IGN Indy preview is up, let's do the Skim through

If you're an Indy fan (and we are), you'll likely lap Staff of King's up. There's John Williams' rousing theme tune mixing seamlessly with brand new orchestrations and a bucket load of atmosphere, courtesy of some blockbuster presentation and attention to detail. Staff of King's drips Indy right through the middle - even the game's front end is presented as an interactive poke around Dr. Jones' office, with levels and options accessed by spinning the globe on his desk, rifling through postcards or firing up the old movie projector on the wall.

It's clear that LucasArts has crafted a remarkably good looking game, packed with detailed textures, real-time shadows, reflections, atmospheric lighting and a bunch of other effects and filters - from heat haze to film grain - all working together to recreate that distinctive pulp adventure feel.

(GG note - looks like the good screens are what it looks like )

Although progress seems relatively linear, LucasArts is keen to highlight Staff of Kings' branching pathway system, giving an element of player choice in certain situations. At one point in Chinatown, for instance, you can enter an off-street speakeasy Alternatively, further exploration reveals a route down into the basement -etc

It's easy to scoff a game that embraces motion controls with such first-generation gusto but LucasArts seems to have done a grand job marrying physical movement to onscreen action in a way that successfully heightens immersion rather than detracts through pointless gimmickry.

It's most evident in Staff of Kings surprisingly rounded combat system. Fighting's been designed around brawling, with an emphasis on using your wits - and the environment - to even the odds against you

While controls suffered from occasional unresponsiveness during our demo, the overall effect is surprisingly visceral and immensely satisfying.

On paper, it's hard not to roll your eyes at Staff of Kings, with its reliance on Wii's notoriously unreliable motion controls for every major interaction ���¢�¯�¿�½�¯�¿�½ whether that's whip-cracking, fist-fighting or even puzzling-solving. However, on evidence, the game's something of a rarity ���¢�¯�¿�½�¯�¿�½ being a third-party offering that successfully integrates motion controls as a core component in a way that actually adds to the overall experience.

While it's clearly pitched at a more mainstream audience, Staff of Kings appears to do a grand job of recreating that irresistible Indy magic. Factor in an entirely separate story-driven, two-player co-op mode ���¢�¯�¿�½�¯�¿�½ which LucasArts is staying tight-lipped about for the moment ���¢�¯�¿�½�¯�¿�½ plus the full version of classic point-and-click adventure Fate of Atlantis once you've completed the game, and we're surprisingly optimistic about the game's arrival come June.

Disaster Day of Indiana Jones Confirmed. Ownage.

It comes with the classic Graphic Adventure game bundled as an extra (Wii version only)

INDIANA JONES AND THE FATE OF ATLANTIS REVIEW

http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/index.php/site/reviews/78/

