Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis by LucasArts (Release Date: June 1, 1992) is among the most popular classic point and click adventures out there. Ask the majority of adventure game and Indiana Jones fans who have played this, and you will receive praise for the game and how true it stays to the Indiana Jones franchise. As someone who enjoys his fair share of adventure games but didn't grow up with the classic ones, and as someone who watched Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time a couple days ago in preparation of playing this game, I have mixed feelings.
While I invite you to read on to find out my thoughts, let me share some facts about the game that should entice you to play the game regardless, instead of reading my opinion as if it were the gospel. Indiana Jones received multiple "Best Adventure Game of the Year" awards in 1992. Granted, it wasn't the most packed year for the genre, but the game brought home some GOTY awards too. It sold over a million copies by 2009, which may not sound like a whole lot, but was one of the most successful graphic adventure games for LucasArts.
MobyGames has it at 8.2/10, reviews at the time had the game at roughly 9/10 on average so, needless to say, this was a critical success as well.
That said, here is my review on the game and on why I didn't gell with it quite like I would have liked.
STORYTELLING/CHARACTERS | 6/10
You play the eponymous Indiana Jones in 1939 and at the start of the game, look for some small statue in university archives for a visitor that goes by the name "Mr. Smith". When you deliver it to him, he steals the statue and the "bead" that was inside it. As he escapes through the window, you manage to pull out his jacket and inside find his ID. His real name is Klaus Kerner, a Nazi agent. Turns out, the Nazis are looking for the lost city of Atlantis and the power it bears.
A magazine article from the past that was also in the Nazi's jacket has a picture of Indiana Jones and also of a woman called Sophia Hapgood, who joined Jones on an expedition to Iceland, where she stole artifacts that Kerner is now after. This prompts Indy to find her, as he fears Kerner will go after her soon. When he arrives at her location, Kerner indeed already took off with some Atlantean artifacts she had in her office. The most important artifact, a necklace, is still on Sophia's person though, which has the spirit of the Atlantean king Nur-Ab-Sal within. The spirit then gives Sophia a message, telling her how to find the lost city of Atlantis.
So now you're off to find Atlantis, discover the hidden power and make sure the Nazis don't get their hands on it to use it for world domination.
Having watched Raiders of the Lost Ark only, this general plot idea seems immediately familiar. 1930's, long lost powerful treasure, Nazis, a woman by Indy's side with a medaillon to help find the way, a trip down the Mediterranean, it all follows that formula. If you want to please a fanbase, that's certainly the way to go.
Through your journey, there are some small homages to the movie franchise, but from what I can tell, it doesn't appear to include any characters from the movies. The characters that are introduced here pretty much exclusively are "nuts" as Indy so lovingly puts it, reminding you of LucasArts witty humor rather than Indiana Jones more, mostly, grounded one. These characters talk funny, have seemingly lost their marbles or make some dumb suggestions (one character gives you a mask for free, but will later trade you something for it). Apart from them though, the presentation is generally much more serious than all LucasArts games I've been subjected to over the years. Personally, I'm more at home with the humorous point and click adventures, and this game felt like it couldn't decide between that and between the Indiana Jones 'feel'. Having the main character and Sophia take themselves more seriously most of the time than, say, Guybrush Threepwood, Manny from Grim Fandango or those three brains from Day of the Tentacle, is something I didn't particularly enjoy in the "talkie" version I played, because the lines coupled with the deadpan voice acting just didn't work for me, especially on Indy's part.
The plot itself works because it is more or less what you would expect from an Indiana Jones plot, but it's predictable and slow-paced due to both the nature of this being a puzzle game and puzzles being so heavy on backtracking and, especially in the latter half, on mazes.
One thing I did really like though is that you have multiple approaches you can take in this game. For example, in one part, you can manage to get through it by doing a dialogue 'puzzle' or, if you don't want to or fail that puzzle, you can do an object puzzle instead, both of which get the job done equally.
There is also a point where you can decide to bring Sophia with you for the rest of the game or go through it on your own. There are multiple path names for this choice you make. Bringing her along is the Team path, which has different puzzles and solutions, optional and non-optional dialogue that can provide somewhat entertaining banter from time to time and a "hint system" that allows you to ask her what the next course of action should be. I found this to be useless though, since she only states the obvious. Going solo is called the "Wits" path and while I didn't take it, it comes with many differences, such as different puzzles and different characters to meet as a result. There is also a "Fists Path" according to the game's wiki, but I personally did not figure out how to choose that option. Apparently, this leads to fewer puzzles and more action / fighting scenes.
Finally, this game has multiple good and bad endings, which I think is very nice. Overall though, due to the pacing, the one-dimensional characters and the flat voice acting for Indiana Jones in particular, I can't say I really enjoyed my time with this games story for most of its duration.
