Indiana Jones

My love for Indiana Jones knows no bounds. Sure, I was disappointed with Crystal Skull, and even moreso than a lot of other fans probably, considering I had to wait an extra painstaking month to see it (I was in Tokyo when the film came out, and the Japanese release date lagged behind damn near everywhere else on the planet).

But even so, I still take some comfort and enjoyment in watching Indy’s foray into the realm of cold war paranoia because Indy himself was still the badass he’s always been (although that doesn't forgive the film’s complete lack of tension, wonky script or those pesky monkeys). Similarly, I’ve happily slogged through most of Indy’s mediocre to plain awful video game adaptations—N64’s craptacular Infernal Machine is actually a so-bad-it’s-good favorite of mine, whose poor man’s Tomb Raider mechanics, muddy graphics and absolutely terrible voice rendition of Dr. Jones bring a smile to my face, albeit a more than slightly masochistic one.

But let’s be clear: I’m by no means saying that Indy’s adventures are only good because the ones I made mention of above are, to some degree or another, bad; such a statement couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, I probably owe more to the original trilogy for impacting the development of my interests and personality as a person from childhood on than just about anything else I can think of. And though I'd be lying if I said I’m not disappointed that Staff of Kings isn’t next-gen, I’m still pretty damn excited about it.

It’s been a good six years since we’ve seen a really good, original Indy title (although as an homage to the original trilogy, Lego Indy is priceless), with 2003’s Emperor’s Tomb.


Personally, I loved the brawling in that game, despite complaints over its buggy code. Though dev duties on Staff of Kings are being handled by A2M (as compared to Double Helix, formerly The Collective, who brought us Emperor’s Tomb) it seems that they’re looking to capture the pulp feel of the original three movies—particularly Raiders—and appear to be taking heavy inspiration from Double Helix’s school of design, meaning we can expect a lot of Indy’s anything-goes, barroom-style fisticuffs throughout his newest adventure.

Indy’s whip will be playing a big part this time around as well, and not just for lashing baddies. Although it’s unclear at this point to what extent, if any, Indy’s trademark weapon will effect the game’s fully interactive environments, the developers are promising Dr. Jones will have a full cadre of whip-related maneuvers at his disposal to help navigate through tight spots.

In other words, you’re going to be doing a lot of waggling with the familiar Wii remote / nunchuk combo, with Staff of King’s gesture-based controls governing Indy’s most every interaction, from fistfights to vehicular segments to solving puzzles. I’m particularly happy to hear that the game will have at least some puzzling, which should balance the pacing of its pulpy set-pieces (flying a bi-plane through a canyon sounds swell), traps, quick time events (like escaping from a collapsing temple) gunplay and brawling, though it remains to be seen whether these puzzles will only amount to pulling switches or something more involved and interesting. In any case, let’s hope the motion controls are up to snuff, or at least that the team includes an option to play with a classic or GameCube controller.

Despite being the lower-powered remnants of the now-defunct next-gen Indiana Jones game shown at E3 2006, Staff of Kings really sounds like the full Indy package, so to speak: Spielberg and Lucas both had some input on the game’s story, which chronicles Indy’s search for the Staff of Moses, a rare antiquity he hopes to collect ahead his fascist nemesis, Magnus Voller; design seems to strike a good balance between action and adventure; the music is closely modeled and inspired by John Wiliams’ classic score. 

Maddeningly, the game doesn’t have Harrison Ford’s likeness (in fact, the CG Indy that graced the game’s first trailer in January somewhat ironically bears more than a passing resemblance to Richard Young, the actor billed only as “Fedora,” who gives young Indy his iconic hat at the beginning of Last Crusade) and the jury’s still out on the game’s co-op and multiplayer modes. But for all its attention to detail, Staff of Kings seems like a loving tribute.

Now, just two things: In lieu of Harrison himself, pleasepleaseplease hire David Esch, quite possibly the best Harrison Ford voice-double ever, to reprise his role as Indy for the new game (he was fantastic in Emperor’s Tomb), and Lucas? If you’re reading this, can you weave Indy’s cold war years spying on the Soviets alluded to in Crystal Skull into the inevitable Indy V’s story? That’d be swell.



Staff of Kings hits June 9th.

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