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Indiana
Jones and the Last Crusade:
The Graphic Adventure
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Developer:
Lucasfilm Games
Publisher: Lucasfilm
Games
Release date: 1989
Written by:
David Fox & Ron Gilbert
Original Music by:
Andy Newell
Programmed by:
Mark Haigh-Hutchinson
German Version by:
Boris Schneider
Location Scout:
Tony Schweikle
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Technical Info:
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Platforms: DOS,
Amiga, Atari ST, Macintosh, FM Towns, Amiga
CDTV |
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Genre:
"Point and Click" Adventure game |
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Engine:
SCUMM |
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Media:
3½ inch Floppy |
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After the immense
success of the games Zak
McCracken and Maniac
Mansion, Lucasfilm Games had established
itself as a master of the graphic adventure. In
1989, concurrent with the release of Lucasfilm's
blockbuster Indiana Jones
and the Last Crusade, which we all know
and love, they released two movie-based video
games for the PC. One was an action game and the
other was a graphic adventure comparable to their
Maniac Mansion title. The action game fell into
obscurity quickly after its release, but the graphic
adventure has become a classic and Lucasfilm Games
(now known as LucasArts) still sells it today.
What makes this game so great? Well, let me enlighten
you. |
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Story and Gameplay
I do not have to tell you the plot
of the game, but just in case some of you suffer
from memory lapses, let me recap for you. The
game begins with Indiana Jones teaching at Barnett
College when he received a package from Venice,
Italy containing his father's Grail Diary which
contains "every clue he followed, every discovery
he made" in his quest to find the Holy Grail.
From there he learns that his father has disappeared
while searching for the Grail in Venice and Indy
is hired by Walter Donovan to go to Venice and
find Henry Jones Sr. and the legendary chalice.
With that a wonderfully engaging and intelligent
game begins.
Henry Senior's
house. |
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Like all graphic adventures, the
game hinges on collecting items and applying them
to problems to solve puzzles and find solutions
to further your quest. Last
Crusade: The Graphic Adventure is full
of them. From the moment the game begins, Indy
is faced with fun challenges. For example, one
of the first puzzles is trying to figure out how
to evade all of the screaming students in Indy's
office. This is the kind of classic LucasArts
wit gracing all of their graphic adventure titles,
and every stage of this game. The humor really
adds to the fun of it all and keeps the game interesting
when the action gets slower.
LucasArts expands the game beyond
the film in very innovative ways to lengthen the
playing time and provide the player with more
puzzles. However, the brilliance lies in the fact
that all of the extended puzzles are still confined
within the film's locales. At some points, the
designers actually drew puzzle ideas from cut
sequences of the film itself. For example, there
is a line in the film on the zeppelin as Indy
and Henry race to the biplane when Indy says "I
thought it would take them longer to figure out
the radio was dead" or something to that
effect. This was actually the tail end of a sequence
that involved Indy and Henry encountering the
Gestapo in the bowels of the zeppelin and a fist
fight ensuing. In the game, there is a stage where
Indy and Henry must find their way through the
zeppelin to the plane and Indy fights guards along
the way. Preceding it is a stage where Indy must
disable the radio itself. There are other fictional
enhancements to the locales as well. A good example
of this is the expansion of the Venetian Catacombs.
Inside the
library, the catacombs, and one of the few
action moments. |
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Conclusion
The graphics are excellent for their
time. LucasArts uses a rich color palette and
wonderful meticulous animation to bring the excitement
of Last Crusade
to the PC. People who have played the game recently
have expressed to me that the graphics and the
sound are bad for this title. I must vehemently
disagree. The game is over 18 years old, but at
the time of its release it was a superior gaming
experience. LucasArts pushed the limits of gaming
visuals and animation in 1989 with this title.
This game has examples of some of the best screen
designs for the time, complete with shading and
light sources. Age should not be held against
it. No one who has played it denies having enjoyed
the game itself.
Indiana Jones and the
Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure
is easily one of the best Indiana Jones games
ever made and one of the best graphic adventures
surely. The game also nicely paved the way for
its famous sequel, Indiana
Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. With all of
this, one might be asking, "Is there any
drawback to this game at all?" Yes, but only
a small one. It is really a shame that LucasArts
has not done a CD-ROM version of this game like
they did with Fate
of Atlantis. I think
that actual voices could really enhance the experience.
If there was an ultimate dream realized, LucasArts
would overhaul both Last
Crusade and Fate
of Atlantis with updated
graphics and sound work. That is probably a pipe
dream at best and quite frankly, Indiana
Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure
is perfectly acceptable the way it is. Indy fans
will be hard pressed to find many Indy games of
its caliber. Of the many games made based on the
third film in the Indiana Jones series, The
Graphic Adventure is
the only Holy Grail. (MF)
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Trivia
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Last
Crusade: The Graphic Adventure introduced
the phrase "Hello, I'm selling these
fine leather jackets," which became a
running gag in many future LucasArts games.
The phrase is a reference to an in-house promotion
that was going on during the game's production. |
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All the Swastikas had to
be removed from the game prior to its release
in Germany. According to Boris Schneider
(who translated the game for the German
market) this was a very challenging task,
especially with the software that was available
to him back then. |
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Last
Crusade: The Graphic Adventure was
the third game to use the SCUMM engine. |
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References & In-Jokes
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The yellow crystal shard and
the wallpaper crayon drawn map are from another
LucasArts game; Zak
McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders. |
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The oozing purple meteor, Chuck
the plant, and Michaelangelo sculpture are
all taken from Maniac
Mansion; a previous graphic adventure
game by LucasArts. |
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A Sam & Max totem Indy
describes as coming from a "tribe that
worships dogs and rabbits."
This is a references to Sam
& Max Hit the Road; another LucasArts
adventure game that was released in 1993,
four years after Last
Crusade.
(Sam & Max are inserted tot the totem
with subtlety in the EGA version, and more
obviously in the VGA remake.) |
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