A game that stands the test of time and technology. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis is such a game. Although the game is released back in 1992, it is still regarded by many critics as among the best adventure games ever made. This game is made at a time before the graphics revolution overtakes the world of PC gaming by storm. As such, you shall not find the high resolution, jaw dropping SVGA graphics but only 256 color VGA graphics that are state of the art for its time. However, what this game lacks in its looks is more than made up for by its creativity.��� ��� This is not an adventure game worthy of Indiana Jones if a couple of crucial elements are missing���¢�¯�¿�½�¯�¿�½the Nazis and a quest to discover some fantastic long buried treasure. In Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, you play Indy as you guide the intrepid archeologist in a race to beat Hitler���¢�¯�¿�½�¯�¿�½s agents to the grand prize���¢�¯�¿�½�¯�¿�½the fabled lost city of Atlantis. The Nazis believe the city contains technology that may help them in their worldwide conquest. In this game, Indy visits countless exotic locations all over the world, dig through numerous ancient ruins, and solve many unique puzzles in his quest to find Atlantis before the Nazis do!��� ��� In contrast to the dated graphics, the audios fair in this game much better even by today���¢�¯�¿�½�¯�¿�½s standard. Although the voice of Indy is not that of Harrison Ford, it is still a very good imitation by Doug Lee, the actor that LucasArts hires to play the part. Every character in this game has a speaking role. All the voices are well done. The actors are all believable for this game and they have done a good job acting out the different dialects and accents. The digitized sound effects are used liberally and are played in situations to which you expect them. They are not groundbreaking but are effective in enhancing the gameplay. The soundtrack further ups the ante with great themes throughout the game if you are lucky enough to own a wave table soundcard. If you own a soundcard with only FM synthesis, the sound quality suffers. LucasArts has implemented its unique iMUSE music system in this game. The theme music is well incorporated with the action. The famous movie theme of Indiana Jones plays whenever Indy discovers something important or solves a particularly difficult puzzle. This is one of those rare adventure games where you are searching for the mute button! Some of the music is scored by John Williams. The story is moved forward with the inclusion of beautifully animated cut scenes that is another LucasArts trademark. The game is released in both Floppy Disk and CD-ROM versions. The CD-ROM version is enhanced with the addition of more than 8,000 lines of spoken dialogue and new digitized sound effects not available in the original version. The CD-ROM version also includes a hint book.��� ��� Gameplay is the most important element in any adventure game. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis oozes with it. The game, despite being fairly linear, has 3 different paths to reach the end. Each of these paths offers different locations to visit, people to meet, and puzzles to solve. So once you reach the end of a path you still have the other paths to play. These different paths diverge in the middle part of the quest, with the beginning and ending being identical no matter which path is followed. Each of these paths stresses a certain element of gameplay. If you like to fight then you may take the FISTS path. If you want to exercise your intellect then choose the WITS path. Finally, if you want company on your travels, you may choose the TEAM path so that your partner can offer some hints whenever you get stuck. You choose the path by selecting among 3 responses in a dialog tree, but this does not occur until a valuable item is found at the beginning of the game.��� ��� The interface is very intuitive and uses a variant of the SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) engine. There are numerous interesting puzzles to solve in the game, ranging from the easy to some head scratching ones. It is necessary to switch control to another character during the game in order to get through certain puzzles. Another important aspect in the gameplay is the arcade/action element. Do not flinch! This game contains only a few. None of them are too difficult to overcome, except maybe the fighting. If you despise these tasks in your adventure gaming (I am not a big fan myself either), then I have some bad news for you���¢�¯�¿�½�¯�¿�½you cannot skip them! Fortunately, no ultra fast joystick twitching reflex is required here! All actions are controlled through the mouse or keyboard. The fighting scenes are the most complicated, mainly due to the number of moves available. They are controlled through the keypad. If you are not up to the fighting (which occurs in all three paths), then you can use the sucker punch cheat (keypad 0) to beat your opponent, assuming you do not mind sacrificing some points!��� ��� In most adventure games there is usually only a single way to solve a puzzle. This game is different. In this game you actually get rewarded with points called IQ (Indy Quotient, get it?). The more inventive way you solve a puzzle, the more points you are rewarded. Therefore, not only do you have 3 different ways of getting to the end but you also can see how high a score you can attain. There are a couple of different ending scenarios. All these ensure more replay value for this title than other competitors from this genre. The game even features an intro sequence that is interactive, allowing the player to have limited control of Indy while watching the opening credits!��� ��� On the positive side, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis has a great story, enticing atmosphere, and addictive gameplay. There are over 200 locations to explore. The interface is effective and easy to use. Each of the 3 distinct paths contains different locations, people, and puzzles. There are many interesting puzzles to solve with multiple solutions available. The voice acting is decent and the sound effects compliment the excellent multi-theme soundtrack. On the other negative side, some puzzles require the dreaded pixel hunting. The arcade/action sequences may not appeal to purists of the adventure genre. There are also a few annoying but easily navigable mazes.��� ��� Once again, LucasArts has created a very satisfying gameplay experience by putting the player in the shoes of the iconic Indiana Jones as he goes on another heroic quest to quell the forces of evil. His trek is aided by an excellent and intuitive interface that makes solving the many interesting puzzles in thr game a pleasure. The plot is exciting, with a number of distinct paths to follow and ways to earn points. All these elements make this game an adventure that you want to come back to experience over and over again. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis definitely makes a classic in my books and is a title that should be in the collection of every adventure gamer

VIDEO PREVIEW 1

http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/indiana-jones-and-the-staff-of-kings/indiana-jones-and-the-staff-of-kings-videos/1299470

VIDEO PREVIEW 2

(Hit HQ option)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZydnIbMGTw

New video preview

Show story and visuals. Nice. A lot more effort in this game than previously thought. 

NOM Preview

Hands up if you were a bit disappointed by last summer's crudfest Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull? We know we were. Gawping gophers? Nuke-proof fridges? Tarzan reborn? What a load of pish. Happily then, a new Indy game is on its way to wash those sorry memories away and, surprise, surprise, it's looking really promising.

