2009 video game
Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings is an action-adventure video game published by LucasArts for Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii. It focuses on Indiana Jones as he searches for his former mentor Charles Kingston, while working to prevent the Nazis from acquiring the "Staff of Kings", said to be the same staff used by Moses to part the Red Sea.[1][2] The Wii version includes a copy of a previous LucasArts game, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, as an unlockable.
The game was initially developed for the higher-end PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 systems, before switching to the aforementioned lower-end platforms. The game received mixed reviews from critics.
Gameplay
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The plot centers around Indy's search for the Staff of Moses, a journey which takes him to several locations including the Sudan, Panama, San Francisco, and Nepal. The game incorporates a linear structure that includes puzzles to solve, obstacles to clear, and enemies that must be defeated through hand-to-hand combat. As Indiana Jones, the player can interact with certain objects when prompted to and can utilize his bullwhip both in combat or to proceed in an area. Some levels also include sections where the gameplay revolves around using the environment around Indiana Jones to defeat enemies and a shooting segment where the player's movement is restricted but is armed with Indy's sidearm and allowed to take cover and aim at enemies. Motion controls in the Nintendo versions (via the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, or the DS stylus, depending on the platform) allow the player to throw punches, use Indy's bullwhip, and perform a wide variety of actions.[3]
The Wii version of the game includes an exclusive co-op story mode (with Indy and Henry Jones Sr.) and an unlockable version of the classic point and click adventure Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (also set in 1939). On the console versions, Big Head mode, Henry Jones Sr., Tuxedo Indy, and Han Solo from Star Wars are unlockable.[4]
Plot
The story begins with Indiana Jones hunting for an ancient ram's head idol in the Sudan in 1939, which a Nazi expedition is also searching for. Indy traverses a canyon and enters the temple of the idol. After a few narrow escapes, including fighting off a swarm of spiders and nearly getting crushed by collapsing statues, Indy finds the idol and is about to escape when the Nazis discover him. Indy is confronted by their leader, Magnus Voller, an archeologist and old rival of Indy's. Indy is forced to give up the idol but is able to distract Voller and fight his way through the Nazi camp. He gets in a truck and chases after a plane that is taking off down the runway; he manages to jump onto the wing and throw the pilot out. After getting in a dogfight with other Nazi planes, Indy flies off and returns to the United States.
Back in America, Indiana receives a letter from an old friend, antique collector Archie Tan. He explains that he has information about the disappearance of Indy's former college professor, Charles Kingston. Indy heads to San Francisco to talk to Archie, only to find that he and his granddaughter Suzie have been kidnapped by the local triad. Indy rescues Suzie, and she takes him to her grandfather's office. He also learns of an ancient artifact that Archie was guarding, the Jade Sphere. Indy finds a secret passageway, and then rides a rickety chair lift down into a subterranean chamber filled with old ships. The chairlift gets hit by a thug with a pistol, but Indy manages to survive the ride down. He meets more thugs down below but dispatches them before finding the Jade Sphere hidden in a pile of cannonballs. A day later, Indy finds Archie being held captive by Magnus Voller and a Nazi agent. Voller orders Indy to hand over the Sphere if he wants to save his friend. Indy appears to throw the Sphere to Voller before he and Archie flee, but it turns out to be nothing but a cheap statue. Indy and Archie are chased by gunmen in cars; Indy uses his pistol to shoot out the tires or engines of the cars (in the Nintendo DS version, this is replaced by a brawl on top of a cable car), and Archie helps him escape in a street trolley. After Archie tells Indy about the events that transpired, he decides to head for Panama, where Kingston found the Sphere years ago.
Upon reaching his destination, Indy gets into a minor argument with an Irish photographer named Maggie O'Mally, who forces him to let her accompany him. However, their campsite and the surrounding forest are attacked by native mercenaries in Magnus' employment. Indy manages to fend off the attackers (he also saves a village of Indians in the Wii and PS2 versions) and obtains the key to an ancient pyramid. Indy travels through the ruined pyramid, which is based on the Mayan underworld, which leads to a hidden diary of Kingston's revealing details of the Staff of Kings, the artifact that Moses used to part the Red Sea. After obtaining further clues on the staff's location in Istanbul, Indy locates the elderly Kingston in a Nepalese village. Unfortunately, the Nazis followed Indiana to the Staff's resting place and kidnapped Kingston and Maggie (who is actually an undercover MI6 agent). Indy then sneaks onto the Nazis' zeppelin, the Odin, and rescues Maggie, but is unable to prevent Magnus from fatally shooting Kingston and using the Staff to clear a path through the Red Sea. In response, Indy and Maggie chase Magnus on a motorcycle with a sidecar and defeat him with a rocket launcher. Magnus then attempts to escape, but Indy sucker-punches him into the wall of water. Upon reaching dry land, the staff unleashes a blast that causes the water to sink the Odin. It then turns into a snake, and Indy throws it away, lamenting "Ugh.. It can take care of itself...".
