Indiana Jones® and the Infernal Machine™

Einer der Titel die ich immer mal angefangen und nach wenigen Minuten wieder abgebrochen habe. Denn anfangs wirkt die Grafik altbacken, die Steuerung ist ein Graus und die Animationen sind schrecklich... aber halt! Nicht so voreilig! Stellt die Steuerung auf "Gamepad" um, schraubt die Grafikeinstellungen auf Maximum und stellt in euren Grafiktreibermenüs Kantenglättung, Schärfe, etc. auf die höchsten Einstellungen. Die 60 FPS sollten von halbwegs modernen Grafikkarten locker gehalten werden. Und schon sieht das Ganze deutlich besser aus. Meiner Meinung nach, wird die Grafik darüber hinaus immer besser, je weiter man im Spiel voranschreitet. Ok, dass sich Indy weiterhin wie eine Holzplanke steuert und seine Aktionen meist nur in 90-Grad-Winkeln funktionieren, lässt sich nicht ändern und gehörte zur damaligen Zeit einfach dazu. Lara Croft war anfangs auch nur auf "Block-Levels" beschränkt. Allerdings war sie deutlich agiler und die Levelachitektur war besser "kaschiert". Das macht Indiana Jones und der Turm von Babel (dt. Titel) aber nicht zu einem schlechten Spiel. Ich hatte Spaß mit dem Spiel und der Umfang war mit 27 Stunden Spielzeit mehr als ordentlich. In meine persönliche "All-Star-Liste" wird es zwar nicht kommen, aber es hat mich soweit motiviert, dass ich direkt im Anschluß den Nachfolger "Indiana Jones und die Legende der Kaisergruft" installiert und begonnen habe (ist übrigens ein gewaltiger Sprung in Sachen Grafik und Steuerung...). Für Fans der Filme gibt es am Ende des Spiels nochmal ein ganz besonderes Bonus-Level. Das fand ich von der Level-Architektur übrigens auch am besten. Hier zeigt sich zum Schluß nochmal das ganze Potential eines Indiana Jones-Spiels.

I remember plaing this game as a kid back in 2000 on my older brother’s computer. It’s so good to evoke those memories. Game itself is an obvious clone of Tomb Raider. Whitch is a good thing. Dr Jones may not be as agile as Lara Croft, but still kicks ass. Indy’s remarks and one-liners are hilarious. Slow pace exploration, puzzles, music and overall vibe are amazing. Truly Good Old Game.

(+) Whereas Fate of Atlantis excels in story and Emperor's Tomb in gameplay, this one has, to this day, the best exploration in an IJ game; featuring expansive and varied locations from all over the globe to traverse on slow and methodic platforming. Forcing you to think your way around the levels and how to use the items you find in order to advance, therefore making you feel like Indy. (+) The controls are an acquired taste. Once I got used to them, they grew a lot on me, as you are really going to use one of three keys for actions most of the time, while moving with the arrow ones. It might seem obtuse at first, but I thought it really fitted the slow and methodic pace the gameplay loop has. (+) Although I don't think the story in this game tops that of Fate of Atlantis, I appreciate how it does its own thing instead of emulating/homaging the movies' tropes once again; moving the franchise forward to the gray areas of the Cold War and the terrain of science fiction years before KotCS would do it. Resulting in a unique plot within the IJ repertoire. The dialogue is also great, proving once again that Hal Barwood really gets the series. (-) The one thing that definitely didn't age well is the gunplay. You basically have to rely on the game's auto-aim and mash the shoot button before the enemy takes you down, with no lock-on to fix the camera (like in the N64 version) or a way to strafe in order to give foes a harder time at hitting you. You can roll, but you are so vulnerable during the animation that it makes its use impractical. Fortunately, at least in the default difficulty, later game weapons are pretty lethal and healing items will be plentiful if you take the time to explore and stock treasure to buy them. (-) Guides will be necessary in order to make the game run at modern resolutions and on w10/11. (-) The lack of UI can make some puzzles, which are already obtuse at times, even more difficult. As you can't really tell when an object can be picked/used.

I grew up with this game and this is an excellent and true version of the game. It did take a bit of work with getting and installing certain patches to run but works flawlessly after that. Would recommend to anyone who enjoys 90s or early 3D games!

Heavily inspired by the Tomb Raider games, this game easily offers around 50 hours in a playthrough, assuming you don't stick your nose in a walkthrough every time you get a little stuck. The game is enjoyable overall, but is marred by needlessly complex and fiddly controls. You'll do a lot of exploration, puzzle solving and gunning down Russian communists. And watching Indy do a straight jump up and down instead of trying to climb whatever you want him to climb. A few of the later stages, namely 11 (the ship), 12 (the pyramids) and 13 (the mines) stand out as exceptional. Had most of the stages been of this quality, the game would have been a 4/5. And a 5/5 with simpler, faster, and less fiddly controls.