GAMEPLAY | 9/20
LucasArts point and click games almost all have the same "Verb Interface" that you use to 'Pick Up, 'Use' or 'Open' items, among several other options. You explore your surroundings to pick up items, to use them on other interactable items and to talk to people. There are puzzles in this game that need to be solved by using the items you find or by picking the right options in dialogue.
Games like this are hit and miss in terms of the puzzles that you need to solve. They don't shy away from having solutions be contrived from time to time, or for input to be needlessly specific at times. For example, at one point, you need to point a surveyor's instrument on a right and left side "horn". That horn has several points you can line the instrument up to. You'd think that the solution would trigger whether you place the line on the left, the right, the middle, the middle-left or middle-right of this relatively wide object. But no, you need to place it at the corner of it to trigger "this is the right side horn" line and solution instead of the "this is dirt" line. It's things like this that I will always find annoying about classic graphic adventures, but it's something I can deal with overall.
What made me resort to a guide to lead me to the finish line though was the overuse of mazes throughout the game's second half. The cave you explore in Crete is a labyrinth and Atlantis has multiple literal and non-literal labyrinth-like parts as well. Each include a bunch of puzzles that had me go mad at one point because it's constantly walking slowly from one point to another, picking up tons of items and having tons of options as to where to put them, and having to constantly backtrack back and forth. It was not fun at all and had me yawn uncontrollably, especially in Atlantis, which was supposed to be this mystical place that the game was leading up to.
There are also a few sections where you need to control things, like a hot air balloon or a submarine. Imagine Mass Effect's Mako controls but 90.000 times worse, especially on the submarine. Instead of having these epic Indiana Jones-like set pieces, all I had was fights with controls, which often just killed the mood for me.
I can't say this was a fun graphic adventure to play from a gameplay perspective (the basic gameplay loop of puzzle-solving itself is generally fun though), which is something I can only say about this LucasArts adventure so far. I played Secret of Monkey Island games, Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle and Loom before this.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE | 8/10
Voice acting exists in the talkie versions, which came out a year or so after the initial release. While the voice acting was not bad overall, I can't say I gelled with the voice acting done for Indiana Jones. For most side characters, voice acting certainly was a plus versus no voice acting at all.
The soundtrack consists of the main Indiana Jones theme of course, plus an assortment of tracks that fit the locations this game plays in or the events that occur rather well. I wouldn't say it's fantastic, just a good adventure game soundtrack.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN | 8/10
The game has an art style befitting Indiana Jones, but what I liked the most about this game in terms of its graphical presentation is the animations. Sophia letting her hair down, Kerner brushing through his, the struggle between Kerner and Indiana Jones at the start of the game, it looks pretty clean and adds a lot of charm.
ATMOSPHERE/IMMERSION | 8/10
This game could have used more disgusting caves, but overall, this certainly has Indiana Jones written all over it, from the graphics to the storyline. If you're a big Indiana Jones fan, you should definitely play this.
CONTENT | 5/10
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis is 10 hours long, which is quite long for a LucasArts adventure game. Unfortunately, I found the second half dragged way too much, so I can't say I found all 10 hours to be a lot of fun.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN | 5/10
I have a hard time deciding how to rate this. On the one hand, I enjoy the fact that there are three routes with their own, distinct puzzles. On the other, second half of the game, at least in the Team path, is just chock full of mazes that didn't accomplish anything but bring the yawns out of me. I didn't find it fun and actually quite bad to have the same style of levels multiple times in a row like that.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION | 6/10
This is a graphic adventure in the same style as the others that LucasArts developed before it. The only innovation I've noticed here is 1) the control schemes for the hot air balloon and the submarine, which was terrible and 2) the addition of multiple paths and endings, which was a really nice addition.
REPLAYABILITY | 5/5
There are three routes to take and multiple endings, so this game has quite a bit of replayability for its time. These routes also come with their own unique puzzles of varying degrees of difficulty, which is very commendable, even if I personally didn't enjoy the game enough to care about replaying it.
PLAYABILITY | 5/5
Works well at all times. The beginning of the game had a weird issue for me though. You are supposed to find a small statue. While checking out the controls, I clicked both the left and right mouse button at the same time, which led to the whole introduction to be skipped. Indy had found the statue on his own and the game jumped to the scene where he gives it to "Mr. Smith". Weird.
OVERALL | 65/100
While the review has been more negative than I would have thought before starting this, I have to praise the game for the amount of freedom it offers the player in choosing which paths to take, and the difference that makes. The general gameplay loop of brainteasing puzzles is also enjoyable on some level still, but personally I didn't enjoy the level design in the second half and the tone of the game quite as much as I did previous LucasArts graphic adventures.