Development
LucasArts began developing the game in 2004, for PlayStation 3 (PS3) and Xbox 360. The development team had more than 150 people.[5] Industrial Light & Magic worked on the game's lighting.[6][7] The game's story is particularly inspired by the Indiana Jones film Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).[8] The story was devised by producers and team members at LucasArts who then took it to Indiana Jones filmmakers George Lucas and Steven Spielberg for input.[9][8][10] A rejected story idea revolved around the Monkey King, who had also been considered for what ultimately became Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).[5]
The game was announced in May 2005 and was scheduled for release in 2007.[11][12][13] It was expected to be technologically advanced,[6][14] and would have utilized a run-time animation technology known as Euphoria.[7][15][16] LucasArts also partnered with Pixelux Entertainment to use its Digital Molecular Matter (DMM) technology in the game, increasing the realism of its environments.[17][18] The development team encountered problems in making the game physics work together. According to game designer Tony Rowe, "We had to combine the two [engines], but the two didn't talk to each other. You had a Euphoria object that worked with Havoc, which is a pretty standard physics system, and a DMM object and when they hit each other they would go right through each other". LucasArts eventually got the physics to work in another one of its games, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (2008).[5]
Tentatively known as Indiana Jones 2007, the game's first trailer was released in May 2006. Development was 20-percent finished at the time and its story was supposed to tie-in with the then-upcoming Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), with the developers having received a version of the screenplay from Lucas during the process.[6][19] Although LucasArts was developing the game for PS3 and Xbox 360,[20] versions for other consoles were also underway by third-party developers hired by the company. Artificial Mind and Movement worked on versions for the PlayStation 2 (PS2), Nintendo DS and Wii, while Amaze Entertainment worked on a PlayStation Portable (PSP) version.[5][21][22]
Progress on LucasArts' version stalled compared to the third-party versions,[5] and the game eventually missed its 2007 release.[23] That year, LucasArts transferred much of its development team from the Indiana Jones game to work instead on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.[5][24] A new LucasArts design team took over the Indiana Jones project and largely started from scratch, while retaining the story. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (2007), an action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog, was released at the end of 2007. It accomplished much of what LucasArts had wanted to achieve with its Indiana Jones game, taking away enthusiasm for the latter. Layoffs at LucasArts occurred in early 2008, and leadership changes were frequent, although development continued on the Indiana Jones game for the time being. LucasArts ultimately canceled its PS3/Xbox 360 version, which was largely unfinished.[5] The company later cited timing and financial reasons as the cause of cancellation.[25]
Reports emerged in January 2009 that the game had been scrapped.[26][27] Later that month, LucasArts announced that the externally developed versions would be released under the title Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings.[28][29][30] These versions use the same storyline as the canceled game, and were designed to take advantage of each platform's capabilities, such as the Wii's motion controls and the DS' touchscreen. Each version includes a few unique levels. For the Wii version, Artificial Mind and Movement suggested the inclusion of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (1992) early on in development.[9][8] The game includes Indiana Jones music previously composed by John Williams, as well as music from The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992-1993). It also features original music by Gordy Haab and Ray Harman.[8] Indiana Jones is voiced in the game by John Armstrong.[9]
Author Rob MacGregor, who had written several Indiana Jones novels, was hired by LucasArts to write a novelization of the game. Although the book was completed, MacGregor's publisher decided there was not enough interest to warrant its release. In 2021, MacGregor published a series of audiobook podcasts retelling the novelization's story.[22]
Reception
Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings received "mixed or average reviews" according to Metacritic.[31][32][33][34]
Several critics reviewed the Wii version. IGN praised its interface, graphic effects, number of extras, interactive levels, and varied gameplay, but criticized its "stupidly implemented motion controls".[37] The A.V. Club gave it an F. They called the motion controls "inexcusable" and stated the game's best aspect was the inclusion of the point-and-click adventure Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.[35] GameSpot criticized its "terribly laid-out checkpoints", "out-of-date" visuals, and "atrocious, annoying motion controls".[36]
