based on him to date.