0:00

Indiana Jones in Great Circle is definitely one

0:02

of my favorite games favorite games of 2024. Machine games,

0:04

Bethesda and Lucasfilm brought together one of

0:06

the coolest stories that I've seen in the

0:08

the Indiana Jones It came together It came

0:10

together with some of the most beautiful

0:12

visuals I've ever seen in a game it feels

0:14

it feels really really fun if you

0:16

have that nostalgia for the Indiana Jones

0:18

series. is It is definitely something you

0:20

should check out I I think these are

0:22

some of the reasons why. why. First

0:46

off let me just say say Jones

0:49

as a game game a series a series as

0:51

a a lineage of work and an IP I

0:53

was really I was really worried about

0:55

this game of coming to market because to be be

0:57

honest, if you're not a person who

0:59

is over the age of 30, Indiana Jones

1:01

doesn't really have any cultural relevancy for

1:03

you in a lot of those ways. a lot

1:05

of those ways for me as a person who

1:07

grew up with these movies, a person who is.

1:09

who has always thought of kind of adventure

1:11

and espionage that comes along with it, the

1:14

the tongue -in -cheek humor, to kind of to

1:16

kind of like the into the past with

1:18

the archeology aspects of it. really It

1:20

really was a game that I was

1:22

hoping were games were gonna come together with

1:24

and really bring something special to the

1:26

table. And they nailed it in so

1:28

many different ways. ways. When a chance to

1:31

check out the preview that we shared

1:33

on we shared on on little bit earlier in

1:35

the year, bit you know, some of

1:37

the things that got into that conversation

1:39

was, into know, from the team hearing about

1:41

all the attention to... hearing about all the The

1:43

way that this game to come that

1:45

bring all of those pieces of the of

1:48

the 1920s and together to not only showcase the

1:50

in in general, but the very specific

1:52

parts of what Indiana Jones is as

1:54

a game as is as a character is as

1:56

a world as a world and all the

1:58

things that kind of of. that that

2:01

sphere. And you know, I was really

2:03

skeptical. I was like, I don't know

2:05

if this is going to work, you

2:07

know, first hand to hand to hand

2:09

combat. I don't know if that's going

2:11

to work really well. And coming out

2:13

of the preview, I was still a

2:16

little bit skeptical. But I have to

2:18

say after having multiple hours with this

2:20

game and finishing it and completing it,

2:22

this was one of my favorite experiences

2:24

of 2024. It is definitely a game

2:26

you need to check out. It is

2:29

something that I think brings something special

2:31

special to the special to the special

2:33

to the table. And it really showcases

2:35

machine games's ability to really use some

2:37

source material and squeeze every little bit

2:39

out of it in a way that

2:42

feels not only fun for folks like

2:44

me who have that nostalgia, but if

2:46

you're a person who is looking to

2:48

play an adventure game that you haven't

2:50

really dug into before, you want something

2:52

that's not overly complicated but feels really

2:54

smartly done, but also gives you all

2:57

of these layers of some of the

2:59

tried and true methods that we see

3:01

in adventure games. It is really fun.

3:03

It is a super fun game to

3:05

play. I think the way that they've

3:07

kind of captured Indiana Jones as a

3:10

character with extraordinary work from Troy Baker

3:12

who, you know, the first couple moments

3:14

of the game, you get a chance

3:16

to hear his voice as Indy and

3:18

you're still hearing Troy's voice, but that

3:20

melts away instantly. What do you make

3:23

of this? It looks like the sigil

3:25

of the Vatican Secret Archive, but there's

3:27

something different about it. Are

3:30

you sure you want to investigate

3:33

these findings? Well things don't add

3:35

up and it's driving me crazy.

