Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Tiertex sensibly opted for monochrome graphics, which actually means it comes off best in many ways, avoiding the impressions prevalent in other versions. However, they move jerkily and bear little resemblance to the characters they are based on. It's also annoying, when you've let the tape steam to the end, that the instructions neglect to tell you that this is a multiload game. A lack of definable control keys is a definite drawback, and another frustration is the whip, which doesn't work as fast as the player would want it to. Nevertheless, Indiana Jones can be enjoyable, but you are unlikely to keep returning.

Well, all in all this game offers quite a lot of action, but some things don’t make much sense. How come the mine is circular? When you walk far enough to one side, you’ll end up where you started (very life-like). Also the game doesn’t follow the plot of the movie (it would have been nice to have the airplane crashing sequence and the elephant riding included). But the main attributes are there. There’s a whip cracking action hero, although by the quality of the graphics it could have been anyone. The opening tune is OK, but the rest of the sound doesn’t really please the ears. It serves to warn you when there’s a bat nearing you though. All point taken in consideration (even the fact that there’s no save option) this game comes out very average, thus the average score!

This is a close conversion of the original coin-op in the sense that none of the essential elements have been left out. However, there are question marks about the quality of that game in the first place. It is basically too easy. Sure, there is the added challenge of seeing how quickly you can complete the game against a ratio of points scored - but I still feel something more arcade-adventure style would have been better.

Overall, with the option of playing a hard, medium or slow game, the ST Indiana Jones is better than the 8-bit versions but not to the extent that perhaps it could have been.

Temple Of Doom has some atmospheric, but bland graphics, which unfortunately don't work - due to the colour scheme, it is difficult to see where the edges of ledges are until it's too late. Also unfair are the guards who are faster than Indy on the ladders, and the scrolling screen is just too small to avoid them with any success. What soundtrack there is is horrendous, adding nothing to the game.

Indy marches around level one though the Ark had some terrible lasting effect on his gait - and his weapon-wielding seems decidedly dodgy. Racing through tunnels, steering the car whilst fighting off Thugs is a sensation which is sadly lacking, the little mobile cruises through the screen at about the pace of a 1541 disk drive. Not a high quality game graphically, the thing creates sufficient frustration to warrant turning the computer off and loading something else... quickly.

Ugh! Temple of Doom's graphics are butt-ugly, with repulsive color schemes and pitiful animation. The Michael Jackson-impersonating thugs mindlessly fall from platform to platform, and often hurl themselves directly into the lava. The fighting aspect of the game feels like a complete afterthought. Switching weapons is awkward (hold select while moving the directional pad?!), and firing your gun will instantly kill a bad guy anywhere on the screen! I also find it odd how you can grab the same item over and over again to rack up points. Indiana Jones Temple of Doom is so bad that it made me want to rip someone's heart out, tie them to a metal rack, and lower them into a lava pit. But wouldn't you know it - it turns out that's illegal in Maryland! Temple of Doom's only saving grace is the horrible Last Crusade game for the NES, which makes this look almost respectable by comparison.