Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb

aka: Indiana Jones Be'eretz Hadrakon, Indiana Jones e la Tomba dell'Imperatore, Indiana Jones et le Tombeau de l'Empereur, Indiana Jones und die Legende der Kaisergruft, Indiana Jones y la Tumba del emperador
Moby ID: 8521
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Description official descriptions

Indiana Jones is at it again. This time, he must travel his way through-out Asia to recover an artifact that, according to those who required his assistance, is the most powerful in the world. As usual, Indy isn't the only one who is out to find the treasure, with the Nazi's right on his tail.

Along with a heavy dose of exploration, whip cracking and platform jumping, you will also control Indy through fighting elements against a range of enemies. Hand-to-hand combat and a collection of weapons (from guns to table legs) can be used to defend yourself.

Spellings

  • Indiana Jones: המסע אל אר׼ הדרקון - Hebrew spelling
  • 法櫃奇兵:王陵再現 - Chinese spelling (traditional)

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Credits (Xbox version)

211 People (158 developers, 53 thanks) · View all

VP Production
Creative Director, VP
VP Development
Lead Artist
Lead Programmer
Lead Designer
Lead Engine Programmer
Lead Tools Programmer
Producer
Technology
Additional Technology
Level Design
Additional Level Design
Character Design/Scripting
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 76% (based on 48 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.3 out of 5 (based on 63 ratings with 6 reviews)

Spot-on Atmosphere, So so Implementation: Great Game!

The Good
This is a surprisingly good game, and I mean very surprising. I expected a cheap knock-off, a badly ported version of the Buffy game that sported a bad Indy stand-in, a worse plot, and platforming gameplay that made the 3rd and 4th Tomb raiders look amazing. Imagine my surprise when I realized that the graphics were fun, the engine worked well, the fighting was fantastic, and the platforming was competent. Plus, Indiana Jones is only kind of bad. To be honest, in less they pulled a From Russia with Love and hired Harrison Ford, there was now way I was going to be that impressed. Onward.

This game is truly epic. You’ll travel from the jungles of Ceylon to old German castles (those wonderful, pesky Nazis are at it again!), Istanbul, China, and ultimately the Underworld. You’ll quickly run into a new character, a Chinese secret agent named Mei Ying. She kicks ass, but my appreciation of her was slightly marred by her stereotypical accent. Honestly, not all people from foreign countries who speak English sound like this. Not even back in the awful, scary, dark ages of the thirties. Still, she provides a good sidekick for Indy, and you really won’t care too much about the details as the story bounces from continent to continent, city to city, and land of the living to the underworld.

Along the way, you’ll use guns, whips, your fists and practically every item you can pick up as weapons. The great fighting mechanics of the Buffy (FULL NAME) game are completely intact here. When Indy head butts a Nazi goon or bashes him in the face with a wooden chair, you feel the impact of every punch. I have never played another game that comes this close to replicating the sudden, violent and forceful encounters portrayed in the Indiana Jones movies. Along those same lines, when Indy takes punches, he staggers, twists and falls. Sure, it isn’t as good as watching Harrison Ford let people beat the shit out of him, but it’s pretty close.

The environments aren’t awfully pretty, but the engine gets the job done, for the most part. Everything looks solid, if not flashy and the animations are all believable, if a bit exaggerated. The platforming and exploration portions of the game are amusing enough, if a bit tricky. Plus, the ability to use that magically lengthening, shortening and tightening whip to swing all over the place is not to be missed.

The Bad
While the game’s engine may provide for amazing fist-fights, it suffers in the platforming and camera-angle department. You’ll curse the camera, and the controls, over and over as you try to line up Indy to leap across a gap or grab onto a handhold. The number of load screens I saw due to missed leaps was horrendous, and remember that there isn’t a save anywhere function in this game, it’s all autosaves and checkpoints. Even worse, the underwater portions of the game are almost impossible to get through. This camera and engine were never designed for swimming.

Likewise, gunplay can be pretty frustrating. Aiming at specific objects is a chore, and the auto-aim function can get you into a lot of trouble focusing on the wrong bad guy (or on nothing at all). Indy himself is not as nimble as you might hope. While he isn’t stuck on a grid like the pre-Crystal Dynamics Lara was, he is tough to control, turn and jump.

Gameplay-wise, there are a few awful design choices. Some enemies have unfair vantage points from which to shoot at you, and you’ll often find yourself dying because you can’t shoot back at them, despite their being in plane sight.

Much worse is the advent of a new enemy, in the later portions of the game. I won’t give anything away, but he is triggered by alarms, is invincible to melee attacks, and takes a hell of a lot of shots to take down. Plus his weapon is almost instantly deadly. Speaking of alarms, the stealth mechanics in this game should have been completely erased from the game. Indy hardly ever sneaks in the movies, and when he does, he gets caught and has to throw a few quick punches. He doesn’t have to fight nigh-invincible enemies, except once or twice a movie. Why should I have to do the same every two or three minutes?

The Bottom Line
Despite its problems, Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb is just what it should be: a rollicking good time, a worthy successor to the films (better than one of the films, to be honest), and a good game in its own right. The combat, setting and gameplay are all classic Indy, and you’ll have a lot of fun on the way to the game’s silly conclusion. In the end, you’ll love this game if you can get past the most dangerous enemy, the camera.

