Indiana Jones and The Great Circle Review - The Great Redeemer
To say Indiana Jones was a part of my childhood would be an understatement. One of my first memories of a movie is Temple of Doom, I have watched the original trilogy more times than I can count and simply hearing the theme music takes me back to a happier, simpler time. These movies were everything to a young boy, a teenager and now a middle-aged man. Indy was the very definition of adventure, the pinnacle of blockbuster fun. But lately, things have been pretty bleak. The Crystal Skull was a trainwreck and The Dial Of Destiny, while better, still didn’t quite hit the mark. Well worry not, we now have the sequel fans of the film deserve and funnily enough it is in the form of a video game. Indiana Jones and The Great Circle is finally here and it is the adventure we have all been waiting for.
Let me get this out of the way. This is a true Indy experience. The Great Circle features all the things that made the franchise great to begin with. A cracking story based on pre-Christian myth, a wonderful sense of humour, amazing set pieces and, of course, punching Nazis. It is clear that MachineGames have taken their roles as the custodians of Indy’s legacy seriously, more seriously than the two recent movies that is for sure. Everything about this experience just feels right, it feels like a proper Indiana Jones flick. I have to say that alone is enough to make me recommend this to fans. There are very few game tie-ins that do justice to the original source material as well as The Great Circle does, perhaps only a handful, and as a result I found myself genuinely smiling throughout my time in the game.
The story is classic Indy stuff; Indy returns from a dig in Siwa with a mummified cat, which then gets stolen from his University in the middle of the night by a giant monk (none other than Tony Todd, aka the Candyman, in his final role.) Indy can’t let this lie, so he sets off to discover just what is so important about this Cat, leading to a bigger secret that has been protected since before the time of Christ. The story itself is perhaps more complicated than the original trilogy of movies, though that is through necessity as the game runs for a good 20-plus hours. It actually felt like a story ripped from the mind of Australian author Matthew Rielly, which is, quite frankly, the perfect fit for the game. As the game came to its conclusion, I was presented with the traditional Indy “holy hell” moment that literally caused me to yell with glee. It was a great reveal that really brought the expansive story together and let it end in a truly satisfying way.
Besides the story, the most important part of the game is replicating what it feels like to be Indiana Jones and that is where the first-person perspective comes in. Let me make this clear. This is not Uncharted or Tomb Raider, Indy is not a fit and flexible explorer or a well-trained (borderline pirate) adventurer. He is a Professor first and foremost and while he is quite fit, he isn’t an Olympic athlete and the game presents this wonderfully. The way he moves, looks for an efficient way of doing things and interacts with the environment all make the Great Circle a true representation of stepping into Indy’s shoes. I don’t think this could have been achieved in the third person. For those older gamers, there are clear parallels to The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, a game that MachineGames (under Starbreeze) developed previously.
Combat is a weighty and satisfying affair, with a great melee system that, once again, captures the spirit of Indy. Just about anything lying around can become a weapon, from guitars to hammers, to a fly swatter, and using one of these makeshift weapons is always preferable to going in with your fists. But if fist fighting is needed, know there is a great combat system that allows for blocks, parries and perhaps the most satisfying right hook (along with the perfect sound effect) in gaming. Guns are also an option, but sadly they are not a great one. Shooting feels rough with these WW2 era weapons (which could be argued is true to life) and really should only be used as a last resort. Frankly, I found the option to turn rifles and shotguns into a melee weapon a much better idea most of the time. The whip however is an essential part of Indy’s kit and can be used in combat to trip enemies, make them drop weapons and even drag them towards you so you can get in a few quick hits. It is also extensively used in exploration to allow Indy to climb walls and swing across gaps. A lot of work has gone into making the whip satisfying to use, and it shows.
If guns are the last option, then stealth is the first. A lot of this game will see players sneaking around, trying to find clues to puzzles, stealing resources and taking down enemies quietly. The stealth mechanics work well, even if they are a little simple. It works on basic line-of-sight and noise, the type of thing many games have used before. Splinter Cell, this is not, but then again, Indy is no Sam Fischer so it makes sense in the game. If stealth doesn’t work then perhaps a disguise will, allowing Indy (just like in the movies) to play a bit of dress-up and bluff his way into areas he wouldn’t normally be able to walk around in. Though this isn’t a free pass to everywhere, even in disguise, there are places that Indy can’t enter, and officers for the Fascists and Nazis can see through the charade, so caution is still required.