3:37

There's more to that cat mummy

3:40

and I'm not letting that giant

3:42

off the hook. Like by the

3:44

end of chapter one, Troy Baker

3:47

is Indiana Jones in the best

3:49

ways and he is really nailing

3:51

this performance and I have to

3:54

give him massive props. I hope

3:56

he wins some kind of award

3:58

for it. I know folks have

4:01

lots of thoughts about Troy's work

4:03

and don't want him to be

4:05

in everything but you can see

4:07

that he took the time to

4:10

really pull all the nuances of

4:12

Harrison Ford as that character and

4:14

really studied that character inside and

4:17

out because when a line hits

4:19

it sounds fine when the grunts

4:21

hit those all sound like an

4:24

Indiana Jones movie. The thing that

4:26

they pulled together here with his

4:28

work really brings something special to

4:31

the table. I think the characters

4:33

in themselves and of themselves all

4:35

work really really really well you

4:38

know Vass as as the big

4:40

bad. Oh, for that! My other

4:42

state is up to it, Vermont.

4:45

I can't see here on that's

4:47

sheissen. And China will is in

4:49

the frang! Oh, sinic money! Hindgab,

4:52

so purer! What's the end? is

4:55

classic Nazi in the ways that

4:57

we see in that kind of

4:59

cartoonish, but also a little bit

5:01

menacing way. He really does play

5:03

that performance extremely well. The actress

5:06

who plays Gina Lombardi, who is

5:08

your, you know, basically your sidekick

5:10

throughout the the game. really has

5:12

this wonderful chemistry between the two

5:14

characters. Gina and Indy do this

5:17

very special thing together and it

5:19

pops off the screen in a

5:21

way that if you are a

5:23

fan of any of those old

5:25

movies you remember it's one of

5:28

the things that really brought together

5:30

that series in a really fun

5:32

way was seeing you know all

5:34

of these female protagonists come together

5:36

in and out of those series.

5:39

and be just as strong as

5:41

Indy and to be able to

5:43

be just as smart as Indy

5:45

in the ways that we know

5:47

women can be. But it was

5:49

really cool to be able to

5:52

see that continue through this lineage

5:54

of this game. Enjoy

6:05

the view.

6:07

Excuse me,

6:10

Father. Gallagher,

6:12

is spying

6:14

on people

6:16

part of

6:19

your daily

6:21

non-routine sister?

6:23

Oh, I

6:25

was actually

6:27

just... Bird

6:30

watching. Give

6:37

me that. That's Emery Voss, German archaeologist,

6:39

leader of the Fear is a cold

6:41

research program. And you know that how?

6:44

The Lord revealeth his secret onto his

6:46

servants. Is that so? Dr. Indiana Jones,

6:48

Professor Archaeology Department, Marcia College, Bedford College,

6:50

Bedford Connecticut, Bedford Connecticut. Yeah. And you

6:52

ain't no none, sweetheart. You know nothing

6:54

about me. Well, I might not be

6:56

a priest, but I'm pretty certain stealing

6:59

as a straight no-header with the Ten

7:01

Commandments. Not entirely certain what the rules

7:03

are for a reporter. Up to you.

7:05

You're taking no some shorthand. I'm an

7:07

investigative journalist, and right now I'm looking

7:09

into the disappearance of someone very dear

7:11

to me. And it really did come

7:14

to the forefront with her character being

7:16

a fantastic character. I loved every time

7:18

she was on screen, like she... you

7:20

know, the kind of movie tropes of

7:22

the movie heroin, and especially during that

7:24

era, they nailed some of that stuff.

7:26

Not only in the way that the

7:28

performances came through, but small glimpses in

7:31

the way that they shot the scenes.