(This is the 71st game in my challenge to go through many known games in chronological order starting in 1990. The spreadsheet is in my bio.)
While I invite you to read on to find out my thoughts, let me share some facts about the game that should entice you to play the game regardless, instead of reading my opinion as if it were the gospel. Indiana Jones received multiple "Best Adventure Game of the Year" awards in 1992. Granted, it wasn't the most packed year for the genre, but the game brought home some GOTY awards too. It sold over a million copies by 2009, which may not sound like a whole lot, but was one of the most successful graphic adventure games for LucasArts.
MobyGames has it at 8.2/10, reviews at the time had the game at roughly 9/10 on average so, needless to say, this was a critical success as well.
That said, here is my review on the game and on why I didn't gell with it quite like I would have liked.
STORYTELLING/CHARACTERS | 6/10
You play the eponymous Indiana Jones in 1939 and at the start of the game, look for some small statue in university archives for a visitor that goes by the name "Mr. Smith". When you deliver it to him, he steals the statue and the "bead" that was inside it. As he escapes through the window, you manage to pull out his jacket and inside find his ID. His real name is Klaus Kerner, a Nazi agent. Turns out, the Nazis are looking for the lost city of Atlantis and the power it bears.
A magazine article from the past that was also in the Nazi's jacket has a picture of Indiana Jones and also of a woman called Sophia Hapgood, who joined Jones on an expedition to Iceland, where she stole artifacts that Kerner is now after. This prompts Indy to find her, as he fears Kerner will go after her soon. When he arrives at her location, Kerner indeed already took off with some Atlantean artifacts she had in her office. The most important artifact, a necklace, is still on Sophia's person though, which has the spirit of the Atlantean king Nur-Ab-Sal within. The spirit then gives Sophia a message, telling her how to find the lost city of Atlantis.
So now you're off to find Atlantis, discover the hidden power and make sure the Nazis don't get their hands on it to use it for world domination.
Having watched Raiders of the Lost Ark only, this general plot idea seems immediately familiar. 1930's, long lost powerful treasure, Nazis, a woman by Indy's side with a medaillon to help find the way, a trip down the Mediterranean, it all follows that formula. If you want to please a fanbase, that's certainly the way to go.
Through your journey, there are some small homages to the movie franchise, but from what I can tell, it doesn't appear to include any characters from the movies. The characters that are introduced here pretty much exclusively are "nuts" as Indy so lovingly puts it, reminding you of LucasArts witty humor rather than Indiana Jones more, mostly, grounded one. These characters talk funny, have seemingly lost their marbles or make some dumb suggestions (one character gives you a mask for free, but will later trade you something for it). Apart from them though, the presentation is generally much more serious than all LucasArts games I've been subjected to over the years. Personally, I'm more at home with the humorous point and click adventures, and this game felt like it couldn't decide between that and between the Indiana Jones 'feel'. Having the main character and Sophia take themselves more seriously most of the time than, say, Guybrush Threepwood, Manny from Grim Fandango or those three brains from Day of the Tentacle, is something I didn't particularly enjoy in the "talkie" version I played, because the lines coupled with the deadpan voice acting just didn't work for me, especially on Indy's part.
The plot itself works because it is more or less what you would expect from an Indiana Jones plot, but it's predictable and slow-paced due to both the nature of this being a puzzle game and puzzles being so heavy on backtracking and, especially in the latter half, on mazes.
One thing I did really like though is that you have multiple approaches you can take in this game. For example, in one part, you can manage to get through it by doing a dialogue 'puzzle' or, if you don't want to or fail that puzzle, you can do an object puzzle instead, both of which get the job done equally.
There is also a point where you can decide to bring Sophia with you for the rest of the game or go through it on your own. There are multiple path names for this choice you make. Bringing her along is the Team path, which has different puzzles and solutions, optional and non-optional dialogue that can provide somewhat entertaining banter from time to time and a "hint system" that allows you to ask her what the next course of action should be. I found this to be useless though, since she only states the obvious. Going solo is called the "Wits" path and while I didn't take it, it comes with many differences, such as different puzzles and different characters to meet as a result. There is also a "Fists Path" according to the game's wiki, but I personally did not figure out how to choose that option. Apparently, this leads to fewer puzzles and more action / fighting scenes.
Finally, this game has multiple good and bad endings, which I think is very nice. Overall though, due to the pacing, the one-dimensional characters and the flat voice acting for Indiana Jones in particular, I can't say I really enjoyed my time with this games story for most of its duration.
