Hands on (again) with the new Indiana Jones mobile game
THQ Wireless has been whipping it into shape
Rambo? He can shove his bandana up where the Thai sun don't shine. The only action-hero comeback we're interested in this year is the return of Indiana Jones.
Even if he is boffing Calista Flockhart and wearing age-inappropriate earrings these days.
I digress. THQ Wireless and in-house studio Universomo have been beavering away on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull for a while now. It's the game of the upcoming movie, and while I laid thumbs on it briefly in February, I've spent the last couple of days playing it properly with preview code. The following impressions are taken from the first couple of levels, as are the screenshots above.
It's a side-scrolling platformer, with you alternating between Indy himself, and youngster Mutt Williams. The opening level introduces all the controls. Indy's bits are regular platforming, running, jumping and yes, cracking that bullwhip when you meet an enemy. There are also some Prince of Persia-style spikes to dodge.
Predictably, Mutt's bits aren't the same. He runs ahead in a straight line, and you have to press buttons at the right moment to make him jump, roll and so on. The difference is that he can only stop for a second, whereas Indy can take his time.
Whichever character you're with, the controls are explained as you go along, with little icons telling you what key to press (Universomo has clearly been paying attention to the well-designed tutorials in Gameloft's platform games).
There's a choice of two modes: Story and Arcade. Story takes you through what's presumably the film's plot, so I won't reveal it here. Arcade, meanwhile, has you collecting coins to unlock Indy trivia – it's almost Super Mario Bros-esque.
From play so far the difficulty level is rather punishing, with a single mistake killing you and forcing you to restart from the beginning of your current section. At least you appear to have infinite lives, although once enemies start chucking grenades on the second level, you'll need them.
First impressions, then, are that IJATKOTCS (cor!) looks the part, with smooth animation and neat level backgrounds. But the difficulty could turn out to be its Achilles' heel, especially if it's trying to appeal to Indy fans who aren't necessarily big gamers. But naturally, we'll reserve judgement until we've spent time with the final game. Whip 'Track It!' for an alert when we review it.