7:33

All of those pieces did this really

7:35

special thing that if you remember that

7:37

kind of era of movie, it's small

7:39

differences of like, oh, we're gonna put

7:41

this eye shine over your eyes so

7:43

that you just focus on their eyes

7:46

and everything else is. of shadowed in

7:48

the shot. You know, they took time

7:50

to really dig into, you know, the

7:52

era-specific art and, you know, all of

7:54

the locales look ridiculously good. You know,

7:56

I was playing on my Xbox Series

7:58

X and I know that there is

8:01

a kind of higher texture pack that

8:03

goes along with that that just automatically

8:05

gets downloaded into the game. And this

8:07

game sings on Xbox Series X. Like

8:09

this is one of the smoothest games

8:11

I've gotten a chance to play on

8:13

the console itself. And it feels like

8:16

they optimized everything in the ways that

8:18

they were supposed to. The game ran

8:20

extremely smoothly. I only had a couple

8:22

of times where the game would freeze

8:24

up on me. But even then, you

8:26

know, a quick reload would get me

8:28

back into the action really fast. And

8:30

it felt. comprehensive in the way that

8:33

I expect a AAA title to kind

8:35

of be in and a game that

8:37

Xbox is going to be leaning on

8:39

as a flagship title for their console

8:41

and for the work that they've been

8:43

trying to do, they have nailed all

8:45

of those pieces very, very specifically. This

8:48

is a game that I think is

8:50

going to either really have people enjoy

8:52

it. Or from a gameplay perspective, they're

8:54

gonna say maybe this isn't enough, right?

8:56

I think the couple of knocks that

8:58

I would give on this game in

9:00

a whole would be combat is still

9:03

a little bit simplistic. The AI in

9:05

this game is not very good. I

9:07

will say that. I think the biggest

9:09

knock I can give on Indiana Jones

9:11

is that the AI is not very

9:13

smart. There are parts of the game

9:15

because it relies on stealth a lot.

9:17

You are often with your counterpart Gina

9:20

kind of traversing spaces and hiding from

9:22

Nazi so you can get the drop

9:24

on them and get to your destination

9:26

as a part of that particular part

9:28

of the the quest that you're on.

9:30

And to be fair, you can be

9:32

in stealth as Indy and Gina just

9:35

runs around. Gina kind of just like,

9:37

oh she's over there. she's like right

9:39

and she's like walking directly in front

9:41

of a Nazi and just going through

9:43

that space and the Nazis don't see

9:45

her at all most of the time

9:47

it's a it's a thing that kind

9:50

of pulls you out of the immersion

9:52

of the game and out of the

9:54

stealth a lot but it is a

9:56

thing that Once you get used to

9:58

it, you kind of don't think about

10:00

it as much and you continue to

10:02

play the game as you would. But

10:05

it is a thing that definitely comes

10:07

across as something that I would love

10:09

to see them tweak in an upcoming

10:11

patch. I think it's something that deserves

10:13

that kind of layer of care because

10:15

it does really add to you know,

10:17

the game being exactly what you want

10:19

from a more stealthy kind of game

10:22

in that respect. But I think overall

10:24

presentation of what this game is supposed

10:26

to be, it feels like you are

10:28

playing an Indiana Jones movie. Again, I

10:30

think if that was the kind of

10:32

crux of what this is supposed to

10:34

represent, they are nailing that a thousand

10:37

percent. Everything from the music, everything from,

10:39

you know, the humor, the side quests

10:41

are really smartly done. And some of

10:43

them have some really great like Indiana

10:45

Jones moments in them. There's a very

10:47

specific one that I love and I

10:49

got a chance to check out when

10:52

you're in the Vatican section of. the

10:54

game and it deals with a confessional.

10:56

That's all I'll say. But I think

10:58

that moment really pulled me into this

11:00

universe in a way that made me

11:02

say, they are really digging deep into

11:04

what this ethos of this game is

11:07

supposed to be, what is this world

11:09

supposed to be, and how do we

11:11

represent what we've seen in the movies

11:13

digitally in a game like this? And

11:15

I just came away. smiling after I

11:17

got the end credits late last night.