Windows · by Tom Cross (28) · 2008

Lame control system.

The Good
The graphics and music were very well themed.

The Bad
I admit I gave this game up only a few levels in because of the awful control system. The left control stick makes Indy run in the direction you want, so when pressing right he starts to run around to the right rather than strafe right, so, when you do this and move the camera the whole system becomes distorted. Also the lame way you have to cycle through the inventory to get to the most used items, the game should have an inventory memory so you access where you left it.

The Bottom Line
Don't bother, even Indiana Jones fans.

Xbox · by Gareth Day (7) · 2004

The Original Tomb Raider

The Good
It must be disappointing for the folks at LucasArts. Between Pitfall Harry and Lara Croft, Indiana Jones must now imitate the imitators. Luckily Emperor’s Tomb is better than the uninspired Infernal Machine, but it still isn’t as good as a good Tomb Raider game.

Set prior to Temple of Doom (chronologically the first of the Indiana Jones Adventures), a tutorial/prologue level finds Indiana Jones scouring Ceylon, India for the Idol of Kouru Watu. Unknown to Jones, this idol is the first of part of a key which will unlock the Tomb of the First Chinese Emperor. This explains the Nazi presence at Ceylon and their dismay when Jones finds the idol. So it’s Jones versus the Nazis for the Emperor’s Tomb—enter the Chinese Connection. Marshal Kai, of the Chinese government, has an interest in keeping the Nazis out of China and backs Jones’ cross continental mission. Kai’s secretary, Mei Ying (obviously a Bond girl in the wrong game), offers assistance to Jones from time to time. Aside from that, it’s up to the man in the lion tamer’s outfit to save the day.

Emperor’s Tomb is packed with two-fisted action. Sure the Nazis have their Lugers, Turkish assassins lunge at you with curved daggers, and Chinese guards attack you with long spears, but you’re Indiana Jones. Disarm them with your whip, knock them down with a chair, kick them when they’re down and finish them off with a knuckle sandwich. Combat in this game is so visceral and so exciting, you’ll wish they had ripped out the vine swinging and cliff jumping levels. You are welcome to use weapons (other than the odd shovel, chairs, and table legs), but ammunition is limited for the guns and it’s a little too easy to finish off your opponents with gunfire.

The game has a few puzzles which are generally more interesting than challenging and the designers have an odd fixation with cranes. Most of the gameplay is split between combat (with a few rail-shooting levels thrown in) and typical tomb raiding.

Voice acting is terrific. David Esch sounds almost exactly like Harrison Ford and Vivian Wu does a great job voicing Mei Ying. The music (orchestral scored) is wonderful and weaves the Raiders’ Theme into the original score without overplaying it. Sound effects are mostly good with the only disappointment being (very surprisingly) an unconvincing whip.

Graphics are great but the color pallet seemed limited, especially in Istanbul which calls for vibrant colors rather than the drab ones seen in this game. Finally, this game has one of the coolest manuals (modeled after The Grail Diary) that I’ve ever seen.

The Bad
Little Bad Thing No save points.

Obviously ported from a platform, this game autosaves at the end of each level rather than allowing in-mission saves. For the most part this is a small annoyance as the levels tend to be bite-sized, but there are a few missions with a lot of combat and it’s frustrating to get past a bunch of enemies and then have to restart because you missed a jump.

Medium Bad Thing Bad controls/camera.

This game uses W,S,A,D buttons, but A and D don’t pivot your character, they cause Indy to run left and right. Also the controls are relative to the camera not the character, so if the camera swings around (which the damn thing does) you have to adjust the controls to match.

Very Big Bad Thing Von Beck’s Revenge

I honestly think this is the hardest level in any game I’ve ever played. Do a Google-search on the level and you will read about grown men crying. For many, the game ended here. This is the video game equivalent of St. Crispin’s Day. If you have beaten this level, then you are my brother.

The Bottom Line
Emperor’s Tomb is a fine game, but the action-emphasis leaves the story on the sideline. We haven’t seen a great Indy game since 1992’s Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis. Fate of Atlantis epitomized the type of game LucasArts was known for when they were known for making quality games. It’s nice to have the classic character back, but I miss the classic company.

Windows · by Terrence Bosky (5397) · 2004

[ View all 6 player reviews ]

Trivia

German version

Swastikas, SS runes and iron crosses were removed or replaced in the German version. Other changes are removed Nazi salutes, avoidance of the word "Nazi" in texts or dialogues and in one instance Hermann GĂśring was translated to General Gering.

References

Leading up to the events featured in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), it's no surprise that there's an off-hand reference to Lao Che, a mention of Willie Scott in the manual, and an important role for Wu Han (the "waiter" in Temple of Doom who makes and early exit).

Voice actor

David Esch, who voiced Indiana Jones in this game, also voiced Han Solo (also played by Harrison Ford in the movies) in Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds.

Information also contributed by Terrence Bosky.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Kartanym.

Xbox 360, Xbox One added by MAT. Macintosh added by Jason Savage.

Additional contributors: Indra was here, Jeanne, Rantanplan, Daniel Albu, Xoleras, Gian Maria Battistini, Crawly, Zeppin, DreinIX, Paulus18950, Patrick Bregger.

Game added February 27, 2003. Last modified January 18, 2024.