If I had enrolled in one of Dr. Jones’ courses at Marshall College, I’d probably have demanded my money back. Oh sure, he knows his stuff, and his passion for archaeology and preserving stuff in museums is without doubt, but his impromptu field work probably means that he barely spends any time doing the actual teaching you’d expect him to. It should come as no surprise that, after a break-in at Marshall College by a very, very, very tall man, he takes that as an excuse to go gallivanting once again in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
Let’s address the priceless porcelain elephant in the room, because if there’s one element that has proven to be rather divisive since Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’s reveal, it’s the mixed first and third-person views that MachineGames has leant upon for this game. Given how Indiana Jones helped inspire the third-person action of Tomb Raider and Uncharted, it would have been very natural for it to come full circle with third-person adventuring – after all, that’s what we saw in Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb, two decades ago – but that’s not MachineGames’ speciality, so they’ve gone predominantly first-person instead.
In fact, the game is probably 99% first person, with the only brief cuts to third-person coming when swinging on Indy’s trademark whip, pulling himself up to a ledge or a little bit of climbing. It works decently well, but I’d personally argue that they could ditch third-person entirely – we’ve had countless examples like Dishonored, Mirror’s Edge and more that have special abilities and slick movement entirely in first-person, and Indy’s just a dude who does a bit of clambering and swinging in comparison.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle quickly grabbed my attention as I played through the opening stages. There’s a really intriguing blend of linear and open levels, of action, stealth and puzzles, all wrapped up in the pulpy action adventuring of a classic Indiana Jones story.
Investigating the nighttime break-in at Marshall College is a quick prologue and introduction to the wider story, a familiar starting point as you and Marcus Brody try to figure out what was stolen and who did it. Crucial clues then see Indy immediately packing to head off to the Vatican – it’s alright, someone else can fill in for his classes.
Messaging a good friend in the clergy en route, it’s clear that this won’t be a haven of safety for an inquisitive American. Set shortly after Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1937, it’s the height of fascism in pre-WW2 Europe, and the Vatican is now flooded with patrolling Blackshirts that you have to sneak (or clobber) your way past.
You can absolutely use stealth to your advantage, hunkering down behind objects and out of sight, picking up objects and throwing them to cause distractions for you to move to other cover, but this isn’t Splinter Cell. Stealth is often more of a prelude to some robust and rambunctious brawling, without the ability to attach to cover or do corner takedowns, so you’ll invariably resort to fisticuffs at some point with left and right hooks, blocking incoming swings to let you counter, and grabbing items to wallop enemies with. Each item will break after just a few hits, whether it’s a rake or a bell that makes a delightful clanging sound as you clobber someone over the head – even more satisfying if it’s a canned takedown from behind.
One thing I didn’t really latch onto was using the whip for anything but traversal. In the moment, I was happier to wallop enemies instead, but that’s something I’ll have to remind myself to do for the full game.
You can, of course, resort to firearms as well, whether that’s Indy’s revolver or grabbing a dropped gun from an enemy. Don’t expect a Doom-like arsenal of guns to be stuffed into Indy’s back pocket, or even a Halo-style two-gun limit. This is more like the Mirror’s Edge of having just the clip that’s in a gun before you need to drop it – though you can also use empty rifles to hit people, which is a little amusing.
If that doesn’t tell you what you need to know about the gunplay, then the other thing is that a straight up headshot won’t kill an enemy, even if they’re not wearing a helmet. It took me by surprise while playing, but it makes sense. Two shots to kill at the default difficulty will encourage more of a stealthy approach and lead to more brawling.
You’re nicely rewarded for exploring the nooks and crannies of levels, with MachineGames having snuck a bunch of little side puzzles and secrets in. It makes you feel clever when you root around on a guy’s desk and find a note talking about some kind of iconoggraphy, only to spot that particular motif and realise that it’s the trigger for a secret passageway.
You’ll also be on the hunt for the books that feed the character progression. You need to then action those books by spending Adventure Points that you’ve collected for performing various feats and mission goals, mind you, but there’s some nifty abilities, such as Punch Out restoring stamina with a KO, Lucky Hat giving Indy another chance after being downed himself, if he can just drag himself across the floor to reach his fedora, and plenty more besides.
The trip through to the Vatican was a fairly directed and linear level, but jumping ahead to a visit to a dig site at Gizeh showed off the other side to this Indiana Jones game. This presents a much broader region to explore, with a workers’ camp that’s a safe haven to return to with Dame Nawal a handy ally to give you the main mission, a small village, and then a whole host of dig sites around the Sphinx.
It took a while to realise that the game wasn’t going to hold my hand here, shepherding me through to important events and mission objectives, wrapping me up in a disguise to get past German guards patrolling the desert. As I first stepped out of the camp, I was immediately confronted and found myself in a scrap, though a little more care meant I was more than able to avoid patrols. It’s only a fair bit later (and thanks to a set of handy pointers for this preview event) that I could grab and don some worker’s garb, from well away from the action – a little odd that I couldn’t get any at the camp or village, though.
The main goal is to figure out what Voss is after and foil his plan, with this adventure’s companion Gina manning a radio back in Dame Nawal’s tent. While waiting for the opportunity to sneak in, Nawal gives you the goal of preventing the wider pillaging of historical artifacts, namely a set to stone stelae that absolutely belong in a museum.
Following the clues to these locations takes you around this map, to underground passages and ancient structures. Some are single room puzzles – a room filled with angry scorpions needs you to waft a torch at them, another needs use of a lighter to clear a pitch black and completely overgrown passage – but then there are the much, much larger digs, a site that’s almost very flooded and with the Germans having to make do with too few pumps and generators. While they’re distracted, you can sneak in, get some clobbering done, a little bit of light electrocution by turning generators back on, and finally get access to a little puzzle chamber to reveal another stele.
There’s a nice flow to it, though I also found myself completely backed into a corner at one point, a half-loaded rifle in hand and half a dozen guards that I’d previously skirted past now heading down to figure out what the fuss was about. It took a few goes to get out of that scrappy situation, and it wasn’t a pretty fight!
Through it all, there’s a sense that MachineGames has really understood the charm and appeal of the Indiana Jones films. The cutscenes are impeccably rendered, Troy Baker doing a good job of channelling a younger Harrison Ford (though still occasionally sounding more like himself), and with some light humour that largely works quite well.
I do think that the first person gameplay will remain a sticking point for some. There’s a different style and scale to how you interact with a game world in first person over third person, a need for greater precision in your controls when trying to target and interact with things, and a closeness that perhaps highlights the game-y way that characters walk, talk and act outside of cutscenes, but I’m fine with that. The films are pulpy fun, so this can be a game-y game.
And in general, I’m rather keen to see how this full adventure comes together. MachineGames are taking a less obvious path, but that’s going to lead to a much more individual and distinctive game and journey. And if you’re going to trust anyone to make a game that’s a lot to do with beating up fascists, it’s probably them!