11:19

I sat there for a moment and

11:21

I thought about what I experienced and

11:24

I was like, damn, that was a

11:26

really good experience. I think this is

11:28

a game that if you have that

11:30

in your heart and you're ready to

11:32

play. that is not perfect. Again, there

11:34

are small things in there from multiple

11:36

angles that I would love to see

11:39

them work on. I think some of

11:41

the combat things are a little bit

11:43

janky. I think, you know, moving from

11:45

gunplay to kind of more melee combat

11:47

is a little bit hard. Not hard,

11:49

it's a little bit, it's not as

11:51

smooth as I would want it to

11:54

be. But I think if you go

11:56

into this game looking for an adventure,

11:58

if you go into this game having

12:00

that nostalgia in your heart, and you

12:02

go into this game hoping for a

12:04

good time, you will find it in

12:06

Indiana Jones in the Great Circle. It

12:08

is by far one of my favorite

12:11

games of the year. I think all

12:13

those small elements within that larger sphere

12:15

of what this game can be and

12:17

what it actually is trying to convey.

12:19

come through in spades. You know, Tony

12:21

Todd, his character, at first I was

12:23

worried because there was a moment where

12:26

he first kind of comes into the

12:28

scenes in a couple of scenes after

12:30

his initial appearance. And I was like,

12:32

I don't know. I don't know if

12:34

I'm going to like this character. It

12:36

feels a little bit extra in terms

12:38

of like big black brute, to be

12:41

fair. But later on you get a

12:43

chance to see not only how his

12:45

character evolves, but how important his character

12:47

is to the rest of the game

12:49

and why he's a part of this

12:51

sect that you wind up kind of

12:53

unveiling later in the game. And I

12:56

think to be fair, after his passing,

12:58

I think one of the things that

13:00

came through in his appearance was You

13:02

know, I'll just say this because I

13:04

don't want spoilers, but he gets an

13:06

amazing, an amazing homage in an interesting

13:08

kind of like existential way, if you

13:10

want to think about it that way.

