Played on Xbox Series X | Original Release Date - 9 December 2024 | Review Date - 6 March 2025

OVERVIEW

When Indiana Jones and The Great Circle was announced and first shown off, I was skeptical. Firstly, I’m not usually a fan of first person games so I lost interest when the Machine Games team started showing off gameplay. And secondly, do younger games care or even know about Indiana Jones? I’m a middle-aged gamer, and perfectly positioned to enjoy this adventure with all it’s nostalgia traps, but I’m not sure how much recognition the IP has with the broader gaming audience. After 30+ hours of game play, is my skepticism still there? Well, grab your hat and your whip and let’s dive deeper into this mystery and try to solve it.

STORY / CHARACTERS

As a fan of Indiana Jones, I’ve been let down by the films over the past few decades. Not that the more recent films have been bad, but they haven’t reached the heights of the all-time classic brilliance of the first three films. The team at Machine Games made a wise decision to set the story between the first and second films - capturing the perfect time period for a globe-trotting Indiana action adventure story. The story starts at an iconic moment of the franchise, allowing us to immerse ourselves in the world rather quickly. After this fun, and exciting flashback, the main story really kicks off when Dr. Jones wakes up, in the Marshall College archeology department.

It’s 1937, the Nazi party’s power is growing and the world is marching it’s way toward the start of WW2. To aid in their power hungry conquest, Emmerich Voss, Hitler’s trusted archeologist, is on the hunt for mystical stones that hold limitless power that will ensure the Nazi’s achieve their goal of world domination. It’s here where we discover that an artifact housed at Marshall College has been stolen and Indiana needs to discover who did it and why. Indiana, who believes archeology is studied in the wild and not in the classroom, is determined to find out who stole the artifact from Marshall College and why. This sets Indiana off an adventure to locations that have historical, spiritual, and mythical significance. The locations’ lore, artifacts, and stories date back thousands of years and are, somehow, interconnected - and when you connect the dots of their location around the globe, they form the Great Circle. (Don’t worry there is a cut scene in the game that explains this better than I can.)

I don’t want to say too much about the story in this review, because it’s fun to discover along the way. But I will say it’s my favourite aspect of the game and it’s what kept me wanting to play til the end. The writers have crafted an intriguing mystery that stands toe-to-toe with the original trilogy of Indiana Jones films. You can tell they really love the source material and they’ve treated The Great Circle’s story with a lot of love and care. Some aspects of the story didn’t work for me, but interestingly because it’s a story in a video game the medium allows for the gaps in story to work - I was more forgiving of a contrived resolution between some of the characters or story beats, simply because as a game, and it was time to move on. Had this been a traditional film, the gaps would have, probably, seemed like lazy writing.

A core part of why the story works so well is the characters. It’s not hyperbole to say that I genuinely felt like I was playing as Indiana Jones. A lot of that has to do with the acting and the character models (which I’ll come onto later), but the writers nailed his tone, dry humor, and quips perfectly. I especially love when he talks to himself during puzzle solving or when he has a funny one-liner after taking down a bad guy. Joining Indiana along his journey to find the stones is Ginetta Lombardi - aka Gina. Indiana meets Gina early on in the story and finds out that she’s looking for her sister, who happens to be caught up with Emmerich Voss, the story’s main Nazi villain. Gina has a lot to live up to when compared to all of the strong female characters from the Indiana films, but she is so well written and realised that she stands out in her own right. Her chemistry with Indiana feels organic, and never too sappy or cliché. And her character arch is satisfying and well rounded. The main villain of the story is Emmerich Voss. Overall, he is suitably written and serves the purpose of the story fine, but I felt like he was too full of ‘bad guy’ tropes and lacked a good amount of depth. His main drive is power and commitment to Hitler, but I wanted an additional layer to his character’s purpose. There are a host of other characters that you meet along the way, who help progress the story. Not all the characters are written equally as well as the main characters, but each of them feels like they belong in this world.

A wonderful cast of actors supports all of this. It’s magical how much Troy Baker sounds like a younger Harrison Ford. Troy deserves all the awards he can be nominated for because he truly brought the character to life in an honest, nuanced and heartfelt performance. He hits all the right beats throughout each scene and plays a pivotal role in making this game as successful as it is. He is a prime example of why AI performances should have no place in gaming or other media - there is talent enough out there that can bring any character to life! Alessandra Mastronardi is pitch perfect at Gina. She has created a strong character, who has great levels to her performance. Alessandra finds all the right tones to match the action and moments during the game play. Marios Gavrilis as Emmerich Voss is beyond evil in his delivery. There is a cockiness and grandeur about Emmerich and Marios finds delight in playing those aspects of this character. You can imagine all the spit flying from the character’s mouth as Marios passionately delivers lines throughout the game. The entire cast is great and you get a sense that they had a blast making this game.

