Indiana Jones and The Great Circle review for PS5

When you think of iconic film characters, Indiana Jones is one that instantly springs to mind. While the last couple of films have been subpar compared to the original trilogy, Indiana Jones is a character that’s managed to last for over 30 years, in part due to the excellent portrayal of the character by actor Harrison Ford. I’d argue that Ford IS Indiana Jones, and while we’ve seen younger versions of the character played by different actors, it’s hard to disassociate Harrison Ford with the role. That’s partly why the recently released Indiana Jones and The Great Circle really stood out to me, showing that at least one other actor can manage to fill the role of classic Indy in a way that I didn’t think was possible. That person being acclaimed voice actor Troy Baker, who makes Indiana Jones transition back into the world of video games an amazing journey, and one worth checking out.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has been available on Xbox and PC for a bit (see our review here), but it was finally released for PS5 in the past month or so, making this adventure game by developer MachineGames available for an even wider audience. If MachineGames sounds familiar, their more recent output consisted of the excellent Wolfenstein revival and its sequel, which makes them perfect for a game that’ll involve punching Nazi’s in the face quite a bit.

And when I say punch, I literally mean punch, with most of the combat revolving around hand-to-hand or sneak attacks from the first-person perspective the game is played in. Jones has his iconic whip, of course, but by and large you’ll be fighting enemies with found objects or your own two fists, making this a bit of a departure from the heavy gunplay found in the Wolfenstein series. That said, combat is generally pretty satisfying. You can pick up a variety of objects in the environment, including some that I don’t think you’d normally consider a weapon, and use them to strike at enemies or sneak up behind them, oftentimes bludgeoning them with a single blow. The various animations tied to the different items you can use as weapons are often pretty entertaining, and again just knocking the hell out of Nazi’s with something like a flyswatter or candelabra makes for a fun time.

That’s not to say that combat is the focus in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. In fact, you’ll spend almost as much time out of combat as you do in it. Oftentimes areas in the game are strictly focused on exploration, platforming, and some light puzzle solving. The beginning tutorial of the game, which is a recreation of the iconic beginning from Raiders of the Last Ark, does a great job of letting you know what to expect from The Great Circle, and helps to set the stage for the various gameplay mechanics going forward.

As far as complaints go, I have very little. The PS5 version of the game reviewed here appears to be on par with the Xbox Series X, and even compares favorably to the PC version of the game that I originally played. The storyline feels like classic Indy, the voicework by not only Troy Baker but the entire cast is extremely well done, and the lead villain is as unlikeable as any that Indiana Jones has faced off with before. The first-person perspective works really well here, helping to immerse the player into the adventure, and again the combat is a lot of fun to engage with and rarely feels mundane. My biggest complaint is that I’m not a huge fan of the fast travel system, which requires you to visit areas in order to unlock fast travel, but also you can only interact with the fast travel system by visiting sign posts that feel a little too few and far between. I’d much rather have the option to access fast travel via the map, instead of needing to hunt down the closest sign post which often felt as far away as the objective I was trying to reach. All in all, it’s a minor complaint, but when you’re trying to clean up collectibles and secrets it feels like more of a pain point than it should be.

Still, I’ve really enjoyed my second round with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and if you haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, I’d highly recommend doing so. It’s an amazing adventure that feels more like Indiana Jones than the film series has in quite some time, which is definitely an accomplishment. Absolutely pick this one up, you won’t be disappointed.

Note: Bethesda Softworks provided us with a Indiana Jones and The Great Circle code for review purposes.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle – Standard Edition – PlayStation 5

Price: $66.00

20 used & new available from $62.70

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