INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (ACTION GAME)

 INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE is an arcade game from Lucasfilm, US Gold,
and Electronic Arts. It offers crummy graphics, poor gameplay, screen flicker,
joystick control, and horrible copy protection. This version of CRUSADE has been
dubbed the "action" game; another incarnation, called the "graphic adventure"
game, is also available. The only good point about this action game is that
you're under no obligation to buy it. (This review is based on the Atari ST
version; Commodore 64/128, IBM-PC, and Amiga version notes follow.)

 The CRUSADE action game comprises four levels, each one a scenario based on the
movie. In Level One, you control young Indy, who must find the Cross of Coronado
and then escape over the top of a train. In Level Two, you have to withstand
rats and fireballs as you wander through the catacombs beneath Venice looking
for the Crusader's Shield. In Level Three, you'll search a Nazi airship for the
Grail Diary. In the final Level, you're to figure out the traps set by the
Crusade knights, in order to reach the Grail and thus save the life of the other
Doctor Jones, who has been shot.

 The ST screen display consists of the scrolling landscape of the current Level.
In Level One, the caves of Coronado are made of ledges, ropes, and rickety
wooden platforms. Obstacles include falling stalactites and failing light, as
well as other grave-robbing adventurers seeking the Cross of Coronado.

 Below the action window are score, life, energy, and light indicators. When
energy runs out, a life is lost; when all lives are gone, the game ends. When
your torch goes out, you'll still be able to see a few moments longer, but
you'll lose a life. Additional torches can be found along the way.

 The joystick controls CRUSADE. There are no instructions as to its use, which
is fine because the game plays terribly. Although Indy can move left and right,
jump, climb ropes, swing his whip, crouch, and throw a few punches, his
performance is erratic at best.

 The CRUSADE package comes with two copy-protected disks, a newspaper that
doubles as the instruction manual, and a pair of 3-D glasses. The back page of
the newspaper is a calender to be used in the catacombs of Level Two, in
conjunction with the 3-D glasses.

 I should point out that I never made it past Level One, partly because the game
is so bogus, but mostly because of copy protection. Each time the game ends, the
disk is accessed not only to reload Level One, but also to check for protection.
The disk drive buzzes as it does when Psygnosis games make the drive buzz; then
it spits out a long, wobbly raspberry -- a sound that became far too frightening
for me to handle, especially after multiple restarts. Also, more than once, the
words "GAME OVER" remained onscreen and the program locked up, forcing me to
reboot.

 Graphics and animation on the ST are okay, although "okay" graphics on the ST
should be construed as "crummy," while "okay" animation should be construed as
"fine when the screen isn't flickering." Indy grabs his hat when he jumps left
or right, but he jumps so high that he pushes stalactites through the top of his
head: If this is arcade entertainment, I don't like it.

 The "action" game version of INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE is nothing more
than money-grubbing merchandising from Lucasfilm marketing. US Gold, a talented
and usually reliable development group, must have phoned in its code; Electronic
Arts, well...they'll distribute anything. Go see the film a couple of times and
avoid this package at all costs. If you must have an Indy arcade game, go with
Mindscape's INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM. You'll be far happier.

 COMMODORE 64/128 VERSION NOTES

 INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE on the Commodore 64 is every bit as hokey as
it is on the ST, a fact of life that knocks the ST version down yet another
notch.

 Graphics on the Commodore are flat, dull, and uninspired; screen flicker is
simply another facet of the game. The C64 program plays slightly better, due to
less animation activity, but this isn't saying much.

 The C64 package is the same as the ST package. The lone disk is copy-protected,
but in this case, it doesn't sound as if it is. There are plenty of wonderful
Commodore games to purchase instead of INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE.

 IBM-PC VERSION NOTES

 The IBM version of INDIANA JONES comes on a single 3-1/2" diskette and two
5-1/4" diskettes. The program is not copy protected, and can be installed on a
hard drive. It supports CGA, EGA, and Tandy 16-color video modes. Note that the
game screens shown on the back of the box are not from the IBM version, but from
something better -- perhaps the Amiga.

 Even so, the EGA graphics are nice. However, screen action is relegated to a
relatively small area: The bottom third of the screen displays the score, status
lines, the "Indiana Jones" logo, and an ugly, low-res, black-and-white picture
of Harrison Ford; the sides of the screen remain blank. This becomes even more
frustrating as you quickly realize that onscreen character placement is
arbitrary at best: Indy can punch or whip an enemy into submission without ever
touching him. Worse, he'll fall from a rope even when he's nowhere near the
bottom.

 INDIANA JONES supports both the IBM and Amstrad-type joysticks, as well as
keyboard control. I preferred the keyboard because it gave me a greater degree
of accuracy, which is crucial: You never know when Indy is going to fall off a
ledge or bump into a stalactite.

 Playing on a 20 MHz 386 with a 512K VGA card, the graphics and action scrolled
smoothly, but gameplay was slow. When I returned to DOS, my computer's clock was
running 20 minutes fast, forcing an unwanted reboot.

 I was surprised by how unoriginal this game is; at best, it strikes me as a
variant of PANGO. Although I never made it past the first level, I feel little
incentive to continue trying to do so. There was far more frustration than fun
involved in the "play" (and I use the term loosely).

 AMIGA VERSION NOTES

 I'd have to agree with the original reviewer of this game: It seems at best a
movie tie-in designed to make profits from enthusiastic "Indy" fans. The
standard arcade games available on a Sega SMS or Nintendo are all better than
this one. The Amiga version doesn't have the scrolling problems mentioned in the
other version reviews; nevertheless, control is frustrating and rudimentary. I
found the use of newspaper for game instructions and copy protection
particularly irritating; how long is newspaper going to last before turning
yellow and crumbling to bits?

 Copy protection on INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE is extensive; not only is
the disk copy-protected, but there's an eye-wasting look-up involved halfway
through play requiring the use of a piece of red cellophane and the newspaper.
Game instructions are virtually non-existent. And even the photograph of Sean
Connery in the newspaper is terribly blurred!

 The game comes on one disk, which can be left write-protected (you are, in
fact, encouraged to do so; high scores are not saved), and requires only 512K to
play.

 INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE is published by Lucasfilm Games and
distributed by Electronic Arts.

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