GAMEPLAY | 9/20
LucasArts point and click games almost all have the same "Verb Interface" that you use to 'Pick Up, 'Use' or 'Open' items, among several other options. You explore your surroundings to pick up items, to use them on other interactable items and to talk to people. There are puzzles in this game that need to be solved by using the items you find or by picking the right options in dialogue.
Games like this are hit and miss in terms of the puzzles that you need to solve. They don't shy away from having solutions be contrived from time to time, or for input to be needlessly specific at times. For example, at one point, you need to point a surveyor's instrument on a right and left side "horn". That horn has several points you can line the instrument up to. You'd think that the solution would trigger whether you place the line on the left, the right, the middle, the middle-left or middle-right of this relatively wide object. But no, you need to place it at the corner of it to trigger "this is the right side horn" line and solution instead of the "this is dirt" line. It's things like this that I will always find annoying about classic graphic adventures, but it's something I can deal with overall.
What made me resort to a guide to lead me to the finish line though was the overuse of mazes throughout the game's second half. The cave you explore in Crete is a labyrinth and Atlantis has multiple literal and non-literal labyrinth-like parts as well. Each include a bunch of puzzles that had me go mad at one point because it's constantly walking slowly from one point to another, picking up tons of items and having tons of options as to where to put them, and having to constantly backtrack back and forth. It was not fun at all and had me yawn uncontrollably, especially in Atlantis, which was supposed to be this mystical place that the game was leading up to.
There are also a few sections where you need to control things, like a hot air balloon or a submarine. Imagine Mass Effect's Mako controls but 90.000 times worse, especially on the submarine. Instead of having these epic Indiana Jones-like set pieces, all I had was fights with controls, which often just killed the mood for me.
I can't say this was a fun graphic adventure to play from a gameplay perspective (the basic gameplay loop of puzzle-solving itself is generally fun though), which is something I can only say about this LucasArts adventure so far. I played Secret of Monkey Island games, Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle and Loom before this.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE | 8/10
Voice acting exists in the talkie versions, which came out a year or so after the initial release. While the voice acting was not bad overall, I can't say I gelled with the voice acting done for Indiana Jones. For most side characters, voice acting certainly was a plus versus no voice acting at all.
The soundtrack consists of the main Indiana Jones theme of course, plus an assortment of tracks that fit the locations this game plays in or the events that occur rather well. I wouldn't say it's fantastic, just a good adventure game soundtrack.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN | 8/10
The game has an art style befitting Indiana Jones, but what I liked the most about this game in terms of its graphical presentation is the animations. Sophia letting her hair down, Kerner brushing through his, the struggle between Kerner and Indiana Jones at the start of the game, it looks pretty clean and adds a lot of charm.
ATMOSPHERE/IMMERSION | 8/10
This game could have used more disgusting caves, but overall, this certainly has Indiana Jones written all over it, from the graphics to the storyline. If you're a big Indiana Jones fan, you should definitely play this.
CONTENT | 5/10
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis is 10 hours long, which is quite long for a LucasArts adventure game. Unfortunately, I found the second half dragged way too much, so I can't say I found all 10 hours to be a lot of fun.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN | 5/10
I have a hard time deciding how to rate this. On the one hand, I enjoy the fact that there are three routes with their own, distinct puzzles. On the other, second half of the game, at least in the Team path, is just chock full of mazes that didn't accomplish anything but bring the yawns out of me. I didn't find it fun and actually quite bad to have the same style of levels multiple times in a row like that.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION | 6/10
This is a graphic adventure in the same style as the others that LucasArts developed before it. The only innovation I've noticed here is 1) the control schemes for the hot air balloon and the submarine, which was terrible and 2) the addition of multiple paths and endings, which was a really nice addition.
REPLAYABILITY | 5/5
There are three routes to take and multiple endings, so this game has quite a bit of replayability for its time. These routes also come with their own unique puzzles of varying degrees of difficulty, which is very commendable, even if I personally didn't enjoy the game enough to care about replaying it.
PLAYABILITY | 5/5
Works well at all times. The beginning of the game had a weird issue for me though. You are supposed to find a small statue. While checking out the controls, I clicked both the left and right mouse button at the same time, which led to the whole introduction to be skipped. Indy had found the statue on his own and the game jumped to the scene where he gives it to "Mr. Smith". Weird.
OVERALL | 65/100
While the review has been more negative than I would have thought before starting this, I have to praise the game for the amount of freedom it offers the player in choosing which paths to take, and the difference that makes. The general gameplay loop of brainteasing puzzles is also enjoyable on some level still, but personally I didn't enjoy the level design in the second half and the tone of the game quite as much as I did previous LucasArts graphic adventures.
(This is the 71st game in my challenge to go through many known games in chronological order starting in 1990. The spreadsheet is in my bio.)