 Think Tomb Raider meets Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and you're not far off. It's a third person adventure with a focus on motion-controlled, whip-based action. Come across an opening concealed by foliage? Hold down B and swing away with the Remote to clear it. Your path's blocked by a gaping chasm? Get your whip out, hold B and swing across. It feels natural and for the most part really satisfying.

The basic combat is all motion sensitive too. Jab, swing and uppercut movements with the Remote and Nunchuk are reasonably well replicated on screen. There's some more complicated manoeuvres to get to grips with too. You can grapple with enemies by pressing Z and then follow up by pressing A to slam them into doors or desks. It's actually really brutal, realistic, bone-crunching stuff with some wince-inducing sound effects.

Your trusty whip also comes into play here. You can snatch weapons out of enemies' hands, snag their feet to trip them up or wrap it around their waist and tug the Remote towards you to yank them towards you so you can get pummelling.
That's all we've seen so far but we've been promised gunplay, as well as sections that see you piloting a bi-plane, guiding a raft down some treacherous rapids and even riding an elephant through the streets of Istanbul.

There's a variety of multiplayer modes in the works including four player bi-plane combat and a co-operative mode where a friend plays as a "familiar character". We'll be taking a closer look at some of these elements next month when we've been promised some more hands-on time with the game.

We're cautiously optimistic. There seems to be an awful lot of content promised, it boasts some reasonably impressive visuals, there's some tidy cut scenes and the dialogue is fairly authentic (although not voiced by Harrison Ford). Our only real worry at the moment is that they might be going a little too crazy with the motion controls.

As a nice extra touch for older gamers, the developers have included the old PC point and click classic Indiana Jones & The Fate Of Atlantis in its entirety as an unlockable extra. Activision, you're too kind!

The official website is live:

http://lucasarts.com/games/indianajones/#

If you click the whip there are new screens.

Click the bag for wallpapers. There is concept art too. 

From the gamespot preview:

EXTRACTS

We were able to see several different areas of the game as well as gameplay sequences, which seemed to faithfully incorporate Indy's dry sense of humor and his penchant for getting into trouble. 

Our demo took us through a section of the ancient temple, and in typical Indy fashion, as soon as he snagged the artifact the place proceeded to fall apart. This first level acts as an introduction to the basics of combat, and it also gives you a chance to meet your new nemesis, Magnus Voller.

In our demo, the archeologist stumbled upon a German encampment and then went on to punch Nazis in the face. You can jab and do uppercuts by swinging and punching with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk. To use your whip, you hold down the B button and flick the remote. The fights are at a relatively slow pace, so you can periodically dodge incoming punches to the face by holding the A and B buttons to duck. Indy has always been a resourceful fighter, so your environment comes into play quite often when you're in a brawl. Certain items that can be used as a weapon can be picked up, like a shovel or billiard balls, but you can always throw people into things or, in this particular case, use the whip to pull a fully loaded shelf onto an unsuspecting Nazi. In a later bar fight, we watched as Indy and the enemy AI grabbed chairs and other objects to use in their fight. It was funny to see a guy get tossed into a large aquarium and then watch Indy pick up a fish from the tank and chuck it at someone else. A conveniently placed gong in the corner also makes things easier; if you can get enemies close enough to bash their heads on it, it'll take out their entire health bar. 


 When you're not busy running away from boulders and other booby traps, you'll be exploring and doing a bit of platforming in beautiful exotic locales. The ancient ruins and jungles we explored looked great, with a lot of detail and stone structures to check out. There will be puzzles to solve in order to move through the level, and we watched as Indy tried to navigate through a room that contained several stone heads that were dangling from cords and swinging around like pendulums. Icons will appear on objects to indicate whether you can interact with them, which will provide some hints as to what you can do. One good reason to explore is that as you collect artifacts hidden across the stages, you'll be able to unlock a ton of bonus content. 

Staff of Kings also includes co-op and multiplayer modes; you can play through an entire unique storyline with a friend--who plays as Henry Sr.--or you can fight in a four-player combat mode using airplanes and tanks. Combat arenas, original Indiana Jones movie trailers, and skins can be unlocked as well by going through the game and collecting glory achievements and artifacts. A journal from the main menu keeps track of your progress and documents all the artifacts you've found and the achievements you've accomplished. 

The script got the seal of approval from George Lucas as well as Steven Spielberg, and parts of John Williams' movie score is included as well for you to hum along to. 

gamingeek said:

WHIP CRACKING VIDEO

Awesome visuals  

Hey, whip mechanics seem a lot more complex than I thought.