Tom’s Review —
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is my game of the year
- Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a timed Xbox and PC-exclusive action adventure
- Release date: December 9, 2024
- Xbox Game Pass Tier: Ultimate and PC
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle comes from Wolfenstein developer MachineGames and legendary game director Todd Howard. Described as an “adventure-action” game, the Great Circle emphasizes exploration and puzzle-solving over combat, but as all Indy fans know, the intrepid archeologist is more than capable when it comes to a good punch-up.
If you’ve dreamed of living out one of Dr Jones’ cinematic adventures, you’re in for a treat, because this is an interactive Indy movie in every way. Set in 1937, between the events of the fantastic Raiders of the Lost Ark and the equally brilliant Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade movies, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle takes us on a globe-trotting adventure to once again stop the Nazis from using ancient artifacts for their schemes.
From the moment I stepped into Indy’s shoes — the opening mission is a real treat for fans — it was clear that MachineGames had painstakingly crafted a world so crammed with little details, both environmentally and canonically, that it’s clear that this was a passion project in every way for the team.
While offering its own exciting story, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle captures the Indy magic with authenticity and respect for the blockbuster movie franchise, and I couldn’t be happier with the result.
The best Indiana Jones story since The Last Crusade
From the architectural delights of Italy’s Vatican City to the natural wonders of Thailand’s Sukhothai, Indy really gets around in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. It’s set just before the start of World War 2 when the Nazis are scouring the globe in search of powers to strengthen their plans.
That leads Third Reich Special Antiquities Collection archaeologist Emmerich Voss on a hunt for 17 relics related to the Great Circle. By the time the story kicks off, Voss has the majority of the relics in hand, and Indy is drawn into the race after a relic is stolen from Marshall College.
Like all good Indy stories, the Great Circle has some basis in reality, giving us the opportunity to explore several real-world mysteries as we slowly uncover the truth behind the Great Circle. It’s easily my favorite Indy story since the brilliant Last Crusade, offering plenty of slower moments to indulge in a bit of exploration before being slammed into a rollercoaster of a middle act and an “oh damn!” ending.
While the story is a fantastic time, it would fall flat compared to the franchise’s greatest entries without an exceptional cast of characters and awe-inspiring set pieces, both of which MachineGames nailed here. New characters like the despicable Voss, the giant Locus (portrayed by the late Tony Todd), and Indy’s love interest and Great Circle companion Gina, all bring new personalities and a fresh twist to Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
The recognizable likeness of Harrison Ford’s Indy and Denholm Elliot’s Marcus Brody help this new entry slot perfectly between Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade. Speaking of those two phenomenal movies, each Indiana Jones movie packs in a wow-factor moment. For example, Raiders had the timeless Temple Run scene while The Last Crusade saw Indy face down a tank.
Exploration is no doubt the game’s biggest draw and its best moments lie in the freedom to delve into forgotten ruins, but MachineGames ensures we get extra dopamine hits with its own incredible adrenaline-fueled scenes.
It gives the game a cinematic edge that aligns it with the movies it’s portraying, enhancing the Indiana Jones fantasy — a fistfight on a plane’s wing mid-flight is an average day for the archaeologist.
A superb example of an action-adventure game
The big gorgeous environments and action-packed moments bring the wow factor that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle needs. The devil is in the details, though. I have found the purest joy in the little things when waltzing around as the man himself.
A first-person view was undoubtedly the best choice for this game as it scales everything in a way that couldn’t be achieved in third-person. Entering a ruin for the first time and looking down into an abyss or standing in front of the Great Sphynx in Giza and physically pushing Indy’s head to look up gives you a much greater appreciation for the amount of work that must have gone into creating such a structure.
It also doubles down on the Indy simulator experience, with the controlled and uncontrolled movements combined to give the game life. For instance, when walking through a tomb with a flaming torch, you can approach a brazier or wall-mounted torch and Indy will automatically reach out to light it.
When unlocking or opening doors, you use the left toggle to turn the key, while opening chests requires you to push up on the left toggle. Any actions to use something or pick up an item will see Indy put out his hand in anticipation of your command. It’s so instinctual and adds so much texture to the world.
The world’s many puzzles also benefit from this viewpoint. Watching Indy’s hand cranking ancient handles or using his whip to latch onto a tree root before swinging across a spike-filled pit, looking down at the death trap below, is a feeling the movies can’t reproduce.
Many of the puzzles, while intricate, aren’t overly difficult to work out either. That gives the experience a cinematic feeling over a head-scratchingly intense adventure game. There isn’t anything in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle that makes it seem like it’s supposed to be hard (other than the combat). You could crank up the difficulty, but I think that if Machine Games had made it too hard it could’ve detracted from the experience we’re all here for — becoming Indiana Jones.