By the end of the story you feel like you’ve been on an epic journey that captures all the core storytelling and acting beats that make for a solid Indiana Jones experience. It has intrigue, passion, drama, high-stakes action, memorable intimate moments, all set to the backdrop of a solid mystery that really goes places.

GAMEPLAY

Indiana Jones and The Great Circle is a first-person, action, puzzle, adventure game. For the most part, it executes all of the genres pretty well, but some better than others. As I said at the top of the review, I don’t like first person games, but the choice to make this game first person, helps you feel like you’re really playing as Indiana Jones.

Action

My reservation with first-person action games is well, the action isn’t typically satisfying, especially games where the core aspect of fighting is hand-to-hand combat. I think the combat mechanics mostly work, because of the pacing. The action isn’t overly fast-paced or twitchy, but more stealthy and strategic. Aspects of the action reminded me of Deus Ex, where you have a lot of options for how you can engage with the enemies, and as you work your way through the levels you’ll settle into a play style that you like best. The game wants you to creep up on enemies and take them down systematically, but you can also charge into a situation and take on all the enemies at once.

There are lots of items littered around the world that you can use for combat. Everything from a fly swatter to a sledgehammer is at your disposal to slap and bash enemies to the ground. And, each item gets a unique hilarious animation when you use it, a really nice touch that helps keep the combat interesting. Indiana can also use guns he finds or pick up off of fallen enemies. But using a gun can cause other enemies to be altered to your presence and fire back at you or swarm you. It don’t think guns are the designer’s first choice for combat. It seems like they put them in the game because they had to. Let’s not forget the quintessential Indiana Jones item - the whip. It’s a useful tool that stuns enemies, knocks items out of their hands, scares dogs, so make sure you build it into your combat style. Throughout each area of the game you’ll encounter ‘boss fights’ or larger enemy battles. They aren’t particularly hard or interesting, which is a bit of a let down. It felt like they were in the game because that’s what’s expected rather than being an exciting moment to overcome. One boss fight, however, had great pay off as the boss was ever present throughout the level and when you finally do encounter them the designers created a fun way to fight them.

A special mention needs to go out to the feel and sound of the combat. Landing a punch feels fantastic and solid. Or the sound and impact of a shovel knocking an enemy, from behind, over the head is so satisfying. It really makes the combat feel visceral and kinetic.

Puzzles

The puzzles range from placing an item in a designated spot, which opens a door, to solving a board game using human NPCs. There is some repetition of puzzle types, but even towards the end of the game you will encounter new ones. A few stand out puzzles, for me, include the water pipe puzzles and the aforementioned human board game. I appreciate how the puzzles served to immerse me in the journey, and for the most part, were organically built into the narrative and storyline. They typically matched the theme of the location, so never felt ‘out of place’. The majority of the puzzles were pretty easy to solve, but there were a few that I gave up on and just looked up the answer. One frustrating aspect of puzzle solving, that I encountered more than several times, is that a lever or device you need to activate can blend into the environment and you’ll miss it completely. A handful of times I got ‘stuck’, or ended up back tracking way too far, because the thing I was looking for wasn’t clearly marked. Or in the case of the water pipe puzzles, getting the direction the pipe needs to be inserted to change the flow of water, was finicky, so it was hard to line up. These are mostly minor complaints, but they did have an impact on my overall enjoyment as it would break the immersion and ‘pull me out’ of the experience.

Platforming/Traversal

Moving around the environments feels good. I think they got the speed and weight of Indiana’s movements finely tuned. I never had any challenges jumping from one platform to the next, even during high intensity action moments. The use of the whip to climb up sides of walls or to swing to and from different platforms works great and never caused me any issues. There are a few action sequences where you’re piloting or driving a vehicle. These sections didn’t feel as good to control as the rest of the game, but the sequences weren’t too long so it’s not a big deal. One thing to mention is the map system. One of the first things you should do is turn on the option in the settings to always show your destination location. I only found this option very late in the game, and I found it deeply frustrating that it wasn’t a default setting. I would have to interrupt my gameplay to constantly pause the game to reorient myself and which direction I needed to go. I appreciate wanting to have a really clear HUD, but this really annoyed me.

