Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Review (Xbox Series X)

STAFF REVIEW of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (Xbox Series X)

Friday, December 6, 2024.
by Peggy Doyle

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Box art

Ever since Bethesda and MachineGames jointly announced the development of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle in January 2021, I’ve been cautiously optimistic and guarded in my excitement for its release. The foundation behind it is solid; a collaboration with Lucasfilm Games, directed by Jerk Gustaffson (Wolfenstein), MachineGames is known for the Wolfenstein games, and Bethesda games have always been some of my favourites. I was anxious about Troy Baker taking on the iconic role and the idea of it being first person was the biggest negative for me.

Now that the game has been released onto Xbox consoles, I am thrilled to say that all my fears have proved unfounded, and it was everything I wanted it to be and more.

Upon starting the game, you are greeted with the familiar music from the films and the ability to customize your gameplay experience. Four difficulty settings for the action components (fighting and stealth) and two options for adventure (exploration, guidance and puzzles). I’m not sure I’ve seen those separated before in a game. You can also turn tutorials on or off, creating a gameplay experience with as much or as little guidance as you’d like. Three game save slots allowed me to try out the additional difficulty options without losing a separate save. I liked having the opportunity to try the options I didn’t choose to see the difference in difficulty settings.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle gameplay opens in the jungles of South America in 1936, and you are immediately hit with a feeling of nostalgia. After a few minutes, you realize why. The whole tutorial section is directly taken from the very first Indiana Jones movie, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. This is the perfect opening to teach you the skills of running, crouching, jumping and using your trusty whip of course. This sequence will give you an idea of what will be awaiting you as you play along. After this section, you awake at your desk in the, also familiar, Marshall College in October 1937. After a break-in at the college and a fight, you will collect some clues and a journal from Marion and pack for your first adventure of the game in Rome and the Vatican. 1937 sets the events of the Great Circle in between the first two Indiana Jones games.

The College is full of incredible detail, and I spent a lot of time looking at everything as I wandered the halls. Pictures and postcards line the walls, historical artifacts sit on every surface.

First-person gameplay isn’t normally my preference, primarily because of issues I have with motion sickness, but MachineGames and Bethesda have created an impressive list of accessibility options to help with this and a lot of other preferences and needs. Along with being able to turn off screen blur, shake and stabilization, you have many options for subtitle style and size and high contrast modes where you can get outlines for items and features you need to collect or interact with. There is no arachnophobia mode, however. Since this is Indiana Jones, you know there will be lots of spiders... and snakes.

As you work your way through your main mission as recorded in your journal, you will come across artifacts, notes and postcards that will send you on optional ‘mysteries’. Look at everything, collect everything. Postcards, photos, notes, and disguises are all strewn about. It’s worth poking your head around every corner to take a look. Also, be sure to pick up bandages and food for your health and stamina.

Your journal will be divided into sections for your missions:

ADVENTURE is your main quests that progress the core narrative.

FIELD WORK are significant in length, often harbouring their own sub-plots, puzzles and characters.

MYSTERIES are smaller in scale and more local in nature than Field Work. They are primarily puzzles and brainteasers. Maps for their locations can be purchased from vendors.

DISCOVERIES section of your Journal holds information on how many secret items you’ve found. This amounts to your collectibles section.

There are story-centric puzzles in the game as well as optional ones. While Indy’s greatest weapon has always been his mind, he has a camera that can be used for hints if needed. I like that I wasn’t repeatedly prompted that hints were available if I took a few minutes longer with a puzzle than the game thought I should. Need more hints? Keep snapping pictures. Some of the optional, harder, puzzles don’t have the ability for hints. The ‘light’ Adventure setting allows you the thrill of solving the puzzle without as many steps or being as challenging as the ‘Normal’ Adventure setting. I had to use my own Indy style journal at times when solving puzzles. While you have all your notes in your journal to reference, I found it easier at times to jot notes down versus clicking back and forth and trying to remember every detail at once. The camera is also important for capturing photos of points of interest, and you will be rewarded with adventure points. You will use a combination of these and money for your upgrades. The unlockable upgrades are found when gathering books around the world.

There is a heavy feeling of things being tactile while playing. Indy wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty moving things around to solve ancient puzzles. But even simple things during gameplay rely on a lot of physical details. If you want to get through a locked door you need to locate and pick up a key, then insert the key and turn it to open. There are also numerous combination locks to try to decipher. Clues are always there if you look for them.

Combat is satisfying but can also be slightly clunky at times. This is where you can really see the first person in action. The satisfying thuds and clangs of hitting enemies with your fists or a variety of melee weapons. Or keeping your distance with firearms. Your stamina is your greatest enemy here, and it drains quickly as punch, swing, block or dodge. Similarly, when you run, climb or swim. Thankfully you will be able to upgrade your stamina.

Gameplay is primarily first person, where cutscenes or those involving climbing are third person. Once you are more immersed in the game and find yourself looking at vast landscapes, I can appreciate using the first-person view. You can really see how large things like the Egyptian pyramids, or the Sphinx are, for example. The vastness of jungle temples seems far more impressive when looking in this view as well. It might seem that you could easily forget that you are Indiana Jones when you’re not looking at the character's likeness, but there is always a subtle reminder that you are the titular adventurer. Whether it’s someone referencing your name, or a small spoken word in Indy’s voice.

The true strength of The Great Circle is the story, and it’s brought to life with some impressive performances. Troy Baker does an impressive Harrison Ford comparison, and credit must also be given to David Shaughnessy in the role of Marcus Brody. His role could have felt as more of a stunt if not so well done. It feels incredibly meaningful and respectful to the original actor. Marios Gavrilis as the sinister Nazi archaeologist Emmerich Voss is a masterful villain. Most meaningful conversations take place during the numerous cut scenes, almost two feature films worth when looking at the time. I am not sure if the are skippable, as I was never tempted to. Why would you want to skip the main narrative moments?

Composer Gordy Haab create original pieces for the game as well as reinterpretations of the classic themes by John Williams. The sound of combat and nature are extremely well done too. The sounds of water, birds and insects while in jungles were peaceful and natural and I would encourage you to use headphones to completely immerse yourself.

Three major locations, the antiquated depths of the Vatican City, the vast desert of Gizeh and the glorious Sukhothai jungle all feel distinct and allow different styles of gameplay, skills and tools. They even have very different types of puzzles to solve.

If you are a completionist, and there are achievements tied to collecting and completing everything, it’s good to note that if you move a story on before you’ve completed everything you can jump back to previous sections using the ‘travel’ section of your journal to fast travel. There is also a mission later in the game that requires you to head back to previous locations so you will have time to revisit.

I will admit, I was apprehensive about Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and I had high expectations. Movie-based games are hard to pull off. Taking care to protect the IP but also creating a new story to appease many levels of fans isn’t an easy task. The game surpassed my expectations on every level, and I couldn’t put it down. It’s been a very long time since a game has had its grip on me like this one has. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle feels like the best Indiana Jones movie you’ve never seen, and I am already hoping we will see another adventure for Indiana Jones in the future.

**Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was provided by the publisher and reviewed on an Xbox Series X**

Overall: 9.0 / 10
Gameplay: 9.0 / 10
Visuals: 9.0 / 10
Sound: 9.5 / 10

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STAFF REVIEW of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (Xbox Series X)

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