From: wrr3118@tamsun.tamu.edu (Rick Russell)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games,rec.games.misc
Subject: REVIEW: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Macintosh
Followup-To: poster
Date: 13 Dec 1992 01:02:57 -0600
Organization: Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: tamsun.tamu.edu
Summary: A short review of the Mac version of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, by LucasArts games.
Keywords: review game macintosh adventure graphic

A short review of _Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis_, for the
benefit of the Mac gaming community and anyone else interested:

--
 
INDIANA JONES AND THE FATE OF ATLANTIS               LUCASARTS GAMES
Review by William R. Russell, Jr.            wrr3118@tamsun.tamu.edu
 
13 DEC 1992
 
Macintosh Version 1.0 requires a Mac II series or better with 8-bit
color, any monitor size, minimum 2MB RAM, system 6.07 or better,
10MB of hard disk space + 50K per saved game.
 
I purchased _Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis_ with some
trepidation. My wife is a fanatic about the Indiana Jones movies,
and when we saw the game at a local retailer I thought, "Uh oh...
another cheesy PC port, like King's Quest V or something." Well, we
picked up the game anyway.
 
I was hesitant because I had been momentarily impressed by
ultra-large graphic adventure games in the past (e.g. King's Quest
V), only to be disappointed with the poor quality of the port, the
choppy animation, the linearity of the storyline, the lethal
game-ending nature of the puzzles and problems, and the lack of
interesting character interaction.
 
Fortunately, absolutely none of these criticisms applies to _Fate of
Atlantis_. The game has a list of 'pros' a mile long.
 
THE CONVERSION JOB
 
 - _Fate_ has very, very impressive graphics and animation.
 
 - The usual "PC port" 320x200 graphics are made more impressive by
a graphics-smoothing algorithm which makes the 320x200 doubled-pixel
graphics much easier to take, and it considerably clarifies the
screen text. The "About..." box says that this feature was designed
exclusively for the Macintosh. A good, simple idea goes a long way.
 
 - The Macintosh 'engine' for the game works like a well- oiled
machine. It's system-7/Multifinder compatible, has several useful
options (like hiding the desktop, music quality/sound controls), and
generally behaves very well. Key shortcuts are provided for just
about all the commands in the game.
 
 - Sound quality is quite high, and the soundtrack (which uses the
LucasFilm designed iMuse system, or so they say) is actually
coordinated with character actions... turn on a light, and the music
rolls smoothly into a higher octave. Fail to activate a device, and
the music drops an octave for a couple of chords. Pretty impressive.
 
THE GAMEPLAY
 
The really amazing parts of _Fate_ have nothing to do with the
quality of the port, however. _Fate_ has many characteristics that
make it different (better?) than any other game of its kind
available for the Macintosh, in my opinion.
 
 - There are really 3 games in one. About 1/5 of the way through the
story you're asked whether you want to continue by your wits (the
WITS path), with your fists (the typical movie path, the FISTS
path), or with a teammate (the TEAM path). EACH PATH IS DIFFERENT IN
MANY WAYS FROM THE OTHER. The story actually changes, depending on
the choice you make.
 
 - There are arcade elements in the game, which help to break the
occasional monotony of problem solving. You could fly a balloon in
Algiers or the Greek isles, or play bumper cars with Gestapo goons
on the streets of Monte Carlo, or dodge Nazi soldiers in a
labyrinth. Hand-to-hand fist fighting is a small arcade game in
itself. Fortunately, the arcade elements are light, easy, and
entertaining, and they don't detract from the 'adventure' nature of
_Fate_.
 
 - The character dialogue is of the 'click on your favorite answer'
type, and a large number of choices are available. Four or five
lines of different answers are typical. While as interactive as some
Infocom games, the dialogue in _Fate_ is interesting and avoids the
"guess the verb" problem so typical of Infocom offerings.
 
 - The puzzles are fairly straightforward. There's no knocking out a
beast with a cream pie or throwing dried peas at aliens. All of the
puzzles make sense, as if they were part of a good movie script. In
addition, all of the answers are to be found in the game, not in the
manual or in accompanying documents.
 
 - LucasArts game design philosophy is very sensible. I quote from
the manual:
 
            We believe that you buy games to be entertained, not to
            be whacked over the head every time you make a mistake.
            So we don't bring the game to screeching halt when you
            poke your nose into a place you haven't visited
            before... We try to make it clear, however, when you're
            about to get yourself into a tight spot.
 
Personally, I find this policy to be very appealing. Not only does
it make the game soluble in a non-ridiculous way (i.e. dying to
learn what you need to know to avoid dying is ridiculous), but it
helps to ease the frustration of a tough puzzle, when you know that
you won't get burned because you forgot to pick up the banana peel
in the lavatory.
 
THE STORY
 
The plotline of _Fate_ is interesting, long and occasionally
convoluted. All of the elements of a good movie are in _Fate_, and
LucasArts' expertise in the movie business shines through in the
game.
 
The basic story revolves around a plot by an evil Nazi scientist
(this is 1939, on the eve of hostilities in Europe) to discover and
secure the mysterious power sources used by the ancient and powerful
empire of Atlantis, for eventual use by the Fatherland. Indiana
Jones thinks that Atlantis is just so much bunk, until he's caught
up in a world-spanning plot with an archaeology student turned
psychic channeler, Sophia Hapgood.
 
The story is excellent, although I am somewhat critical of LucasArts
for resorting to the classic evil-Nazis-we-love-to-hate. I suppose
in today's politically correct world the Nazis are the only group
that can still be portrayed as uniformly evil without inciting
protest. Nonetheless, I would have preferred a more creative choice
for the Big Villain.
 
BUG WARNING
 
The "TEAM" path has a small but fatal bug which LucasArts is
currently working to resolve. The other paths --- WITS and FISTS ---
work just fine. LucasArts has assured me that they will fix the
problem, and the fix will be provided free of charge to anyone who
purchases a buggy game. So far, the bug has only shown up on Mac
IIfxes and Quadras. In fact, LucasArts informed me that I was the
first person to experience the problem on a non-Quadra.
 
COPY PROTECTION
 
_Fate_ has a very confusing manual-based copy protection scheme, but
each installation of _Fate_ queries the user for copy protection
information only ONCE. Changing the location of the installed
program will trigger a new query. This seems to me to be the best
form of copy protection, since it should be an issue only once for
most users.
 
FINAL WORD
 
I was very impressed with _Fate of Atlantis_. The game was just
about the best PC port I've ever seen, and it excels in format,
playability, and storyline. If you've been burned by graphic
adventures like King's Quest in the past, don't immediately turn
away when you see _Fate_. It will probably change your mind.
 
 


-- 
#      Rick Russell | TAMU Meteorology | wrr3118@tamsun.tamu.edu       # 
#     "I am Elfy of Atlantis." "I am Jo-Jo of Munchkinland."           #
#     "We are Elfy and Jo-Jo!"                                         #