Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb Updated Preview

LucasArts has teamed up with the Collective for the latest action adventure game using the Indiana Jones license. The game, first announced last May, is an action-oriented entry in the series that aims to capture the feel of the popular movie trilogy. We had a chance to check out a preview build of the Xbox version of the game to see how it's coming together.

The game's story is set prior to the events seen in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and it stars a slightly younger Indy who has yet to look for the Ark of the Covenant or the Holy Grail. The main action in the game will revolve around an alliance between a powerful underground Asian society called the Black Dragon Triad and a German mercenary named Albrecht Von Beck and their search for an artifact called the Heart of the Dragon. This ancient black pearl, which allegedly gives its owner the power to control minds, was apparently hidden for more than 2,000 years in the crypt of China's first emperor. The alliance's goal is to snatch the pearl and put its powers to the use for some evil ends. Hoping to thwart disaster, an Asian businessman named Marshal K'ai calls on Indy to retrieve the pearl and return it to the government of China.

Naturally, the assignment won't be as easy as strolling into the crypt and picking up the pearl. In order to gain access to the tomb, Indy must search the world to find and assemble the three scattered pieces of the Dragon Seal, an artifact that is key to unlocking the emperor's crypt. While the task is a bit daunting, Indy gets some help from K'ai's assistant, Mei Ying, who accompanies him in his race to beat the Black Dragon Triad and Von Beck to the various pieces. Mei Ying seems to be a bit of a mixed blessing--while she's useful in many situations, she's also a prime kidnapping target, so be prepared to spend some time coming to her rescue.

In terms of structure, The Emperor's Tomb is a mission-based third-person action game. As the story unfolds, you'll travel to various exotic locales in search of information and artifacts. Your time in the game will be divided between exploration, puzzle solving, hand-to-hand combat, chase sequences, and shooting sequences. The exploration and puzzle solving are fairly straightforward, usually consisting of flipping a switch or finding a key, and they don't slow the game's pace down too much. Indy has a functional assortment of moves such as ledge-grabbing and jumping that are perfectly suited to these segments. The hand-to-hand combat, which plays a very large part in the game, is quite solid. The game uses a heavily modified version of the fighting system seen in the Collective's Buffy the Vampire Slayer game. Indy will have an impressive roster of moves that really capture the character's personality. Indy's sloppy brawling style is well represented thanks to the game's two-button system, which offers a variety of punches, combos, and throws. The experience of brawling in the game is also served admirably by solid animation. You'll see things like Indy stumbling around appropriately when he's being beat on by a pack of thugs or enemies staggering to the ground after a particularly strong blow to the head.

Aside from Indy's repertoire of moves, you'll also be able to make use of whatever's at hand, such as shovels, shotguns, pistols, machetes, Indy's trusty bullwhip, chairs, bottles, table legs, and enemy weapons. The bullwhip is especially handy, as you can use it to disarm enemies by snatching their guns right out of their hands and swing across gaps that are too large to jump across. Additionally, when you want to be stealthy about picking off enemies, Indy can creep along with his back against a wall and shoot or sneak past enemies from that position. Finally, the chase and shooting sequences in the game are short segments that find you riding in a rickshaw or a jeep through city streets or taking control of a stationary machine gun.

Graphically, the game is looking very sharp, thanks to the Collective's impressive Slayer engine. The environments you'll be guiding Indy through are a solid assortment of indoor and outdoor locales set throughout the world. While you'll find a healthy dose of ruins and caves to explore, the game also includes city streets, castles, a Chinese opera house, and even a moving gondola to keep things interesting. The game makes good use of its ample polygon budget and renders the large environments with a high level of detail. You'll find clean textures, subtle lighting effects, and a host of little touches such as particle effects and fog that do a fine job of bringing the areas to life. The levels will also offer a bit of psychological torment in the form of breakaway floors and cave-ins that occur throughout the game. As a result, you'll find yourself thinking twice about snatching relics you find laying out in the open. The levels also benefit from the game's use of color to subtly and effectively establish tone.

The characters in the game are also well done and feature a good amount of detail. You'll come across a motley crew of evildoers in the game, ranging from your standard run-of-the-mill ivory poachers to much more exotic foes such as terra-cotta statues possessed by vengeful spirits. However, as nice as the enemies are, the star of the game is clearly Indiana Jones. Unlike in previous Indiana Jones games, the character model in The Emperor's Tomb is modeled very closely on Harrison Ford, which actually adds quite a bit to the experience. Indy's trademark adventuring ensemble has been perfectly re-created in the game, right down to his ever-present hat, which can be knocked off during the course of his adventures. We were pleased to see the various items Indy carries through the game reflected on the model. Granted, seeing a machete or a shotgun slung across his back isn't exactly the most groundbreaking graphical element, but it is a nice touch. The detailed model, coupled with a decent soundalike voice actor, gives the game that extra tie to the films that's been missing in previous games.

In terms of audio, Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb will feature a strong collection of music, voice, and ambient sound. The game's score is a mix of the classic themes associated with the franchise and new pieces scored specifically for the game. The tunes are all strung together dynamically in the game in order to reflect the onscreen action, which helps give the game a movielike feel. The voice acting in the game is decent. In addition to the already mentioned Harrison Ford soundalike, you'll hear a broad, multilingual assortment of voices in the game. Some will be more over-the-top than others, based on the individual character's alignment with the good or bad camp. The game's ambient sound is quite good and paints a convincing auditory picture of the various locales in the game. For example, you'll hear assorted birds in the outdoor ruins and water dripping and eerie echoes in the caves. The ambient sound is especially impressive, thanks to the Dolby 5.1 support in the game.

Judging from what we've played so far, Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb is coming together nicely. While the frame rate, camera, and collision detection were occasionally inconsistent our early build, there didn't seem to be anything unfixable. Overall, the game's graphics, excellent combat engine, and varied gameplay are quite promising. Fans of action adventures will want to look out for Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, which is currently slated to ship this February for the Xbox. The game will also ship for the PC and PlayStation 2 later in the year.