Indiana Jones Five Greatest Videogame Adventures
A brand new Indiana Jones adventure is nearly upon us! That’s right, in just about a week (earlier if you get that premium edition), Indiana Jones and the Great Circle launches for Xbox platforms and PC and it is the first new Indiana Jones game in quite a while. But Indy is no stranger to the video game space with plenty of games over the years. Sadly, like many attempts to bring licensed properties to the videogame front, many of them aren’t very good but some are and we are here to highlight the 5 best ones.
#5: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Arcade)
You can actually find a pretty decent adaptation of this for the NES which I do own, but my core memories tied to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom videogame are associated with the arcade machine that I used to play all the time in the backroom arcade of a Fuddruckers growing up. The gameplay itself is pretty simple: you rescue kids from the mines while avoiding/whipping Thugee cult members and eventually confronting Mola Ram in what is more of a cut scene than a boss battle.
If you can make it through like many games of this age that game only takes maybe twenty minutes but that’s also perfect for an arcade experience or quick session at home. Perfectly solid game for its time which puts it head and shoulders above many other games based on Indy’s various adventures.
#4. Indiana Jones Greatest Adventures
A decent side-scrolling action game based on a popular license that successfully encompasses all the movies in the franchise at the time? Surely you jest. But no, Indiana Jones Greatest Adventures manages to do exactly that, which in the 90s seemed like a very tall order. It doesn’t do anything groundbreaking and it isn’t on par with a lot of the best side-scrolling action games available on 90s consoles. But it is a enjoyable game starring Indiana Jones and really that’s the best you could hope for in that day and age.
#3. Indiana Jones and Emperor’s Tomb
Easily the best serious action game starring Indiana Jones, Indiana Jones and The Emperor’s Tomb is an original story that offers solid if still occasionally slightly buggy gameplay. Developed by The Collective who also made the surprisingly good Buffy the Vampire Slayer game for Xbox, Indiana Jones and The Emperor’s Tomb manages to deliver pretty much everything you’d want in an Indy game with some decent puzzles, good combat and even manages to make good use of his trusty whip which always seems like a challenging thing to implement properly. This is still available on PC and is not a super long game. So if you are looking to warm up for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, this would not be a bad option.
#2. Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
Lego videogame adaptations of known properties might be a well-worn and tired thing by now (though I really enjoyed Skywalker Saga feel like people missed out on that one) but Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures was still during the peak Lego games era. It is one of only a few games to incorporate the first three Indiana Jones movies (which are still the ones anyone cares about). It has fun gameplay that was still fresh at the time but would become pretty formulaic in later Lego games. It’s also very, very funny. Proof that the Lego games were way more enjoyable when no one spoke (though there are a couple of exceptions because Lego City Undercover is still my favorite Lego game). Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures is easily the best representation of the movies and is available on Xbox and PC.
#1. Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis
The greatest Indiana Jones game to date is.. a point-and-click adventure game? You bet your ass it is. Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis manages to really capture the mystery, lore and puzzle aspects of the Indy movies in ways few other games ever have. Lucas Arts at one time was pretty great at making adventure games of this style, and Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis was a more serious game than say Sam and Max or Monkey Island.
But the bones of a great adventure game were already there in the DNA of the developer at the time so they just applied to the world’s greatest archaeology professor and bam instant classic. This is still the best Indiana Jones game by a pretty significant magnitude. Will Indiana Jones and The Great Circle manage to top it? I guess we’ll see in about a week.
Well that’s it for today. Marvel Rivals launches this weekend and there’s a chance I’ll play a little bit of it and if I do maybe I’ll post some thoughts but honestly it makes no bones about being a free-to-play Overwatch clone and I just have no interest in that so I’m likely not going to cover it with the new Indiana Jones game right around the corner. I’ll probably have thoughts on Indiana Jones and the Great Circle late next week so see ya real soon!
