Fortune and glory
It has been a long time coming, but MachineGames latest title is finally here. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has been one of my most anticipated games of the year. I am a big fan of the movies and the character, and let’s be fair, MachineGames doesn’t miss. So, when I heard they were making this title, my interest was instantly piqued. So here we are, launch is finally here, and after spending dozens of hours traversing the world of The Great Circle, I can safely say, the wait was worth it. This is the best game MachineGames has done to date, the best Indy game available, and quite possibly, one of the best of the year.
One of the biggest things that makes Indiana Jones great are the adventures he takes. The Great Circle from top to bottom feels like a brand-new movie. The story takes place around a year after the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and MachineGames does a clever sequence to fill players in on when it takes place. It is worth noting that this is by far the most ambitious and largest game from the team, it includes over four hours of cutscenes and the story had me intrigued from start to finish. It really feels like a new entry.
MSRP: $69.99 (included in Game Pass)
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PC
Price I’d Pay: $69.99
This is further enforced with the outstanding performances. Starting at the top, I know this isn’t Harrison Ford, there are plenty of instances where it is obvious it is not him, but there are moments where I get lost in the moment and forget. Troy Baker does an outstanding job of capturing Indy’s tone and humor. He really nails what makes Harrison’s character come to life. There are nice quips and moments that feel genuine, and that is the best praise I can offer. MachineGames nailed this casting. It helps that he is surrounded by a ton of other great performances and the perfect villain. As I said, this truly feels like a new entry in the long-running series.
Coming into this game I didn’t watch a lot of trailers or previews, so I wasn’t sure exactly what type of game they would go with. Being first person was always a sticking point. Being able to see Indy was always something that I wondered if it would work from a first-person perspective. I am happy to report that it works, and actually makes the experience more immersive. It reminds me of the original Rainbow Six games on Xbox where certain animations switch out to third-person for actions like climbing. It takes a little to get used to, but it works. Fighting and solving puzzles in first-person just works though.
So, what kind of game is this? The best way I can describe it is to go back to the original Tomb Raider. There are a ton of puzzles and exploration. So much so that players have the option to tweak the difficulty in two ways. You can set the combat difficulty separately from the puzzle one. There is a guided mode that shows the next objectives, or players can shut that off entirely and have to figure things out for themselves. This is awesome because for those that want to focus more on exploration and puzzles can tone down the combat difficulty as it can be rather hard at times.
Let’s dive into combat first. For the majority of the game players will be taken to melee for most encounters. The first-person fisticuffs feel great. It is a simple system with a block/parry and each trigger corresponding to each arm. These can be charged up for a stronger punch and players can grab objects around the world to use as weapons. Anything from a paint brush to a sledgehammer. The impact feels fantastic. These are accompanied by the classic punch sound from the movies, which just adds to the feeling of being an Indy experience. The whip can also be used to grab enemies and pull them towards you, it all feels fantastic.
If I had one gripe about combat, it is fighting the “larger” enemies. I am not going to spoil any story stuff, but there are a set of enemies that simply take too long to take down, even on the easiest difficulty. Guns do play a role at times, but the ammo is very limited, and I rarely used it, as it alerts other guards as well, and stealth plays a big part of the game, thankfully not annoyingly so. Yes, you will be sneaking around a lot and taking down enemies, but it never gets frustrating. There were no insta-fail missions that I noticed, and if I was spotted, I could either fight my way out or escape and reset the search.
Puzzles are by far the highlight of this game. There are so many of them and traversing into ancient tombs and uncovering the various hidden secrets are the best parts of this game. I loved how there are so many pieces to uncover and when I solved them, it felt great. This isn’t just limited to the main story either. There are puzzles and hidden items scattered around the world that I stumbled across. Hints are usually close to the puzzle itself and solving them made me feel really smart, which is a sign of good design. Every time a new puzzle presented itself, I got excited and wanted to solve it before moving on.
Upgrades are done via books found within the world. These can upgrade things such as health, item capacity, and stamina upgrades. Once found these have to be purchased via adventure points. These points are earned for absolutely everything. Early in the game you get a camera that allows players to unlock hints and discover items. Each level opens up a new item like this. Think of them sort of like powers in a Metroid-style game. Going back to that evil word you saw, yes, this game uses a stamina system. It is used for climbing and fighting, and it can be annoying at times. Thankfully with traversal, you can just stop and let it recharge, and you can increase it with fruit, but still, it feels arbitrary at times.
The world of The Great Circle is broken down into different areas that serve as kind of smaller open worlds. Of course, we traverse to each one with the classic map and red line trip from the films, but each world is packed with secrets, side missions, and plenty to see and do. It took me a while, but there is fast travel available. Indy’s journal lets you revisit any area you have already been to, and within the world it is done with sign posts, which is clever. Once an area is unlocked, I could travel to them easily, but I rarely used it since exploring the world usually led to a new book or puzzle to solve, and I simply loved the exploration aspect of the game, which nails that Indy feel.
MachineGames has absolutely nailed the look of Indiana Jones. Each world is massive and full of detail. Character models are gorgeous, and the performance was outstanding. The game runs at 60fps in performance mode, and I rarely noticed big drops. The cutscenes have some weird jitter at times, but I assume that they will be ironed out with a patch down the line. The sound is equally impressive with the aforementioned vocal performances, none of the characters are done poorly, and they feel ripped out of the movies. The music contains plenty of familiar tunes mixed with some new ones that mesh perfectly into the score. The presentation of the game is just outstanding, and I loved every little detail found within.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is the best iteration of the character and easily the best thing Xbox has put out in years. MachineGames understood the assignment and nailed every aspect of the character while making it feel like a new entry in the movie/adventure series. The performances are stellar, the puzzles are amazing, and this easily worked its way into my best games of the year. They nailed what makes Indy special and there is just so much to love from start to finish. This is also a long game, and I find myself coming back to explore more after completing it. Do not sleep on this one, the fact that it is in Game Pass makes it a no-brainer.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
