David Wesst

This game has some problems, but it is a fantastic Indiana Jones game.

What I Didn't Like

Stelth Gameplay

The gameplay is fine-- but it's not my kind of gameplay. There is a large focus on stelth, which is not my kind of game. The other elements definitely outweighed that part of the game for me, as I kept going on the game and enjoyed a lot of it with minimal frustration.

But I should note, that this is a me problem, not a game problem. Stelth suits Indiana Jones and once you get the hang of it, it works well enough.

It's just not my jam as compared to what I usually play.

Visual Weirdness

There were moments that I dubbed "Bethesda Jank". Little things that would take me out of the immersion or cause frustration. For example, finding ledges. I realize they didn't paint everything bright yellow, which drives a lot of people mad. They chose white to highlight things which fits into the world better, but I had real trouble locating in tense moments, leading to frustration.

Maybe that is a me problem, but it still was frustrating dying multiple times trying to find my way out of a collapsing temple or whatever.

There were also HUD elements that I couldn't find or see when I needed them.

Dialogue Weirndess

Occasionally when the characters were a few rooms away-- which was odd. It happened with both enemies but also with friendly NPCs which lead to Indy having weird one-sided conversations with imaginary voices. I has the subtitles on, but it was really quite strange.

What I Liked

The Story

The story felt like a legit Indiana Jones story. They wove in elements from the early films, the characters feel like great characters from the world. The adventure had a great balance of Indy moments, spread apart with gameplay.

The Feel

That's vague-- but it's just everything around it. It feels like you are playing an Indiana Jone movie. The performances are great, the moments align leaving you hanging until the big reveal. And the writing is just dead on. They nailed the feeling, and that was really nice considering the new Indy movies never really did it for me.

There were also nice touches like the UI and the HUD, where you can see waypoints only when the journal is open. You can see the pictures you take as notes. The puzzles aren't trivial, but they have a optional hint system done through the camera that adds dialogue to point you in the right direction.

The Conclusion

This was a good playthrough, and the Indiana Jone elements kept me playing moreso than the gameplay itself.

There is a great Indiana Jone story in here, but the gameplay needs some polish. It reminds me a lot of the first Uncharted game. It was good, but needed polish. And Uncharted 2, was something special.