Indiana Jones of the Infernal Machine Review: Had Aliens and Soviets Before it was Cool

This is the fourth of five reviews detailing games that defined my early childhood.

Developer: LucasArts
Publisher: LucasArts, THQ(Game Boy Color Version)
Version Reviewed: PC
Price: N/A
Released: November 23rd, 1999

One of my fondest childhood memories is watching my dad play Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine. I got so into my dad playing this game that I actually got scared that one of the bosses in it would come out of the game and eat my dad. Eventually I dared to play it myself without my dad's guidance and it became the first game that I truly mastered. While today it is mostly looked backed on as being nothing but a shameless Tomb Raider clone, it will always have a special place in my heart. So let me tell you why this game is so special to me.

Indy looking at an ancient temple.

Set in 1947 after World War II and at the beginning of the Cold War, Indiana Jones gets directed by yet other former love interest Sophia Hapgood towards a devious scheme by the Soviets to unearth an ancient Babylonian machine that could spell doom for the entire world. So Indy embarks on a globe trotting adventure to find all the missing parts of the evil Babylonian machine taking to interesting locations such as Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Mexico, and Sudan. The story is mostly just a framework to give an excuse for Indy to go and explore these amazing places, which isn't a bad thing. Indiana Jones was never known for it's deep, involving stories. It was known just being simple and fun which is exactly what the story of Infernal Machine delivers. There is a fun little plot twist towards the end that makes for an interesting change of pace, but overall the story of Infernal Machine delivers that traditional Indiana Jones experience.

Indy exploring a lava filled ruin.

In terms of gameplay, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine basically plays like a hybrid of Tomb Raider and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. As Indy the player explores the environment by walking, running, climbing, and jumping to where you need to go. The levels also happen to be very big with lots of secrets to find so you are encouraged to explore every nook and cranny. There are also some puzzles scattered around that often require use of the machine parts or Indy's iconic whip to solve. These puzzles really added to that sense of exploration and mastering your environment that all games like this should strive for. There is also combat, but it's not very good. This was before the days of cover shooting and good melee combat in video games. Combat is mostly consists of Indy auto targeting the nearest enemy and using the weapon you currently have equipped until either he or his enemies aren't alive anymore. There are some more exotic enemies you run across, but they are usually puzzle fights that require you use your brain rather then your guns. There are also some driving levels that are extremely hard to control though thankfully they are few and far between. While Infernal Machine isn't very original and has a few issues that really hold it back from true greatness, it is still a very fun game to play.

The driving levels are for the most part not very good, but it's fun to run down enemies none the less.

On the technical side of things the game ran as smooth as silk on my old Windows 98 computer, but good luck trying to get it to run on anything else. I have tried to get it to run on my newer computers, but it flat out refuses to work no matter what I do. The controls are also very clunky and take some getting used too. However, the game has excellent sound design and the graphics were some of the best that 1999 had to offer. There is a Nintendo 64 port of the game developed by Factor 5, but avoid that like the plauge. The N64 port of the game is a piece of crap with badly compressed sound, horrible graphical glitches, and several game breaking bugs that make the game unwinnable. There is also a Game Boy Color version, but I've never played it and frankly it doesn't look good anyway.

King Soloman's Mines, one of the best levels in the game, is locked out in the N64 version unless you have an expansion pack add on for the system.

In spite of all it faults, I would not be the gamer I am today without Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine. Even thought several aspects of it have not aged well I still thing it deserves to be played, but sadly it currently can't be obtained easily. I hope that it appears on Good Old Games one of these days. It's adventure game prequel Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis and the action game sequel Indiana Jones and The Emperor's Tomb are already available so I feel it's only a matter of time till Infernal machine is as well. This game means so much to me and I want everyone to have a chance to play it. Until that happens, here is a long play series of the entire game.