Product Description

From the crocodile-infested waters in Ceylon to the bustling streets of Hong Kong, perennial action hero Indiana Jones' wits, agility, whip-lashing and hand-to-hand combat skills will be put to the test as never before in the third person action-adventure Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb.

Indy's whirlwind adventure, set in the Far East in 1935, plunges him into an international crisis of terrifying magnitude. As the game begins, a powerful underground Asian society, the Black Dragon Triad, and a German mercenary, Albrecht Von Beck, have formed an unholy alliance in the hopes of acquiring the Heart of the Dragon, a black pearl that gives its possessor the power to mould minds. Rumoured to be buried in the crypt of China's first emperor, it has been safely hidden for more than two thousand years. Now, with this unwelcome coalition in desperate pursuit of one of the most powerful artefacts known to man, it's up to Indy to prevent the Heart of the Dragon from falling into the wrong hands.

Indy enters the race for the Heart at the behest of Marshal K'ai, an Asian businessman who asks him to retrieve the pearl and return it to the government of China. However, in order to retrieve the Heart, Indy must first traverse the world to find and assemble the three scattered pieces of the Dragon Seal, the key to unlocking the crypt. Jones is aided in his search by K'ai's stunningly beautiful assistant, Mei Ying, who helps him throughout this epic conflict. The game will offer 10 levels, all set in unique locales such as a 15th century castle that looms over Prague, an underwater palace in Istanbul, and a mountaintop fortress in China.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3581 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: ACTIVISION
• Released on: 2003-08-29
• Platform: PlayStation2

Amazon.co.uk Review
Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb is an action-oriented romp made by the developers that produced Buffy the Vampire Slayer for Xbox. The Buffy game engine is a good fit for Indy as he travels the world on a quest to prevent the discovery of an ancient Chinese secret that could spell the end of creation itself.

Such a quest should be easy for an adventurer such as Dr Jones, and with game controls as well laid out as these, it is.

Indy can run, jump, shimmy up ropes, swing with his whip, and fight it out with nasty villains. True to the movies, he also has to navigate an almost constant stream of death-traps--caves full of traps, ruins full of traps, medieval castles filled with traps. And guess what you find in China? Yes, more traps. It gets repetitive, but the game has some very clever tricks. For example, skulls make noise, so Indy can toss a few and watch the crocodiles or sentry traps target them instead.

In addition to traps, Indy must combat Chinese Triads, poachers, animated statuary and Nazis. He can execute quick punch combinations to knock his foes out or pick up weapons such as a chair, a plank, a machete or firearms. His famous whip can be used to disarm foes. The only problem is the camera, which is difficult to keep in the right position. You have complete control of it, but it's hard to manage a camera while you're fighting a martial arts expert.

The graphics are good, pleasantly reminiscent of some of the movies' more memorable locales. The in-game Indy mug looks like Harrison Ford right down to the chin scar. Other nice touches include Indy actually having to pick up his hat if it falls off during a fight and the little 1930s plane flying over the aged and weathered world map. The music is pure John Williams and the voice work is handled by very convincing imitators. The guy they got for Indy, in particular, sounds a lot like Ford himself.

Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb does right by its licence and provides hours of entertainment for anyone who's ever wanted to relive the movies starring the most exciting adventurer alive. --Bob Andrews

Official PlayStation 2 Magazine
"Rough around the edges, and old-skool, but loveable at the same time. A lot like Dr Jones himself, in fact."

Computer and Video Games Magazine
"Hard-hitting action [and] some nice touches from the films make this a welcome return for the original tomb raider."

Customer Reviews

Indiana Jones - Whips, Nazis, Guns, Lost Cities and a PS2
The game opens with that famous Indy soundtrack striaght outta Hollywood. I approached the game with some reservations, I am a huge fan of the movies and hate playing naff games that go and mess up the reputation of good movies!