Of course, a first-person view also gives you a front-row seat for Indy’s many brawls; something the archaeologist is rather famous for — after his ability to find lost treasures, of course. Stealth is the more favorable approach to combat in The Great Circle, finding various items like candlesticks, guitars, sledgehammers, and many more improvised weapons to sneak up on your fascist foes to give them a good smack over the head.
The Nazis are fairly dim, mind. I’ve had times when I’ve been stood over an unconscious soldier, hammer in hand, and one of his pals has just strolled on by like it was a perfectly normal scene to see. Even with the best care in the world, things go awry quickly. What was supposed to be a swift takedown can see you using every tool in your arsenal to fight off countless enemies.
Some opponents can withstand a ton of hits, even being able to raise their gun and shoot you at times, alerting everyone to your presence. I have had some fantastic brawls like this, leaving me standing amid a pile of bodies and wondering how the hell I survived — Indy’s Lucky Hat skill is a lifesaver!
Thanks to a selection of upgrades you can purchase with the Adventure Points you earn when exploring, you can increase your chances of survival exponentially, as there are health and stamina increases, damage upgrades, and a host of unlockable skills. Combat is very much a battle of skill instead of sheer violence, and using Indy’s parries, counterattacks, and punches alongside the whip, guns, and any other weapons you can get your hands on leads to some of the most satisfying encounters I’ve ever had.
Sure, I’ve died plenty of times. On the occasions I have survived against mountainous odds, I have felt victorious. Add to that the slapstick feel to brawls — such as loud, punchy thuds as you land a blow or an enemy’s overdramatic smash through a table — and you’re given the full Indiana Jones movie experience.
Many enemies you take out seem to remain unconscious (or almost certainly dead) for the remainder of the game, making it far easier when exploring many areas. It is a little bit odd that they haven’t been replaced or removed during the time you buggered off to another continent. Either way, exploration does become easier, and at the end of the day, that’s Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’s greatest strength.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle – Achievement Analysis
As for the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle achievements, it’s a fairly easy list to work through which compliments the game’s easygoing nature. A good chunk of the achievements are linked to completing the main story missions and side quests. Many of the miscellaneous achievements for hitting enemies with various items or eating certain foods will come naturally during your playthrough.
The cumulative achievements tasking you with finding all of the Journal notes, Adventure Books, Lost Artifacts, Stelea, and Frequencies will require some legwork, but won’t be too difficult. There are books you can purchase from vendors that give you maps for all of the collectibles, so it’s just a case of sitting back and enjoying a bit more exploration —lovely!
The greatest treasures can sometimes have a few bugs on them
While Indiana Jones and the Great Circle takes the crown as my favorite game of the year — earning the first perfect score I’ve given in my professional career — it’s not without its faults. There haven’t been many. I’ve only encountered a few bugs during my time, such as a man walking in the air, a missing toggle that forced me to restart a checkpoint once, some issues loading in assets, and the like. Nothing has been game-breaking or overly bothersome.
My biggest disappointments have been issues that take away from the carefully crafted world that MachineGames has put together. While an adventure game at its core, companions keep badgering you far more than should be necessary when you’re exploring an area, hinting at the objective every 30 seconds.
There are also NPCs in cutscenes that look like soulless, unblinking androids compared to the well-crafted lead characters, taking some of the attention away from the scene at hand — copy and pasted corpses in a room when exploring an impressively-constructed frozen warship also had the same effect.
Those bugs and issues account for probably less than 1% of my experience. However, the other 99% was spent basking in the epic experience MachineGames has crafted. As I said before, this is a passion project and there are so many intricate little details that you can forgive some mistakes because it all adds up to one incredible whole.
Whether it’s providing the correct food for the location you’re in — each area also has a different currency — small side puzzles like learning a new board game that is native to that country, or Indy replying to NPCs in their native language, it’s detail after world-enriching detail. So much research has gone into this game and it shows by bringing The Great Circle to life in a way very few games ever have.
For Indy fans, this is the most authentic video game experience we’ve had for the timeless character, not only in Troy Baker’s fault-less portrayal of the adventurer that captures his dry humor and well-timed quips perfectly, but in every easter egg and detail you can find. Small hints to Raiders of the Lost Ark are everywhere, including a letter from Shirley, the student who flirts with the professor in Raiders, to a plethora of comments about his past experiences, and even Marion.
You’ll never get closer to being Indiana Jones than this, and it’s perfect!
Summary
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is the franchise’s best entry since The Last Crusade. Machine Games’ “adventure-action” game is one of the most alluring experiences on Xbox and delivers one of the best games of the year. Despite a few small faults, it’s an adventure that could entice an introvert to leave the house. To me, that warrants a perfect score for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle!
* I played for around 30 hours on an Xbox Series X console, earning 27 of the 45 achievements. The game code was provided by the publisher.
