Game: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Platform: PC
Year Released: 1989



I really don’t know where I would be without Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It was the first LucasArts (then LucasFilm Games) point-and-click game I ever played, and we all know it wasn’t the last. It is also one of the finest games in the genre to date, even after almost 20 years. When this game came out, I hadn’t even seen any of the Indiana Jones movies, but as it turned out, that didn’t matter at all. I loved this game, and subsequently played every LucasArts adventure I could get my hands on.

So why this game for this week’s installment of Throwback Thursday? Someone I know recently made me green with envy by showing off his hacked PSP. (Side note: don’t hack things, kids. It’s illegal and can potentially brick your system). The game he was playing at the time was none other than this classic, and it instantly made me remember a time when I was primarily a PC gamer, and I couldn’t get enough pixilated Indy.



Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade loosely follows the same plot of the movie, although having seen the movie is not a prerequisite to enjoy the game. The player takes the role of Indy, who has a wide range of commands to choose from, including “Look” and “Talk”, used for the first time here. Last Crusade was also one of the earliest games to use the revered SCUMM engine, coming two years after Maniac Mansion. It’s worth noting that legendary game designer Ron Gilbert worked on both of these games.

At the time this game came out, it was one of the most innovative video games available. Like Maniac Mansion, it has several alternate endings and plot points that play out differently depending on the choices the player makes. In addition to the standard adventure gameplay that involves investigating, talking, gathering clues and items, and moving from place to place, there were also quite a few tricky puzzles. The game also includes some actual hand-to-hand combat, and some of the optional fist fights were nearly impossible to win. Getting a perfect game was extremely challenging.



One of my favorite things about Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is that even though it was based on an already-established franchise, the game is still chock-full of the usual LucasArts humor and inside jokes. There are several subtle references to other adventure games by the publisher (Chuck the Plant, anyone?), including a Sam and Max totem pole foreshadowing the release of Sam & Max Hit the Road four years later. Of course, there are also elements of the game’s plot that are not taken lightly (it was set in a time of war and Nazis, after all), but it was nice to see the self-referential humor laced throughout this game.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is the kind of game that makes me wonder why there aren’t more point-and-click adventure games in the current generation. Another Indy adventure, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, was released three years later, and was also fantastic. It’s about time LucasArts released a remake of this, along with Fate of Atlantis, both of which are perfectly suited for the Nintendo DS. Come on, Lucas, stop milking Star Wars for a few minutes, and give me some Indy love! Until then, at least I’ve got my memories.

 

 

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