Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

Fate of Atlantis has been to date my favorite of all tbe computer games I've ever had. The sad thing is my new computer does not enable the voices to come through -- guess the technology just got too far. Pity. The guy's voice as Indy was really close to Harrison Ford's. The other sounds and voices were great as was the game itself. Wish they hadn't gotten so technical with the new stuff. Playing the new stuff wears me out just thinking about getting in gear to do the controls well enough to keep from killing off Indy within the first few minutes of play. I wish I could get a copy of Fate of Atlantis that would "talk" in my current computer.

I was in kindergarten when Lucas Arts' "Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis" was popular on the computer game circuit. There still, to this day, hasn't been a game to capture the imagination quite like this. The brilliant intellectual adventure is complimented by unforgettable visuals, inventive, innovative ideas and great humor.

Few games have been able to combine so many good elements so adroitly. Hand to hand combat, car chases, challenging puzzles, submarine and hot air baloon operation and communication all were mixed into one ultimate game. The "Fate of Atlantis" captures the romance and wonder of the film series as well, making it a marvel for film buffs.

The story begins in the attic of the college Indy teaches at. From here, we learn of the mythology of Atlantis from Plato's diaries. With the help of an old flame named Sophia, Indy travels through many wonderful locations like Iceland, Turkey and Monte Carlo in search of the sacred underwater city of Atlantis. An evil Nazi general named Kerner and his men get in the way, making it a huge, magical, terrific journey.

This is one of those games I will always wait for something to come close to par with it. Like "Contra" or "Star Wars" for Nintendo, nothing will ever come close!

I think Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis is good, it's funny, you have to think (but there's a walk-through*). But it has some problems: sometimes you have to go back because they kill you, so you have to save when you think they can kill you: for example, a nazi with a gun or a fight. You can choose three paths: the team path, the wits path and the fists path. in the fists path you have to fight with the nazis and if you loose you die. You have to use: If your enemy is to your right: 7 4 1 to go back 2 5 8 to stop 9 6 3 to punch. If your enemy is to the left: 9 6 3 to go back 8 5 2 to stop 741 to punch Some riddles are difficult so you can find a walkthrough*. Before this game was created the plan was to make a film but somehow they couldn't make one and they created this game thinking of The Raiders Of The Lost Ark. It's similar to that movie.

This adventure game has it all ... a great story that unfolds in the right way, hard ( but not insanely hard ) riddles to solve, and long playing time - even longer due to the 3 ways to play it. 3 paths as the game names them. The "fists" path a way to play the game with more action ( fights etc ), the "wits" path, a way with more riddles, and the "team" path, where Indy brings along Sophia in his quest for Atlantis and is a sort of combined action and riddles.

But the best feature of all is that this game has a true "Indiana Jones" feel. You feel that you are really inside a Indy movie! Everything from the original films is here, the action, the feel, everything.

The story is completely new. This time Indy goes for the search of the mythical city of Atlantis. In his quest he will face many dangers and enemies, and in the end he will discover a great secret of the Atlanteans.

The cast of the characters is also almost completely new to the "Indy" series, since from the original cast we see only Indy himself and Marcus who makes a very brief appearance. Sophia Hapgood plays the role of a new "Indy girl" beside Indiana Jones.

Everything combined this is a great game. Its story would alone make a great Indy movie ( easily it could have been a "Indiana Jones IV" based on this ). Do not stand back because of the game's dated technical abilities ( VGA 256 color graphics, MIDI music and a voice-over that isn't very good - the voices of the actors are great, but the sounds were not recorded very good - other times they are too loud, other times too silent ), it sure worths every minute you spend playing it.

It has been almost 25 years since LucasArts released this little gem of an game, and I am sure to be among many gamers to have placed it on top of their list of all-time favorite computer games. Games based on movies are by no means a guaranteed success (more often than not they were mediocre at best), so it is always thrilling to be able to play a game set in a beloved fictional universe that turns out to be such a genuine masterpiece. It may even have set a standard, because there has been a steady increase in quality for most tie-in games since then.

The main element responsible for this is the decent story and elaborate scripting. Many license games and a lot of Indiana Jones games made the mistake of creating a simple succession of highlights; either the game becomes a glorified shooting gallery or beat 'm up with only the scenery changing per level, or the 'challenge' is to walk from object to object or from one end to the other as a flimsy excuse to glue the cut-scenes together which tell the story. Atlantis suffers from none of these pitfalls; the creators approached it as an interactive adventure where the player is responsible for most of the actions along every step of the way. Best example is the interactive prologue, whereby we get reintroduced to Indiana Jones as our tough, resourceful yet clumsy and fallible hero. After finally finding the object he needs, we've already been acquainted with the controls and gotten to know one of the important locations in the game. It is the kick-off to an adventure that will lead once again to Indy finding out the truth about one of the most influential legends of mankind, and it is great fun to be able to do it yourself.

The story of Fate of Atlantis is not simply presented to us, we have to find it ourselves by interacting with characters, identifying clues and locating important items. The puzzles and challenges make all the traveling and changes of scenery part feel very natural instead of obligatory scripting of events. Some of the puzzles are pretty hard and it wasn't uncommon for me to wander around aimlessly before finding a solution, but sometimes stumbling onto these is all part of the natural process.

Another great part of the script is in the story branching. This is definitely one of the games with the highest replay value. It took me some time to find out that there are three different story lines, but this only made me more adamant to play all three of them. All three stories are full of the action, adventure and humor that the film series is so famous for, so that really adds to the experience of being in an Indiana Jones movie.

To think that this game is still so enjoyable after all those years and in spite of all the technical limitations is perhaps the best proof of its enduring quality.