A review of Infernal Machine

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Posted by Impulse from ts79.outer-net.com on January 08, 2000 at 15:07:31:

I didn't grow up with Indiana Jones. I'm only fifteen. I recently discovered this great concept and character a few weeks ago, when the videos were released. I'd seen a few scenes of "Last Crusade" and had my interested piqued, but I'd never paid much attention.

So, since it was on sale, I got the boxed trilogy, and watched it on video in production order ("Raiders", "Temple", "Crusade"). And I loved it. Indiana Jones was full of depth, likable, and admirable, which was something I had never found in characters like James Bond.

So, later, my computer had a 3-D card installed. I thought, what the heck, I'll buy the game. (Okay, I got my dad to buy it).

What a waste.

Doug Lee doesn't sound quite right as Indy, but that's because his voice is very different from Ford. However, his dry delivery won me over, and the voices of the other characters are well done as well. I quite liked how the cutscenes incorporated themselves into the gameplay by being in the game engine.

The graphics are good too. The textures are nice, and the characters are sharp. However, in the game, most of the enemies move very slowly and are pretty pathetic threats. Poor Indy looks awful. He looks far too diminuitive, and his shoulders and size just don't look like Indy. The face resembles Harrison Ford, and the actions and mannerisms of the figure are good, but the head is too large for the thin body and just looks darn silly at times.

The controls are really bad. The sidestep rarely works; nothing happpens when the key is hit, although on occasion it functions properly. Indy reacts to commands very slowly, and in a game where quick reflexes are a must, it's makes the game quite difficult. The weapons suit their purposes, except for the whip. It's fun for swinging in certain circumstances, but it is completely useless in combat, because it takes so long to swing, and Indy can't move when swinging it. The whip also has a very short range. The weapons are also pretty slow to respond and combat is annoying and boring.

My computer exceeds all the system requirements. I'm using a 233 mHZ processor, have a Voodoo 3 card, and have 64 MB of RAM, but at times, the gameplay is hopelessly choppy and slow moving for some reason. I have no idea why, and it's frustrating when this happens. I've tried everything from lowering the resolution to the lowest and turning off mapping features.

I don't like the characterization of Indy. His dialogue is too smart alecky; It doesn't feel right to be reducing him to nothing more that a guy that throws one liners. He has no depth as an archaelogist; his dialogue seems to indicate he cares for the relics he finds only as much as their monetary value. He seems like another generic action hero, and that isn't right.

The writing is also bad in the mission objectives of the game. Quite often, Indy is dropped into a situation with absolutely no explanation for what he must try to achieve. In the third level, Indy is dropped by the Tian Shan River. And that's it. We don't know what he is supposed to do. I had to consult a walkthrough at gamespot.com, and when discovering Indy's objective in this level, my immediate response was, "How the HECK was I supposed to figure that out?"

A little expository dialogue, and maybe a reviewable screen of info should have been added to solve that problem.

In the end, I find IM highly disappointing, to both gamers and to Indiana Jones fans. All that stuff you've imagined yourself doing as Indy (including the use of the whip) will not be fulfilled in this game. I'm afraid you're all going to have to stick with Tomb Raider until a sequel comes out; one that'll improve on the problems in this game.

Improvements that should be made:

-Indy's figure must be taller, more heroic
-There should be descriptions of what Indy is to do in each level, instead of just dropping him somewhere without explanation
-The graphics problems should be cleaned up
-Another writer; one that understands Indy (Max McCoy?) should write
-Swifter and less bug ridden controls
-The whip should be fixed to be a more effective weapon
-Possibly another voice for Indy; someone that can sound more like Harrison Ford, although Doug Lee's strong acting gets a thumbs up from me.



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