Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

aka: FoA, Indiana Jones IV, Indiana Jones et le Mystère de l'Atlantide, Indiana Jones i Sud'ba Atlantidy, Indiana Jones y el destino de la Atlántida, Indy IV
Moby ID: 316
DOS Specs
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Description official descriptions

Indiana Jones is back! The great archaeologist and adventurer has to solve a grand mystery once again, aided by his trusty whip, his sharp wit, and his courage. A man who calls himself Mr. Smith is interested in a certain ancient statue. When the unsuspecting Indy hands it over to the client, he finds out that Mr. Smith is in fact a colonel in the Nazi army! Why was he so interested in that statue? A young woman who had once worked together with Indy, the pretty red-haired (and a bit troublesome) Sophia, tells him the whole thing must have a connection with the legendary lost continent Atlantis. Gathering clues from all over the world, Indy and Sophia embark on a grand journey across the globe.

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis is a puzzle-solving adventure game conceived in the spirit of Indiana Jones movies; however, it is not based on a specific movie, introducing a new, independent story. The game utilizes LucasArts' SCUMM system, with action verbs the player chooses from a menu; objects that can be interacted with are highlighted. The game contains many puzzles of various kinds (mostly inventory-based) and dialogues with multiple choices. There are also a few simple hand-to-hand fights against the Nazis, some of which can be avoided.

The middle part of the game can be played in three "modes": co-operation (Indy and Sophia), adventure (Indy alone), and action (Indy alone, with fewer puzzles and more action). In each mode, there are different locations to visit, different puzzles to solve, and different characters to meet. The CD version of the game adds voice-overs to all the conversations.

Spellings

  • Индиана Джонс и Судьба Атлантиды - Russian spelling
  • אינדיאנה ג'ונס: בעקבות סודה של אטלנטיס - Hebrew spelling
  • インディ・ジョーンズ アトランティスの運命 - Japanese spelling
  • 印笫安那.瓊斯系列:亞特蘭提斯之謎 - Traditional Chinese spelling

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Credits (DOS version)

127 People (125 developers, 2 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 91% (based on 47 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 437 ratings with 17 reviews)

A good game, though probably over-hyped by adventure buffs.

The Good
The game opens in a grand way that is a true cross between Indiana Jones and Lucasarts games, with a witty intro that intertwines the credits with actually playing the game, I loved this and wish more games were creative this way.

The plot of the game is very in the Indy vein, taking the much over-used idea of Atlantis and putting the Nazi spin on it. True to Jones form the game doesn't dwell in ancient scriptures and instead constructs an almost plausible story involving a lost dialogue of Plato as a cue for sending our hero across the world. Being an adventure game it gets pretty close to the feel of the film, given the constraints of being played out across static screens and being unable to use proper cinematography. The SCUMM game engine has clearly been used well, performing admirably and enhanced by great voice acting and an excellent score (helped along by the famous Indy motif).

The famous thing everyone says about the game is the different paths through depending on you playing style, which add a replayability to it, though I suppose were it a real Jones film, the muscles path would have to be taken.

The Bad
Being an adventure game the game has to have challenging elements I suppose, but sometimes these challenges are ramped beyond what you'd get in at the cinema. I felt that these detracted from the romping across the globe feel, as you were left sometimes doing a fairly ridiculous travel back and forth across the globe to attempt a different puzzle whilst figuring another out.

This kind of criticism may seem unjust given it does the best it can do as a game, but then it is trying to follow in the steps of a film series. I would write that the plot and ending is a little too overblown for an Indy story, but then I've now seen the Crystal Skull, so even the Infernal Machines plot devices could seem reasonable now. The staging of the story doesn't quite work so well, as the tone of the game is more light-hearted than the films, following more on LucasArts other games such as Monkey Island, though I suppose it might help relieve the pressure of 'using item a on object b' to solve a puzzle.

The Bottom Line
In term of where the genre was at when the game was released, it's a milestone, playing other games from the same era allows you to realise how smoothly this game plays and how well the 'never die' (at least giving you a fair warning otherwise) device works well and helps the game continue.

There are lessons to be learnt from this game on how to write and design a good adventure game, though also improvements that could come forth too such as injecting more a free-flowing film dynamism to the game, making the action sequences less stifled (long-winded boxing matches, anyone?).

Definitely worth playing for all adventure buffs and Indiana Jones fans who felt that maybe the latest movie installment didn't deliver.

DOS · by RussS (807) · 2009

Why Couldn't This Have Been the Plot for the 4th Indiana Jones film?

