E3 2002Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb impressions

Everyone's favorite archeologist is back in the form of Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb for the Xbox and PC. The game is currently in development at The Collective, and it was on display at LucasArts' E3 booth.

The game's plot is classic Indiana Jones. Indy starts the game looking for an ancient artifact buried deep within an ancient temple in Ceylon. Unbeknownst to Indy, however, the artifact he's after is one of the three pieces of the key to the tomb of the first emperor of China, which contains the mysterious Heart of the Dragon, a black pearl with the power to control the world. The Chinese triads and German Nazis are after the other two pieces, and it's up to Indy to get the entire key before it falls into the wrong hands. Because of its emphasis on Chinese mythology, a good portion of the game takes place in the Far East. Some of the levels that we were shown included mainland China and Hong Kong, Istanbul, and Prague.

The Emperor's Tomb is being designed using a version of the Buffy engine that's been enhanced with a new combat system. As you'd expect, Indiana Jones has his signature whip and pistol, which can both be used to dispatch enemies. The whip can also be used to swing across chasms. But Indy can also pick up many objects off the ground--objects like poles and shovels--and use those as weapons as well. Of course, if worse comes to worst, Indy can always resort to duking it out hand-to-hand. While engaged in a melee, Indy will lock on to the closest enemy. The actual combat seems fairly simple--you punch and kick using two action buttons, and these attacks can be strung together for combination moves.

According to a LucasArts representative, another of the game's action sequences will involve Indy fending off attackers while hanging on to a speeding ricksha. The build we saw looked impressive, and the game is on schedule for a holiday release. For more on Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, take a look at our 2864684previous coverage .