Some may consider Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis the best Indiana Jones game ever. Those people would be wrong. It's the best "game" starring Indiana Jones, but it is not the best "Indiana Jones game". In that, it's the game that best makes you feel like you're in an Indiana Jones adventure. Great fist-fighting action, guns are incredibly useful but very rare, fun action-packed set-pieces, Nazis, a strange power linked to a real-world legend, globe-trotting, amusing and capable sidekicks, a great soundtrack (that's actually totally original even though it sounds John Williams quality, well done Clint Bajakian) and most importantly - someone who at least remotely sounds like Harrison Ford. Take that Doug Lee. The downside? There's no saving mid-level, the controls are a bit spotty in the platforming sections, there's not enough meeting people before you punch them, and the Nazi Frankenstein Monster is a bit of an early misstep. Otherwise I highly recommend it, especially if you want to BE Indiana Jones instead of just have Indiana Jones in the background to a great game. Infernal Machine next please GOG, which meets the sweet spot between both games!
I don't do many reviews on GOG, but I had to do one for Deponia. Everyone has their own gaming opinions which I always respect, but it astonishes me that people think Deponia is a good adventure game. It's not. The artwork is lovely, puzzles are challenging at the very least, but that's all the nice things I have to say on the good side. Rufus in particular ruins the game. It’s clear that Daedalic intended the guy to be one of those Guybrush Threepwood “loveable loser” archetypes. The trouble is that they’ve ended up with a thoroughly unlikeable character who you don’t want to see succeed, much less play. Rufus has no redeeming features whatsoever and utterly fails to be endearing. He never sticks his neck out for anyone else, all the people around him are better human beings than him, and most importantly from a gaming standpoint he is not funny. Over the entire thing I barely laughed once. It can’t even be blamed on a bad translation either since the visual comedy sequences, such as an early video showing Rufus getting hurt in a variety of ways, are just as unfunny. That particular sequence plays out like a Looney Tunes episode, but is utterly lacking in either imagination or timing. In a good adventure game puzzles should come naturally out of the plot, whereas here it often feels like the puzzles have been thought up at the last minute just for the sake of having them. This is the only explanation I have for the fact that a quarter of the game is finding a cup of coffee, and another quarter is getting an elevator to work. These often make no sense even when you’ve stumbled through them, and you regularly have to fly completely blind as very few of the things you’re “solving” have an obvious objective. Yes of course I should know to put the dead man’s leg behind me to meditate better, or that electronic bull’s blood makes a good revitalizing tonic. Daedalic DO make great adventures, like Night of the Rabbit or Memoria, but this isn't one of them.