The Good
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (CD-ROM edition) is arguably the best video game based on the exploits of Doctor Jones, if not also one of the best point and click, adventure games made by LucasArts. I would go as far as to say that the plot for this video game should have been the plot for the 4th Indiana Jones film (instead of the Kingdom Skull mess we got).

The year is 1939, the world is on the brink of a war. Doctor Indiana Jones goes on another international quest that involves an ex-girlfriend, Nazis and untold secrets lurking within ancient civilizations. It is not based on any of the films, but, as I said, the game's storyline could easily have been made into a great film.

The 1992-era graphics are impressive, the game mechanics are very user-friendly (especially if you have played games such as Monkey Island) and the story really feels like a big screen Indiana Jones movie adventure.

While the game does have some action sequences, much of the game is a point and click adventure game using LucasArts' trademark SCUMM system. The CD-ROM edition is a "talkie" featuring some very nice voice acting.

The Bad
It is hard to find fault with with game. If you do not like point and click adventure games, then this game is probably not for you. Sometimes the action sequences are a bit cumbersome and sometimes you may be tempted to solve a puzzle by cheating.

The Bottom Line
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis is an amazing point and click, SCUMM adventure game from the folks at LucasArts. The CD-ROM edition features some great voice acting to read the game's dialogue. Let us hope and pray that more of these LucasArts adventure games are released on the newer game systems.

DOS · by ETJB (428) · 2021

One of the all-time best adventure games.

The Good
Boy, if only every licensed cash-in was made by LucasArts, right? I mean, here they go, making what's essentially a spin-off from an in-house gaming classic, sort of like Westwood churning in a brand new C&C, but guess what? Where others fail by blatantly trying to squeeze the last penny of a series, Lucas gives a masterpiece by simply putting effort and dedication in it. Indy's latest adventure game is without a doubt one of the finest adventures ever made, it has a great plot that mimics the fast-passed action and adventuring you see in the movies while offering a completely new storyline involving an ancient and powerful force long lost to the seas. The game also sports some of the most devious puzzles that have ever graced a computer game, and manage to be challenging yet rewarding (and that also make sense, not the "use-the-pinnaple-with-screwdriver-to-get-grenade" kind of puzzles). And the ending sequence alone is one of the coolest ones I've ever had the pleasure of playing in an adventure game.

To top it off you also get wonderful graphics and sounds courtesy of LucasArt's always impressive production values. But the real icing on the cake was something that really blew me away when I first played: different game modes!! That's right, after a brief introductory sequence you are given the chance to play the game with the aid of your brand new love interest, go at it solo (which gives you COMPLETELY different puzzles) or play in the "action mode" which has simplyfied puzzles and is instead filled with one-on-one classic Indy fistfights. Save for the beginning and the final act, the entire game plays differently depending on what choice you make, a refreshing and much more lasting experience than what you get on most adventure games.

The Bad
It always sounds extremely cheesy and fanboyish, but at the risk of sounding like a Lucas-loving whore, I got to admit that Indy & the fate of Atlantis has nothing wrong with it. The only thing you could throw at it is the faults and shortcomings of the adventure genre, but that only works if you don't like adventures. If you do, then you'll find that this is as good as it gets. Yeah, I'm dead serious.

The Bottom Line
Incredibly good no matter where you look at it. Indy 4 stands the test of time as one of the best adventure games ever made, sell your soul if you have to, but GET IT. They just don't make games like this with so much attention to detail and fantastic gameplay.

DOS · by Zovni (10504) · 2006

[ View all 17 player reviews ]

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

CD-ROM version

There are two versions of this game: a floppy version (11 disks) and a CD-ROM version. The floppy DOS version features talked interactions for only the introduction, while the CD-ROM one is a full "talkie".

LucasArts Logo Easter Egg

On the island of Crete while exploring the caverns, there are several rooms which have LucasArts logo etched in stone, to look as if they're something that came from Atlantis.

Comics

A Fate of Atlantis comic book series with four issues was published by Dark Horse in 1991. It was based on the story created by Hal Barwood and Noah Falstein, but only loosely followed the game's storyline.

Development

The original script for the game was written by Hal Barwood who also wrote movie scripts for The Sugarland Express (1974), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Dragonslayer (1981). He later created the story for Star Wars: Yoda Stories (1997).

For a short period, lead artist Bill Eaken worked at Sierra On-Line, and he hated every second of it. When he did the evil ghost animation at the end of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, where it swirls around and comes right up to the player and speaks, he made it say "F**k Sierra."

Fights

You can press Insert during fights to "sucker punch" your opponents and win immediately. Some enemies which can be circumvented by solving a puzzle are immune to this move. To this day this is being reported as a cheat, even though it is a feature of the game and clearly pointed out in the manual (page seven).