13:13

Again, I don't want to give any

13:15

spoilers, but I think if this is

13:17

the last piece of material that we're

13:19

going to see Tony Todd in in

13:21

any form, I think this is a

13:23

perfect send off for him, which made

13:25

me really happy as a person who

13:28

loves Tony Todd and getting a chance

13:30

to see him. this game. Lastly, I

13:32

think the other part of this game

13:34

that I was hoping for and didn't

13:36

necessarily get was, you know, one of

13:38

the things about Indiana Jones space is

13:40

that he's this archaeologist, he's traveling all

13:43

these spaces, and he's always coming up

13:45

against these catacombs and these deeply implanted

13:47

places that are, you know, have traps

13:49

for him because, you know, he's basically

13:51

a treasure hunter hunter, right? And a

13:53

part of the kind of what Indiana

13:55

Jones is and what makes him him

13:57

is that he is not only kind

14:00

of fearless as a regular teacher dude,

14:02

which is also always weird. But you

14:04

know, there's danger there for him. Like

14:06

he's going into these places and there's

14:08

traps and all these things alongside puzzles

14:10

that he has to figure out, which

14:12

I think are really well done. I

14:15

think the puzzles are really smart. I

14:17

think they're not complicated that are overly

14:19

complicated. Some of them you don't really

14:21

have to kind of, there are some

14:23

big ones in it or smaller ones

14:25

that give you, you know, currency or

14:27

they give you opportunities to kind of

14:30

gain access to certain things. And it

14:32

doesn't handhold you, but it gives you

14:34

enough space to figure things out on

14:36

your own while also giving you reasonable

14:38

hints that aren't like blasted at you,

14:40

which I think, which I love. But

14:42

I wanted more traps. I wanted more

14:45

danger for him in these spaces that

14:47

didn't come from the actual enemies in

14:49

the world and the and the fascists

14:51

and the in the Nazis in the

14:53

space. I wanted there to be kind

14:55

of more environmental traps in that in

14:57

that conversation that you had to figure

14:59

out a way to dodge through or

15:02

duck through or move your way and

15:04

maneuver your way through. And that was

15:06

a little bit of a disappointment. I

15:08

was hoping for more of that as

15:10

well within a game like this where

15:12

you have the opportunity to kind of

15:14

do that in a way that makes

15:17

sense and fits into the world and

15:19

does all those pieces for you. In

15:21

conclusion, again, like I am blown away

15:23

by this game, like this isn't a

15:25

perfect game at all, but it is

15:27

definitely my one of my favorite games

15:29

of this year. I want more would

15:32

love to see the team get another

15:34

shot at a game like this or

15:36

another shot at another IP like this

15:38

because. I think there's a space for

15:40

it that's not Nathan Drake and is

15:42

not the usual, you know, the, the,

15:44

the, the, the law or crafts in

15:47

this way, like pull some of these

15:49

IPs that we've known over the years

15:51

that we've grown up with and really

15:53

take the time to dig into what

15:55

those characters are and what those worlds

15:57

mean for everybody else who's gotten a

15:59

chance to play this. And it does

16:01

really pull together some of the best

16:04

bits of what an Indiana Jones movie

16:06

would be in game form. that off.

16:08

That's not easy. It's extremely hard to

16:10

really get that right and you can

16:12

tell that you know over the five

16:14

plus years of development that they have

16:16

been thinking about this in every minute

16:19

detail and every minute detail was accounted

16:21

for. and all of those pieces came

16:23

together to give me one of my

16:25

favorite games of the year. So massive

16:27

props to the team, massive props to

16:29

everybody else is gonna get a chance

16:31

to play this and get a chance

16:34

to kind of pull this into your

16:36

body and really feel it of what

16:38

Indiana Jones was. And if you are

16:40

a new person in Indiana Jones, again,

16:42

there's gonna be some things in there

16:44

that you're gonna be like, that doesn't

16:46

really make any sense for a 2024.

16:48

game, but it is replicating something that

16:51

was of our era. It was a

16:53

millennial boomer kind of error game or

16:55

error a piece of art. So having

16:57

that in the back of your mind

16:59

will help you kind of guide you

17:01

through some of those pieces. and Gen

17:03

X folks, and Gen X folks. But

17:06

like, it is something that you should

17:08

take time with. This is not a

17:10

game that you should rush. There were

17:12

moments where I was like, man, I

17:14

just left this locale. I really wish

17:16

I could go back in and you

17:18

can. You know, the game, the new

17:21

game plus part of it is in

17:23

there. But I never felt like any

17:25

of the side quests were just side

17:27

quests for the sake of it. It

17:29

never felt like that. It made me

17:31

really hyped and excited to go back

17:33

and excited to go back and go

17:36

back and go check out and go

17:38

check out. of the

17:40

things that I missed

17:42

I missed to take

17:44

some time in the

17:46

spaces that I

17:48

was in I was in to

17:50

be able to

17:53

really, you know, applaud

17:55

and really celebrate

17:57

the work that was

17:59

happening here in

18:01

this game. So, So massive

18:03

love love to all

18:05

of you for for

18:08

this this and you

18:10

so much for paying

18:12

attention and checking

18:14

it out. Please go check

18:16

out more of our work out more of our Me.

18:18

on Go check us out on all podcast

18:20

platforms. Go check us out on Blue Sky. Go

18:22

We're now on Blue Sky as well. We're now

18:24

on Blue Sky So, definitely take time with this

18:26

game. game. Enjoy it. what this is this is supposed

18:28

to be pull that energy you know, pull that energy

18:30

into your body and really just feel what

18:32

this is to convey to convey fun with have fun

18:34

with it because it's a really fun, fun

18:36

game. I'm sad that it is not the running

18:38

for a game of the year nomination the it came so late until it

18:40

came so late into the year. and the But

18:43

Indiana Jones and Great Circle, I'm going back

18:45

to play some more of that very, very

18:47

soon and go finish up get a I didn't

18:49

get a chance to do and I think

18:51

you should should too. So much to you all. all.

18:53

Have a wonderful rest of your week. Thank

18:55

you. week. see you soon see you soon. And peace.