‘Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’ Review
Developer: Machine Games | Platform: PS5 | Playtime: 29:55
Releasing initially at the end of 2024 on Xbox and PC, the game has finally reached Playstation. I’ve held off learning anything about the game. Having now played it, I can see why it got the praise it got but there are elements that brought down the experience from fantastic to still great, but not enough to leave me fuly satisfied by credits roll.
Minor gameplay spoilers follow. Reader discretion is advised.
Set during 1937, which places it between ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ and ‘Last Crusade’ – not that prior knowledge is required beyond an Easter egg, reference or two, the adventure kicks off when a Giant Man breaks into the University Indiana Jones works in to steal an artefact. In the search to recover this, Indiana discovers remnants of The Great Circle and a Nazi plot to use the power. The story is very Indiana Jones in its theme and the locales you’ll explore on your globetrotting adventures feel straight out of a movie that never happened. Troy Baker (Despite being a bit of a knob) needs commending for his spot on Indiana Jones impression. The wider support cast of characters are good to. Your main partner, Italian journalist Gina Lombardi is interesting enough as a companion and Nazi archeologist Voss is entertaining as a campy villain too.
Gameplay probably isn’t what you’d expect since series inspired by Indiana Jones – Tomb Raider, Uncharted have primarily been third person action shooters. The Great Circle is instead first person title with Immersive Sim elements alongside the expected puzzle solving elements. To the uninitiated, Insim games are about player choice – in this case the player can choose to stealth attack, sneak or run past enemies, fight everyone or disguise yourself. It’s not quite as in depth as something like Dishonored say but the choice is fun. Most of the time you won’t need to as combat is remarkably simple and effective.
Combat is primarily melee focused – using your fists or the various one or two handed weapons you can find around the world. These weapons have durability and can be repaired but there’s very little need when weapons are so readily available. Indy’s fists also work remarkably well. You can dodge and parry blows but nothing beats just giving the opponent and all out pummelling. The stamina bar does prevent you from pounding Nazis like a JoJo character but it’s not too restrictive. It wouldn’t be Indiana Jones without the whip and in combat it can be used to disarm opponents and stun enemies but you’ll not be whipping enemies to death. You have access to a revolver and can pick guns from enemies but they’re pretty worthless in your hands but will batter you when the enemy uses it.
Indiana Jones isn’t all about punching Nazis, as fun as that may be. He is a doctor and archaeologist who can solve puzzles, of which there is a large range in the game. Generally speaking each major puzzle has the elements needed to complete it in the room/area or close enough that finding out how to solve the puzzle isn’t the focus but rather actually solving it is. There’s code puzzles, logic puzzles, gear puzzles, pipe puzzles and more good stuff. Every puzzle felt satisfying to solve.
I was surprised to see how the levels are in the game – the three main locations are open sandboxes which operate as open world with their own missions and collectibles. Admittedly, the two linear missions between Level 2 and 3 are two of my favourites and having more of them or spreading them more out throughout the game. Regardless, each of the Levels has plenty to explore with plenty of collectibles and secrets to find. Having sign posts to allow for fast travel helps when you need to return quickly but none of the areas are so big that just running from A-B is too egregious.
My issues with the game come from the elements that come from the game feeling more ‘‘‘‘realistic’’’. The map and journal pages you collect are all viewed in game which can limit when you open it. It also seems a little sluggish when swapping between pages. When looking at collectibles, only one type can be tracked at a time which is annoying when there are several different types to look for at any given time. The sluggish nature of swapping also comes into play when swapping between healing items or utility items, the icon will move but the correct item won’t be equipped. Beyond that, two handed weapons can’t be stored and a lot of the time grabbing items mean you’ll drop items like that which proves annoying too.
By the time I rolled credits on Indiana Jones, I felt like my pursuit of 100%ing the game (which I stopped just short of) resulted in my experience being a little soured. I still think it’s a good, fun game but I also think it’s a good basis for a much better sequel down the line. Maybe it’s not a fair comparison but something like Uncharted offers a better generic action adventure puzzle game, but if it’s Indiana Jones you want then The Great Circle is definitely that.
