The Jon Venture

By Jon Venture

If last year’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull film was any indication of where the famous LucasArts franchise was headed, then you too would have been weary of playing Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings from developer A2M on the Nintendo Wii. Remember the odd feeling you got in the pit of your stomach when Indy survived a nuclear blast by hiding in a refrigerator? You knew that Indy would be able to survive the blast somehow, solely on his wit, but the method and execution was simply too farfetched. It didn’t feel like Indy, though you saw him on screen. It felt as if money itself had materialized and was walking before you because it knew you’d be there regardless. That’s the same feeling I got when I played Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings.

Set in 1939 (post Last Crusade and pre Crystal Skull), Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings follows the famed fedora professor from locales such as San Francisco and Panama in search of Moses’ Staff. And for a fun twist to fans, you have the option of a second player joining in and playing as Dr. Henry Jones Sr., Indy’s globetrotting and equally clever father. All of the standard fare from a traditional Indiana Jones adventure is present, from fist fights to gunplay and clever use of that legendary whip. Not since Devo have I been so compelled to… you know…

But as I played on, my whip went limp with disappointment.

So the foundation for an Indy game is there, we all know that because we read the box, but alas the game was as multidimensional as the disc the game was printed on. There was not much fun to be had as you fought the Germans for a few hours, shaking your Wii Remote and nunchuck about in a futile attempt of hand-to-hand combat. It was much easier to simply grapple the baddies and knock them out. The shooting gallery and mini-games were passable, though there were moments of delight during the platforming where you’d be able to crash down entire bookshelves on enemies. If assault was not such a major issue in the world, I would solve many a problem with collapsing bookshelves.

The graphics in Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings weren’t impressive, even by rushed movie game standards. That was another point of interest that really got to me, the overall gameplay and quality of what was unraveling before me. This felt just like a typical movie game rather than drawing upon excellent source material and delivering a memorable gaming experience that you’d call friends over to your house just to get a chance to play. I would simply ignore Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings at your local video rent-a-mart, as this game is definitely not worth a buy. That might also be the reason why the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions were canned.

Know what you should be doing for a full Indiana Jones experience? Call your friends and family, throw on a fedora, pop that kettle corn, and enjoy the first three Indiana Jones films in order. Ignore that fourth film, just as you should disavow any knowledge of Star Wars Episodes 1-3 or the third Godfather film. Don’t do it to yourself. Save for the Fate of Atlantis, you should definitely watch Indy- not try to be Indy.