Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb Review

8.0

Format Xbox

Developer Lucasarts

Publisher Activision

Genre Action, Adventure

The original tomb-raider and his whip are back

Before Lara Croft was in those shorts, before she was even in nappies in fact, Indiana Jones was adventuring. He's the ledge-jumping, Nazi-bashing, artefact-hoarding original. And with Lara very missing in action, Indy is the only person to turn to if you have a hankering for raiding tombs any time soon.

Jump, punch, pull
The bad news first - there's nothing new here. Measuring tough jumps is on the menu, as is swinging about on your bullwhip and romping around ruins. Often all at the same time. On top of that there's shooting, stabbing and punching evil minions. And solving pretty simple lever, block and object puzzles. The game's about as predictable as a Mr Bean cock-up. But it isn't rubbish.

True, there's not been much innovation in the gameplay. But who cares when it's this enjoyable? Seeing familiar puzzles and goons doesn't wear thin quickly when it's done this well. Instead, it brings a nostalgic smile to the face, as if you're remembering the time the Christmas turkey exploded in Aunt Maud's face. Only it's better than that.

So what makes it fun? There's the graphics to start. Built on the engine used for the Buffy game, this is a feast for the eyeballs. Gorgeous textures and effects, excellent character models and giant, open environments with lots of complexity. It's the best-looking action adventure yet.

Big, bad world
As well as looking sumptuous, all of the locations are well designed. A total of ten massive levels split into sub-sections see you raiding Prague, exploring Istanbul and, er, running around a lot in Hong Kong. Throughout, the puzzles are fun to solve and are interspersed with constant bouts of combat.

During fights, you can pick up chair legs and bottles, deal out punches and kicks, shoot or lob grenades, rope a thug and reel him in for a swift smack or our favourite - bullwhip enemies' weapons clean out of their hands.

Helpfully, there's a lock-on button which keeps you facing the bad guys when the action gets frenetic. A particularly handy feature because the camera control isn't great.

Other problems? The lack of invention does become an issue. After all, how many chasms can you jump before it gets boring? But even considering the repetitiveness, this is a fine cocktail of combat, exploration and puzzle-solving. Ms Croft has got her work cut out for her if she's going to top Indiana.

Mark Hill