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Indiana Jones series

JDR13

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What's the opinion on the Indiana Jones adventure games? They're on sale right now and I was thinking of grabbing the whole collection. I've heard The Fate of Atlantis is really good. Are any of the others worth playing?

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine
Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb
 

Jvegi

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My sister (at the time) bought the Infernal Machine for crazy money when it came out.

It's... old. An epic adventure through the continents and all, but when you're 10 driving a vehicle in a game is the coolest thing. Doesn't mean it's still relevant now.
Maybe it's awesome. I remember having fun. I doubt it though.

Fate of Atlantis has nice production values. I have not gotten far, so I can't say if it's good, but it's certainly as good graphics and sound wise as you can expect.
 

visions

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Fate of Atlantis is among the easier classic Lucasarts adventure games imo so if you're not very experienced with adventure games, it's a good place to start. Great soundtrack, visuals and the atmosphere are good. I remember that the puzzles were fairly logical, can't recall any particularly egregious examples of moon logic. There are three quite different paths (wits, fists and social, featuring a companion) through the game featuring some different puzzles and locations. I enjoyed Monkey Island 1 - 3 and Sam & Max more but it's still a good game.

Last Crusade is archaic, features some aggravating action gameplay and is mostly worth playing for those with historic interest in old games.
 

Morpheus Kitami

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The Last Crusade is nice except for the necessary fist fights and the pixel hunt in the library. Find three books that are hidden among thousands of books, randomized each time.

Fate of Atlantis is overrated, but don't confuse that with bad. Its still good, just, not the greatest thing ever. The three paths, while nice, converge around the second half, IIRC. Dunno if GOG or Steam still has this issue, but I remember not being able to actually enter Atlantis for some mysterious reason.
 
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I'm going to go against the grain here and say they're all mediocre to bad. Fate of Atlantis is the best, but I think LA put out far better point and click titles and that it would not be nearly as fondly remembered if it didn't have the Indy license (and an original story in that setting) attached. Ditto for Last Crusade, but Last Crusade is pretty inarguably inferior to Fate of Atlantis. Infernal Machine is the one that is the fuzziest in my memory; I remember playing it at release and thinking it was... okay (hardly a ringing endorsement considering I was... 16? at the time and in the peak throes of Indy obsession. EDIT: Apparently I was 18. Time truly is a sieve, I could have sworn I had memories of playing this with my brother at our parents' home before he left for college.), and attempts to replay it in the last couple decades have left me stymied by its clunky as fuck controls/early era-3D. Emperor's Tomb isn't terrible I guess, but it's definitely not great; silly story, super linear (and short) levels, a tutorial that goes on way too goddamn long; in retrospect it looks like it was held back by a severe case of early consolitis.

Basically I would say:

If you're starved for a point and click adventure and have played all of LA's and Westwood's catalogue and the better entries from Sierra, the Fate of Atlantis is worth a buy.

If you're starved for a cheap Tomb Raider knock-off, you could give Infernal Machine and Emperor's Tomb a try, just expect them to be cheap knockoffs.

Edit#2: I think a big reason that Fate of Atlantis is so well-regarded is that the story "feels" much more like a Raiders or Last Crusade style story compared to the thematic departure of Temple of Doom (to say nothing of Crystal Skull), so if you're main interest in playing an Indy game is the story/atmosphere, that one is almost certainly your best bet.
 
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DalekFlay

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Edit#2: I think a big reason that Fate of Atlantis is so well-regarded is that the story "feels" much more like a Raiders or Last Crusade style story compared to the thematic departure of Temple of Doom (to say nothing of Crystal Skull), so if you're main interest in playing an Indy game is the story/atmosphere, that one is almost certainly your best bet.

I mean, maybe I'll get thrown out of the point and click adventurers club for this, but atmosphere and writing are pretty much the reason to play any of those games. Some puzzles could be satisfying to figure out, sure, but I think anyone saying that's the main reason they played them is lying to himself. It's the ultimate storyfag genre, and Fate of Atlantis has great Indy atmosphere and wit.