This is either a sign of how widely this game was pirated or of how few people actually read manuals.

German version

In the German CD-ROM version a small swastika in Kerner's pass was removed. It is still there in the disk version.

Plot

The story line of this game is fairly accurately based on history. Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler attempted to rewrite history in an effort to prove that the Aryan race in fact descended from the Atlanteans. To this end he instigated archaeological digs in Iceland, the Middle East and Tibet. Similar occult/Nazi material appears in Raven Software's Return to Castle Wolfenstein.

More information about this can be found in the book Himmler's Crusade: The Nazi Expedition to Find the Origins of the Aryan Race.

References

  • When you are trying to sell the mask to Omar-Al-Jabbar, one of the things he gives to you is a baseball ball "signed by Lou Gherigh", as he says. But if you look at the ball, it's signed by "Ron Gilbert". Ron Gilbert worked for Lucasarts and was the creator of Monkey Island.
  • Several Harrison Ford movies are referenced in FoA. For Example, Indy complains that when he was in school, the principle would always send letters home to his father that began with "Regarding Henry..." (Regarding Harry is a 1991 drama which Ford starred in)
  • When Indy plays with the flashlight in the Monte Carlo hotel, one of the shadow puppets is the comic book character Max known from comics and the later Sam & Max Hit the Road.
  • In the CD-ROM "talkie" version, when Indiana strains physically he lets out a Wookie roar.
  • Many of the street names in Monte Carlo are insider gags. Among other things there is an "Avenue des Troi Bois" and a "Boulevard des Guerres des Etoiles". "Trois Bois" is French for "three wood", which is obviously a reference to Guybrush Threepwood from Monkey Island. "Guerres des Etoiles" translates as "Star Wars".

Awards

  • Computer Gaming World
    • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) - #93 overall among the “150 Best Games of All Time”
    • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #4 Most Memorable Game Hero (Madame Sophia)
    • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #14 Most Memorable Game Hero (Indiana Jones)
  • Amiga Joker
    • Issue 02/1994 – Best Game in 1993 (Readers' Vote)
    • Issue 02/1994 – Best Adventure in 1993 (Readers' Vote)
  • GameStar (Germany)
    • Issue 12/1999 - #37 in the "100 Most Important PC Games of the Nineties" ranking
  • PC Gamer
    • November 1999 - #42 Best Game of All Time
  • PC Games (Germany)
    • Issue 01/1993– Best Adventure in 1992
  • Power Play
    • Issue 02/1993 – Best Adventure Game in 1992
    • Issue 02/1993 – Best Presentation in 1992

Information also contributed by Agent 5, ClydeFrog, game nostalgia, Garcia, Istari, James1, PCGamer77, Rupert Breheny, St. Emydius, Swordmaster, Terrence Bosky and William Shawn McDonie

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Related Sites +

  • AmberfishArts - Fate of Atlantis 2 Fangame
    Founded in 1998, IndyProject set out to create a sequel to the 1992 LucasArts adventure Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. FoA2 will resume where the original game ended, and tell its story to the end. It will be a faithful recreation of the feel and atmosphere of the original.
  • Game Nostalgia
    Provides extensive background info for Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, pictures of the cast and examples of voice-overs, full credits with shots and info about the design team, demos of the game, specific details about the game, various goodies, all musical themes, shots of every location in the game, saved games, a list of reviews, including a "nostalgic" review and tech specs.
  • Hints for Indy - Fate of Atlantis
    Jason does it again with wonderful hints for this game.
  • Indiana Jones and the fate of Atlantis wallpaper (archived)
    A desktop wallpaper for the game. It seems to be a close-up scan of a section of the box cover or manual.
  • ScummVM
    Get "Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis", as well as many other adventure games, to run on modern systems by using ScummVM, a legal and free program.
  • The COMPLETE Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis Walkthrough!
    The only 100% complete guide on the web!
  • Wikipedia
    Talks about technical details of the game, it's history, the making of it, and more.
  • iMDB: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
    General information about the game, including user reviews, ratings, and a message board.

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 316
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Olivier Masse.

Windows added by Picard. Amiga added by POMAH. Antstream added by lights out party. FM Towns added by Terok Nor. Macintosh added by Jason Savage. Linux added by me3D31337.

Additional contributors: MAT, Istari, Unicorn Lynx, Jeanne, Apogee IV, Johnny "ThunderPeel2001" Walker, Michael Zöller, CubbyKatz, DarkDante, martin jurgens, Ricky Derocher, 6⅞ of Nine, Paulus18950, Patrick Bregger, mailmanppa, Ingsoc, FatherJack.

Game added October 20, 1999. Last modified March 13, 2024.