However.... this game is great. Clearly it is aimed at those who picked up and played the Tomb Raider games. Accept Indy doesnt have square nipples or long hair. As far as I go, this game is everythiung that Tomb Raider should have been. It is really playable and very easy to get into. The controls are a bit of a faff at first, and trying to change between items when some geezer is coming at ya with his combat knife is a bit tricky!

But on the whole the game is very easy to get used to. The graphics are pretty decent, and the sound track is out of this world. The combat on the Tomb raider games was a real wash out, but the combat here is totally like the movies. You can grab and scuffle with Nazis, Crocdiles, Walls (think thats just me being bad at the game though). It is so easy to get into the combat on it and it simply has ya running around trying to find the next best thing to beat up.

The game is faithful to the whole ethos of the movies. But furthermore it carries its own movie like plot, with great enemies, associates, action scenes and twists and turns in the stories. You go all over the wolrd (Indy style - in ya little plane) and each level is really unique. You have to take all sorts of approaches in the game, such as stealth, action, blow everything to bits, run away from big beasts and also running and jumping great ravines.

I recommend this game without reservation. Got mine in a sale. But best not say where, Mr Amazon might av something to say. Either way its a good buy for the price these guys have it at.

Seany

Emperors tomb? more like programmers tomb!
Well, I can't be too harsh. It's not that bad, and has kept me entertained for a while due to it's sheer size. However I can't help but think that the level of graphics available here are more akin to a late generation PSone game than a mid generation PS2 game. Alright, again maybe I'm being harsh and the mists of time are clouding my memory of the PSone, but make no mistake...you are NOT getting state of the art here.

The game play itself is ok, but the control of Indy is a little torturous...try getting him to flatten against a wall in a hurry...three or four minor adjustments later and there he goes. The levels, whilst a good size are far too linear, as a previous reviewer has said. The puzzles...well, ARE there any puzzles? Or just a bunch of minorly annoying holdups to the action elements whilst you rotate, push and generally solve the problems. There is no element of real brain work here, the puzzles are so weak that generally you can suss out what to do in about 20 seconds.

I found it intensely annoying that the game only saves at the end of each level, so on some of the longer sections death can have you hurling the controller around the room in frustration! This also has the added benefit that you can quite easily start the next level with no life and something nasty to beat (I had to do the Kracken with a smidge of energy left), leaving your only option to quit out and redo the last x many levels, but a bit more carefully.

In summary, I'm massively disappointed with Lucasarts for producing this. They have done so many excellent titles that you feel certain you're going to get something ok. If the earlier Indy titles and the Monkey Island games had been this weak, I don't think we'd still have Lucasarts, it really is that bad (in comparison to their normal standards I hasten to add). I much preferred the old Indy and Monkey Island style adventures to the currently-in-vogue 360 degree first person environment and I think it's very sad it's become the ONLY way of doing an adventure now.

All in all, it's ok, but not the cutting-edge-hyper-playable fayre you (or at least I) expect from Lucasarts. It seems they have just decided to cash in on the incredible saleability of the Indiana Jones name without thinking too hard about the substance.

I would say if you're only going to buy one adventure game, get Lara Croft: Angel of Darkness. Much harder game, but at the same time less frustrating and much better executed.

The King of Archeological Adventure is back!
The Indiana Jones films have in the past years dominated the Box Office and now the game is set to take the Gaming Charts by Storm. After the slightly disappointing Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine comes this, the ultimate combination of Action and Adventure. With Indy's trusty whip and pistol there is nothing stopping him (except maybe enemies, Chinese Triad etc...) and with a lethal combination of kick and punch moves he is as deadly and unstoppable as the man himself. If you are a fan of the films or enjoy games such as Tomb Raider you will definitely not be unhappy.You can also drive the German Truck seen in The Raiders of the Lost Ark. The graphics are very impressive and the sound effects are amazing, with John Williams Original music in the background. The levels can be hard and there are many of them so it has a great Life Span. Buy this game, it will give you hours of Whip Slashing Fun.