I didn't play Infernal because of shit controls and clunky movement. I played Emperor's Tomb more despite it obviously being designed for consoles, but I can barely remember a thing about it other than a cool level set on a castle at night. I think it had some nice atmosphere.

P.S. Lost Horizon is a pretty good modern point and clicker with an Indy feel to it.
 

sser

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What's the opinion on the Indiana Jones adventure games? They're on sale right now and I was thinking of grabbing the whole collection. I've heard The Fate of Atlantis is really good. Are any of the others worth playing?

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine
Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb

All four of these are great.

I just replayed Emperor's Tomb not long ago actually. Still very much holds up, but you'll have to get a resolution fix off the internet to make it work well.

Last Crusade/Fate of Atlantis looked fine from my GOG collection, but last time I rant them was on Win7. I actually haven't tried Infernal Machine in recent times -- it has almost undoubtedly aged the worst out of any of them; it's very much chasing the coattails of Tomb Raider and has a lot of tank-like controls and unrefined game design. I very much enjoyed it in its own time, at the very least.
 

visions

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Last Crusade/Fate of Atlantis looked fine from my GOG collection, but last time I rant them was on Win7.

Don't remember having any problems with the GOG versions of either on my Windows 10 laptop via ScummVM.
 
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ghostdog

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Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Great game based on the movie. Classic Lucasarts adventure goodness.

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
It's one of the best adventure games ever. Great story, very well written, multiple paths, multiple solutions to puzzles. Fantastic production values. It's also the best Indy story after Raiders and Last Crusade.

Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine
Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb
No idea, haven't played them. They look like Tomb Raider clones, but then again Tomb raider was basically trying to be a female Indy.

Should I buy them?
Yes, it's worth it for the two adventure games alone.
 

awsker

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Fate of Atlantis is the best point & click adventure game ever made. I will fight each and every one of you on this.
 
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Fate of Atlantis is the best point & click adventure game ever made. I will fight each and every one of you on this.

I find this claim insane. From LA alone I would rate DotT, MI2, MI1, Loom, Grim Fandango, MI3 all higher (probably in that descending order). I honestly don’t know how you can consider Fate of Atlantis superior to the first two in particular.
 

Metro

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Fate of Atlantis is pretty fucking good but I dunno if I'd call it the greatest ever made.
 

AndyS

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The point and clicks are good, Fate of Atlantis is a classic.

Infernal Machine is a Tomb Raider clone and it has the same strengths and weaknesses I've found in Tomb Raider games: When you're just exploring and trying to solve the environment, it's fine if you're into that sort of thing, but it's poorly suited to action. Whenever you have to shoot someone it feels awkward.

Emperor's Tomb is almost the reverse of Infernal Machine. It uses a well-designed brawler engine designed for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so it's a lot of fun when you have to punch and shoot people or smash chairs over their heads, but then sometimes it wants you to move large blocks around and pull switches to open doors, and those parts are just something you have to endure until you get to beat up more people.
 

Ezekiel

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Is Emperor's Tomb better emulated for PS2 or played on Steam? There's a sale right now.
 

Wunderbar

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Is Emperor's Tomb better emulated for PS2 or played on Steam? There's a sale right now.
I don't remember any issues with pc version. Maybe bit janky mouse controls in the first person mode, but it's a useless mode anyway.
 

The Red Knight

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Tried to play Infernal Machine last year: it's buggy, linear/heavily-scripted, with bad mechanics, and controlling Indy feels like you're dealing with a frail old man, but with some pretty areas and models if you want to sightsee and can somehow stomach the gameplay. I'd skip it; if you're expecting a Tomb Raider game (as it looks like a TR reskin on the surface), you're going to be very disappointed.

You can instead give Desktop Adventures a try (it's abandonware kind of free), though the combat parts in it are worse than in Yoda Stories (iirc you can't melee attack diagonally, which is usually what you end up wanting to do).
 
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