Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb

Rating:
Summary: Won't be disappointed
Review: Compared to the previous Indianna Jones game, The Infernal Machine, this game is phenomenal. The graphics are gorgeous and the frame rates are fine(on my high-end PC). The controls take a while to get used to, but if you are experienced with using the mouse and keyboard, or if you have a game controller, you will be fine with the control aspect.
The levels are designed well, with an intrigueing story line and cool pre-level cut scenes. Another great aspect of the game that many people have overlooked is its PERFECT balance of guns and hand/whip combat. The last Indy game left his fists with no real use, but this game is remarkable and extremely fun when it comes to fist fighting. The fights are long and leaves you with lots of room to improvise(left mouse button is left hand, right button right hand). I am also able to grab the opponent and then do a variety of combo-move on him such as punching as I hold him, knee him, head-butt, or throw over a cliff or into a wall. If your skilled enough, you can even get your opponent into a headlock. The guns on the other hand, do not kill the opponent in one shot and have precious ammo, as it should be. It is often easier to whip a gun out of an opponents hand and beat the crap out of him with your fists.
Many people have complained that you are unable to save a game where ever you want, but I like it like that. It is more challenging and organized, and leaves me without all those save files that I lose track of. I have not had the problem of having to redo a section over and over again from dieing right at the end. I've been playing the game on normal difficulty through 6 levels and have only gotten to the END of a section and die once, so it really shouldn't be considered a problem. I highly recommend this game to anyone looking for an adventurous, action-packed, challenging, fun, fast-paced, intruiging, challenging, exciting, intense, fun, well-made...game.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome, if a bit frustrating
Review: Indy and the Emperor's Tomb is one of the most anticipated titles this spring. I'm pleased to say that it lives up to expectations, although it has a few little frustrating "features".

First, the good. The graphics have been overhauled from Infernal machine and are fantastic. Many of the setting are beautifully detailed and Indy looks like he stepped out of the movie. The voices are pretty decent as well -- whoever does Indy does a fair Harrison Ford impersonation.

The game itself is interesting, with reasonable puzzles and plenty of action (I'm about halfway through at this writing). There are a ton of levels and the plot is interesting. You slowly build up an idea of what's going on, rather than have everything spelled out.

I must comment on the fighting model, which is fantastic. You can whip weapons out of enemies hands, grab people and throw them off balconies and cliffs, do combination punches, grab chairs and bottles and blocks of wood to use as weapons. The aiming AI is a little off, sometimes steering your gun elsewhere. But overall, it's fantastic.

Now the complaints. Make sure your directx and graphics card drivers are updated or the game will crash. The swimming is very difficult and clunky. I have a very hard time swimming and using the machete at the same time. I hate the swimming. You can't duck, crawl or crouch -- the most you can do is roll, which makes evading trapes very difficult. I've frequently just run through them and taken my damage rather than mess around with trying to roll (which doesn't work 100% of the time). As usual, you have to position yourself just right for some moves. This can be very difficult when jumping over spaces, very easy when using the whip (which you use while jumping or chain whip -- awesome!).

The biggest problem is there is no quick save. So if you have a difficult jump or move and mess it up, you have to start over. There are enough level cuts to reduce this problem, but it is still incredibly annoying.

Overall, I give this a strong recommendation -- especially if you loved Infernal Machine for Fate of Atlantis.

Rating:
Summary: Indy¿s The Emperor¿s Tomb - Move Over Tomb Raider
Review: Just when you think it can't get any harder than this - it does! All I can say is I did not want the game to end. My hat off to the game designers. Fantastic adventure. Saving points were not too far spaced apart to avoid frustration. If I've spent an hour playing a game and still can't save, the game becomes kindling. As Indy would say - "Well that won't do."

The game is very enjoyable. Sometimes I couldn't hear the funny things Indy would say because of all the noise in the background but this is minor compared to the game's overall excitement level. That was a nice teaching tool also by including a map showing where these countries are that Indy travels to. I will definitely recommend this game.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, enter the tomb
Review: There are three things I hate in this world: When people lick their fingers to turn a page, rap music, and when great games get bad ratings. Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb is an exciting adventure thought up by Lucas Arts. The graphics are great, and the new fight moves will make you want more.

