As much as we love Lara Croft, Indiana Jones will always be our favorite treasure hunter. Steven Spielberg's films dominated our childhoods, and we'd often run outside pretending to shoot Nazis and uncover mysterious artifacts. Now we can relive a taste of those movies in LucasArts' upcoming video game, Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, available for Wii, PS2, PSP and DS June 9th.
This time around (circa 1939), Indy sets off on a dangerous quest to find the staff of Moses before his rival, the presumably diabolical Magnus Voller. The perilous quest will take you to a wide variety of locations, ranging from gunfights in the back alley's of San Francisco's Chinatown to riding elephants through Istanbul. You can even pilot a biplane through a canyon, explore the jungles of Panama and solve puzzles while navigating your way through ancient tombs.
The game also features tons of action. You'll shoot enemies with various guns, beat them up using Indy's fists and as expected, crack his signature whip. On the Wii, you flick the remote to do this, and based on what we've seen, the whip reacts in different ways thanks to what LucasArts calls "gesture based combat." It remains to be seen how it works, but in the video, we watched as Indy used his whip to latch onto a guy's leg, and yank him to the ground.
In addition to the whip, the Wii version features other gesture based attacks. Physically punching the air with the remote and nunchuk causes Indy to dole out rights and lefts, while making a rowing motion will help you paddle down a river. Since the game has at least one flying sequence, we expect to steer the aircraft by tilting the remote.
In between killing people, you'll collect over 20 different treasures, unlock unspecified content and solve puzzles. The Tomb Raider-style adventuring should give everyone a much needed break from combat and allow them to use their brains.
Although the game sounds amazing, we have a lot of questions and concerns. LucasArts promises co-op gameplay, but it remains to be seen who Indy's partner will be. There's a four person versus mode (players compete in flying and tank deathmatches), but we don't know if that's offline-only or through a network. The developers were once again unable to get Harrison Ford's likeness, a glaring flaw that diminishes the game's appeal. Finally, why aren't there versions of the game for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3? Wii is OK, but we'd much rather unlock achievements/trophies in high definition.
Aside from those issues, Indiana Jones and Staff of Kings could be a worthy addition to the franchise. Prepare to crack the whip June 9th.
Related Links
Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings Wii Game Guide
Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings PS2 Game Guide
Reader Comments (1)
This is crap that it's not coming to the 360 or PS3! I was looking forward to getting this game for my 360 and I'm def not buying it for my PS2