Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up

There is a genuinely good Indiana Jones game buried in here, but for me the structure completely undermines it. The game is at its best when you're exploring tombs, solving proper archaeological puzzles, uncovering hidden chambers and moving through interesting new locations. Those sections are excellent and feel exactly like what I wanted from an Indiana Jones game. Unfortunately, far too much of the experience is spent sneaking around the same hub areas, avoiding the same guards, wearing disguises and repeatedly revisiting locations for collectibles and side objectives. The stealth itself wouldn't bother me nearly as much if the game kept moving you into new places. Sneaking through a fresh enemy compound can be fun. Sneaking through the same one for the fifth time because there's another note or book hidden somewhere absolutely isn't. [b] This game desperately needed to be more linear. [/b] If you mostly stick to the main story, the game is surprisingly short, and that made the amount of optional padding stand out even more. A huge amount of the advertised playtime seems to come from collectibles, side activities and repeatedly travelling around the same maps rather than from the main adventure itself. I finished the story and then started the DLC, but reached the timed Gladiator puzzle and just couldn't be bothered anymore. By that point I'd had enough of mechanics that seemed designed to slow me down rather than make the adventure more enjoyable. There are some brilliant moments here, and the presentation, environments and Indiana Jones atmosphere can be superb. I just wish MachineGames had built a tighter 15-20 hour linear adventure around those strengths instead of stretching everything across large stealth-heavy hubs. I wanted to feel like I was constantly heading towards the next incredible discovery. Too often, I just felt like I was sneaking around the same map looking for collectibles.