GRAPHICS

This game looks awesome! From the character models to the environments, the graphics jump off the screen with exquisite beauty. Each location is gorgeous and has such good attention to detail. Because the game takes place at different locations around the globe, you’re treated to a wide range of geographic locations, that are realistically represented. One of the early locations is the Vatican. I spent so much time just walking around the environment looking at all the different buildings, the interiors, the artwork and more. Even Gizeh, a desert environment, which could be bland, has lots of beauty and variety to see. The artists also allow for some heightened creative flare with the design of the crypts underneath the Vatican or the hidden tombs throughout Gizeh. This helps to create a sense of wonder and moves the game from just being a tour around the world, and allows it to dip into the fantastical. And there are some gorgeous set pieces that you come across which put a big smile on my face when I encountered them. The screen capture button on my Xbox controller got a real workout throughout this game.

I’m also really impressed with all the character models. Indiana looks just like a younger Harrison Ford which serves to make you feel like you’re playing a movie rather than a game. Gina and Emmerich are equally as well designed and fit perfectly into the time period. All the NPCs are crafted with good attention to detail as well. All of this serves to create an incredibly immersive experience that really felt like I was playing a movie. All of the graphical elements work so well and come together perfectly to be one of the best looking games of the last ten years, in my opinion. Even if you don’t like the game itself, I’d encourage anyone to set it to easy difficulty and just make your way through each location so you can see it all - it’s that good looking. This is also boosted by the well-directed and seamlessly integrated cut scenes that play throughout the game. None of them felt too long or out of place and they served the story beats and heightened the sense of immersion throughout.

MUSIC / SFX

Gordy Haab has created a score that sits right up there with the John Williams scores from the films. Building on the classic tunes created by Williams, Haab creates a soundscape that emotionally connects you to the game throughout the cut scenes and the moment-to-moment gameplay. In some way, I almost forgot that the music and sounds were there whilst I was playing. They never overpowered or jarred with the action on screen and the sound queues enhanced the gameplay by ramping up particular rifts when enemies were nearby or when finding a new location. It should also be mentioned that the sound effects used throughout the game were stellar. The aforementioned sound of the cracking whip should serve as the ‘whip standard’ for any game going forward. And each of the items you collect to pummel an enemy with has its own associated sound. Another one that I loved was the turning of the pages in Indiana’s journal - it’s a small, subtle sound, but I just loved it.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

I had mixed expectations when Indiana Jones and The Great Circle was first announced and shown off. Due to the less than stellar, recent films, it feels like Indiana Jones, as a franchise, has had its time - so how could a video game bring anything different to a series that is quickly becoming a relic destined for a film museum?

I’m very happy I didn’t let my snarky preconceived notions keep me from playing this game. This is hands down, one of the best Indiana Jones stories and adventures within the series. Of course it’s a video game, but I can’t help but compare it to the films because of how well crafted the story, acting and music are executed. As a game, it’s fun and kept me interested throughout my 30 hours of playtime, but if the story wasn’t there, I wouldn’t have finished this gaming experience.

The gameplay suffers from trying to be too many things in one experience. Does it want to be a stealth game? Does it want to be a puzzle game? Does it want to be an action game? Yes, it does all of these types of game play throughout, but it never really masters their execution. But I’m forgiving of the less than brilliant gameplay mechanics because of the pure joy I got from feeling like I was playing as Indiana Jones traversing mystical and magical locations around the globe to save the world from evil.

I had a deeper connection to my experience with the game because I grew up on the Indiana Jones films, so I’m in the sweet spot of gamers that will, most likely, love this game. I’m curious to know if the game hits the same with a different generation that didn’t have the same Indiana Jones exposure that I had? I do walk away from this game wanting more studios to create such high quality immersive experiences based on other franchises. Gaming has truly got to the point where it can deliver on an production akin to a film and, I would argue, give you a more connected and immersive experience that the passive medium of film just can’t provide.

If you’re a fan of Indiana Jones films, you’re going to like this game, it’s an easy recommendation. If you’ve never seen an Indiana Jones film before, and you’re remotely curious about the game, then grab your whip and give it a crack - I think you’ll find a strong story, good game play and wonderful environments to explore that will keep you hooked from start to finish. Oh and don’t forget your hat.

OUT OF SYNC GAMING REVIEW SCORE | 8 out of 10

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Indiana Jones and The Great Circle Review