GameSetWatch: Remembering The Fate of Atlantis

Today my first column for "Keyboard Bashing" went live, which is a new regular feature at GameSetWatch. I decided to add to their existing collection of retro features by examining my favorite game of all time.

From this point forward I'll be contributing there every two weeks or so, covering topics related to PC games both old and new.

The Temple of Doom: Orphan of the Indiana Jones Trilogy?

Ask anyone which chapter of the Indiana Jones trilogy is their favorite and they will name Raiders of the Lost Ark (mine) or The Last Crusade. I have not met a single person who told me that they felt The Temple of Doom was the best, as it is largely considered the weakest of the trilogy by both fans and critics. Why? While it may suffer from being the middle movie in the trilogy, the film stands solidly on its own as a typical Indiana Jones adventure. Part of the problem is that you can't help but compare it to the other two chapters in the Trilogy, and as a result seems terribly out of place due to its unfamiliar cultural backdrop. After watching it recently I've collected some of the reasons how this movie dissociates itself from the Indiana Jones oeuvre, and likely influences its standing in the minds of viewers.

rediscovering Atlantis

In preparation for an article I'm writing, I played through Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis again over the weekend. I make a point of replaying this game at least once a year anyway, because I consider it the best game I've ever played and I want to make sure I'm not just deluding myself with foggy memories and nostalgia. There are a few things I picked up on this time around, because I was looking at it from a more critical perspective as opposed to someone setting out to simply enjoy the game. If you've never played Fate of Atlantis but plan on doing so, stop reading. I consider the following list spoiler-heavy.

Indiana Jones and the return to games

A portion of an interview with Jim Ward, president of LucasArts and LucasFilm advertising alludes to revisiting the Indiana Jones brand for some new games. This should come as no surprise for Indy fans, knowing that development on Indy 4 is well underway. I find it a little amusing that Ward would comment on the quality of recent Star Wars games, basically admitting that the company's reliance on one franchise to make money has severely damaged the overall reputation of LucasArts as a brand.

Remember when the name "LucasArts" used to mean something in the adventure game genre? By canceling two adventure projects in the last few years with recognizable IP that were almost certain to do well, they've essentially severed all ties with that heritage. I have my doubts that the company will be able to restore faith in adventure gamers, because issuing another Tomb Raider clone is not the solution. LucasArts needs to look farther than that. Back to when they were making games with the same engine, but still presenting highly unique adventures that actually told a story, and had an excellent sense of humour.

On most days I can easily call Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis the greatest game of all time. In fact, for the same reasons I re-installed Sim City 4 I began to play Fate of Atlantis again with the help of SCUMMVM. I know the puzzles like the back of my hand, and the dialogue trees are no surprise. But as I said about Half Life 2, playing a favorite game again is a lot like watching a favorite movie. If you leave it on the shelf long enough, it seems the magic is always there waiting when you return.

adventure has a name

Today marked the DVD release of one of the greatest movie trilogies ever to grace the screen. Ol' Uncle George has always tended to keep his properties locked tightly away to be released according to some mysterious schedule. Just look at the surprise of fans when Episode I came out on DVD only a year after its theatrical release. Now we're just waiting for the original trilogy.

Today, however, we celebrate Indiana Jones being transferred from old film stock to digitally remastered, THX certified home-theatre goodness. Given what Lucasfilm had to work with, and after browsing all three flims, I consider the transfer to be very good, and the specially included fourth disc with the boxed set contains a very satisfying amount of bonus material.

The bonus disc contains a set of four featurettes detailing the stunts, sound, music and special effects of the trilogy. Although not known for it's work on this movie, ILM still managed to pull off a memorable sequence with the "Opening of the Ark" and it was cool to see how it was done. It also has some of the original theatrical trailers for each of the films, and some "unlockable" content that can be viewed at the official site. You need one of the DVDs in your computer and that stupid Interactual player installed to be able to get it though. Beyond some concept art and behind the scenes photos, there isn't much at the DVD-exlusive site worth checking out. Where the Special Features really shine are the individual documentaries on each of the films, kind of like what Lucas did for the THX remastered VHS release of the original Star Wars trilogy in 1996. We all knew Tom Selleck was originally up for the role of Indy, but to see a screen test of him and Sean Young (as Marion Ravenwood) was something else. All of the Documentaries and featurettes include various retrospective segments from Lucas, Spielberg, Ford and the rest of the behind-the-scenes crew, who recounted on how they helped create one of the most memorable movie heroes of modern cinema.

It shows that Uncle George and Steven Spielberg really took the extra effort to dig into the archives to give fans material that has never been seen before to make this an excellent package. And along with the remastered DVDs of the trilogy I can't say I'm disappointed.