But the real stars of the show are the puzzles. The Great Circle features some absolutely masterful puzzles that offer the perfect balance between challenge and satisfaction. They are masterfully designed and force players to use the environment, notes and clues that they have gathered and a little outside-the-box thinking. I was taking photos of things with my phone and using a notebook in the real world (something I haven’t done in years) to break ciphers and crack codes. What’s more, there isn’t a box-pushing challenge in sight. It wasn’t until right near the end of the game that I encountered one or two puzzles that felt too obscure to solve, but thankfully, instead of a chirpy companion blurting out hints and solutions (I’m looking at you God of War), Indy has a camera he can use to take photos of the puzzle, with each photo giving another hint on how to solve the puzzle. It is a well-thought-out system that ensures players of all levels can enjoy the game without ruining the puzzle experience for players who want to solve them on their own.
On the tech side of things, well, that’s where it goes a little astray. I want to caution you that I wrote this review before the day one patch, and from all reports, that patch is going to include a huge amount of visual work (including the full ray-tracing.), so please heed what I say with that in mind. The graphics in Indy vary wildly, from a stunningly detailed recreation of Harrison Ford’s youthful appearance to some of the worst explosion/landslide effects I have seen in an AAA game. There are also quite a few little graphical glitches that pop up (or should I say pop in.) There are odd enemy animations, a few walls that occasionally drop out of view and a sometimes occurrence where an enemy has been taken out but stays standing. None of this, and I mean none of this, affected my enjoyment of the game and like I said, I suspect a lot of the issues will be gone before most players even get their hands on the title, but these issues are there right now and are worth mentioning.
If the graphical quality is inconsistent, the framerate is not. I am playing on a 4080 with an i9, a pretty hefty rig, and ran the game on max settings. Thanks to the built-in tools, I could see that the game barely dropped below 90 fps during my entire playtime. Man, that ID Tech engine is something else when it comes to keeping those frames up. I will be interested to see how it scales on a lower specced systems, though, because the system requirements require an RTX-capable card. Probably not going to be a game you can put on your work laptop or even your Steamdeck.
As for the environments, there are three main open areas where the action takes place, along with a few more linear (yet still open enough to spend plenty of time exploring.) These huge main maps feature so many nooks and crannies to poke your nose into that it is quite easy to get lost and forget about the story entirely. All of the areas are amazingly detailed, and in the case of the first main area, The Vatican, true-to-life as well. Having visited the Vatican last year, I was seriously impressed with how well it had been recreated here and that famous locations, such as the Sistine Chappel (and Michalengelo’s amazing art) are represented in all their glory.
The final thing I want to mention in this already wordy review is the multitude of accessibility settings that are on offer. Microsoft-developed games have been really putting in a lot of effort in this area and that is still true with Indy. There are a host of visual and gameplay tweaks that can be made to ensure the widest range of abilities can enjoy the adventure. Even regarding the difficulty levels, the traditional “Easy-Medium-Hard” dynamic has been replaced with two different categories, Adventure and Action. Adventure is the difficulty of the exploration and puzzle part of the game, with Action looking after combat and stealth. Both of these areas can be tweaked, using multiple options, to the player’s desired level, to offer that balanced experience that everyone is looking for. It is a fantastic redesign of a video game concept that hasn’t really changed in decades (if ever) and I hope other games take it on board.
From the opening notes of the Indy theme, I was transported to the realm of one of my favourite fictional characters of all time and that is the Great Circle’s greatest achievement in my eyes. If you long for the days of the classic Indy movies (and want to forget the last two), this is the sequel for you, it just happens to be a video game. Stellar puzzles, satisfying combat, amazing environments, and a story that pays out in such a perfect way all play into making this a true Indy experience. It isn’t perfect, the gunplay is below par, and there are a few graphical issues that show up too often, but I feel safe in saying that this a game that captures its source material in a way that few games ever have. Indiana Jones and The Great Circle is another spectacular title from MachineGames and should be on everyone’s Santa list this Christmas.
Indiana Jones and The Great Circle was reviewed on PC with code kindly supplied by Bethesda ANZ
