I was given the opportunity to travel to London to play Indiana Jones and the Great Circle in person, and I had an absolute blast. I went in with zero expectations, as I wasn’t sure what kind of game this was shaping up to be. However, when I went, I loved every second of it, and I will definitely be playing it when it is fully released. Axel Torvenius, the Creative Director at MachineGames, introduced the game. He took the time to explain what we would be playing through and made some great jokes along the way. Before long, we were getting stuck into the game, and I was fully immersed and wanting more.
We were able to start at the very beginning, being allowed a certain amount of time to experience the beginning areas of the game which included Indiana Jones’ workplace and the travel to Italy. It helped set the scene massively before we were tasked with questing through Gizeh in Egypt. The graphics were fantastic and highly detailed and helped add to the immersion of searching for artifacts as well as solving puzzles.
However, solving puzzles wasn’t my favorite part of the game. Instead, it was the combat. The fact I enjoyed the combat so much surprised me, but it also was quite comedic. While it’s commonplace for Indiana Jones to be beating up Nazis, the last thing you expect is to be beating them up with a frying pan or a shovel. Along with it came comedic sound effects, and it made the experience ten times more fun. The combat never got old. While you do have access to a revolver, I didn’t even use it; I relied on my fists and any other objects I could pick up and swing at. Admittedly, it did take me a little while to get to grips with the combat, but it was a well-polished system that you could choose to engage with or avoid altogether by going the stealth route. However, I am terrible at stealth in any game, and I always prefer the method of going in guns blazing.
To help keep Indiana Jones on his feet, there are also skill books that you can find, and learn new skills or buffs to his damage or health to keep him sustained throughout the game. To learn the new skills, you need enough points, which you’ll gather from completing quests or taking pictures. I wasn’t expecting this kind of feature in the game, but it worked out well and added to the 1937 feel and aesthetic, especially with the name of the skills.
Staying true to the Indiana Jones franchise, the game featured a lot of witty remarks, funny cut scenes, and great interactions with other characters. One of my favorite moments was when we were taken to Gizeh in Egypt, where I was put in charge of feeding a pet snake. Indiana Jones is absolutely terrified of snakes, which leads to him being lovingly mocked by the owner. This felt very fitting to the franchise, along with the slapstick-style fighting that you can partake in.
For an early preview of a game, I was blown away by how polished it was. You could tell that there was a lot of love put into this game, and there was only one single bug in the entire preview that I played. I expected many more, and it would have been fine if there were, as it was an early build, but I couldn’t be more impressed with how well-developed it was.
The only thing that was a slight issue for me was that the characters had a bit of an uncanny valley vibe to them. For example, Indiana Jones himself felt a bit too over-expressive at times and always looked to be in a permanent state of fear with gritted teeth. The other characters who feature didn’t suffer from it as much, but they all had a very cartoonish feel that could be quite jarring, especially in the cutscenes. Since the gameplay is predominantly in first-person, it isn’t really an issue until you’re in a cutscene and you notice it.
I was initially quite worried about how the first-person to third-person camera angles would work through the game, as this was something that was mentioned very early on in the announcement of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. However, the way it’s handled is relatively seamless and isn’t as jarring as it sounds. While most of the game is played in first-person, if you are swinging across something or climbing the whip, that is when you’ll get to see Indiana in action. While the third-person shots are fleeting, they are quite helpful in knowing where you are as you explore.
Overall, I had a great experience with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and I can’t wait to dive back into the world once more when the game officially releases. It was highly immersive, the characters were well-designed, the world design was stunning, and it was a really well-polished experience. It’s perfect for those who are new and returning to the Indiana Jones franchise, or want a game that feels similar to what Tomb Raider and Uncharted offer.
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