You are Indiana Jones, in 1935, recruited by a Chineese marshall (later the bad guy) to help find the Black Pearl in Emperor Ch'in's tomb. You will venture through the jungles of Ceylon, make your way to Prauge, Istanbul, where you will fight of agents and German Soldiers, and soon to the Under World, where you'll fight off evil spirits (with an increadibly cool weapon.)

The Graphics in this game are superb. The cut scenes will amaze you. Even the Menu has great graphics (Possibly the best of any level.)

Controls are your defult WASD movement keys, but you may configure them to your liking.

Weapons: Besides Indy's trusty whip, revolver, and good old fists (which you will use a lot early on,) you have a nice variety of guns and knives including: Mausers, SMG 40's, a machete, Chinese Swords, throwing knives, and a secret weapon for the underworld.

In all Lucas arts games there are puzzles. This game is no exception. There are puzzles in each level. Some hard, some easy. There are also traps. Again some obvious, some catch you by suprise every time.

The Emperor's Tomb displays an excellent Action-Adbevture-Roll Playing experience. You won't be dissapointed.

Overall Presentation: Fantastic, great menues.

Graphics: Good, a tiny bit choppy in some scenes where there is a lot of action, but otherwise, good.

Gameplay: Excellent, no control problems, the game flows very nicely.

Sound: Superior THX sound makes you feel like you're in the game.

Lasting Appeal: In this game, you will travel to 10 different places in the world, with a total of over 65 levels. Depending on how long you play this game, it will probably take you 1-3 months to complete it. And once you're done, you can choose your favorite levels and play them over and over again.

Difficulty: Easy, Normal, and Hard. Easy will become to easy after a while. And the transition to Normal and Hard will be too much of a difference in gameplay. I would recomend to start out playing on Normal, then you can boost it up to hard if you want.

I'm not sure why people are rating this game so poorly, I hope this review can change some minds.

Rating:
Summary: Frustrating yet Awesome !!
Review: This game is one of the most frustrating games I've ever played. Bad-1) It does not allow save points and auto saves at the start of every level. Thereby if Indy dies, you have to re-start from the level. Bad-2) I always prefer using mouse left button to move forward and right button to move back. But its camera movement keys are hardcoded for the same. I still managed to use the mouse for movement but for swinging using Indy's whip, I've had to change the movement keys because then the mouse buttons would not let me swing Indy. And swinging using the whip is to be done scores of times. Bad 3) Most levels are very very tough. Fall in the water..Sharks attack, Swing..someone shoots. So be prepared to play levels innumerable times.BUT...Good 1)The graphics are awesome. Some levels like the China & Istanbul levels are to be seen to be believed. Truly beautiful. Good 2) The fight sequences are just great. Kicking, fisting, fighting using table legs, bottles or other items is superb. Good 3) Some of the puzzles are very good. The graphics used to showing the puzzles like the Zodiac clock is wonderful. All in all, the tough levels, the frustration in re-starting the levels add to one's determination to finish this frustrating yet awesome game. I hope Lucas Arts corrects the bad points and bring out an Indy III game soon.

Rating:
Summary: Better than most of today's games
Review: When I played this game on PS2, I have to say, it's probably the first good game I've played since the first Zelda game for N64. I'll admit that certain levels are too hard while others are too easy, but I thought this was a good game. They created a story for it that reminds you of the movies, and Indiana actually looks and sounds like Harisson Ford. I never really see games anymore that have good graphics AND are good games. Don't get me wrong, I love how far video game graphics have come, but ever since they started making games with these great graphics, they've hardly cared at all about the game itself. They just put together a bunch of realistic 3D graphics, slap it all together and call it a game. Most games today are so hard that they're practically impossible, or they're easy enough for a 2-year-old to get through. This game is in-between those. It's not really easy, but it's not impossible. Compared to most video games today that are based on great movies, this one is rather good.