Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (FM Towns, 1990)
Graphics-7 Sound-7.5 Control-5.5 Challenge-7 Story-6.5
Level Design-6 Frustration-8.5 Fun-6 Originality-7
Overall Score-6
+
Pretty fast walking speed
Can cancel an action while Indy is moving towards the object/NPC to be interacted with
Dialogue tree system
Some alternate solutions (the guards, Vogel, biplane (survive planes to skip checkpoint guards later on) or zeppelin, etc.)
Action hotkeys
Can skip sentences/paragraphs (.) and cutscenes (Esc)
Text speed and volume level options
Good art direction and fairly expressive sprites
CD music
Some decent humour (silly, morbid, slapstick, parodies)
Some good puzzles (skulls, the guards in the castle remember your outfit, second test)
+/-
No game speed options except for the double speed feature in ScummVM
Uses the numpad for fighting scenes (can't be reconfigured but you can use a controller in emulation - not that it helps much because the controls are rather unresponsive and it's nearly impossible to read the enemies' moves)
No Sallah or Kazim (from the movie)
Need to know/look up how to read notes at one point (skulls puzzle)
-
Some interface issues (can't view the bi-plane manual while trying to use it, can't keep moving horizontally by holding the LMB down, can't left or right click to open or examine, need to press twice to perform an action on a selected object/NPC, can't start walking around by clicking after having selected an action to perform but not confirmed it by clicking twice (need to select a different action first, the game sometimes acts like you picked 'look' when you try to do other things with objects), can't skip walking animations, need to use the 'what is' action to detect interactive objects/NPCs when looking around with the mouse pointer)
Many objects/characters can't be examined
Color usage could've been better (more shades, better color choices) in this version (Loom looks better overall)
No journal/log feature
Some plot oddities (odd transition from the meeting with Donovan back to the school (scene ends in the middle of conversation, what to do next isn't clear but you can go to someone named Henry's house or to Venice), the meeting with Hitler scene (says nothing, need to make him sign one of three items)), the game is oddly quiet at times (no ambience or music, few sfx - fewer than in the Adlib version?), no images of inventory items, no point in getting the students out of the reception room in the beginning?, easy to miss items early on (the sticky tape - you're supposed to pull a bookcase that when examining it Indy says 'it's nothing special' and 'it's kind of lumpy' is a really vague alternative to 'it's wrapped around an object' (item images would've helped here), the locked chest - he also says that he can't move the plant on the table cloth if you pick push or pull instead of pick up (same thing with some other items later on) and says there's nothing special about the table it's on, same thing with the package under the junk mail in your office - need to pick up several letters to notice the package underneath (why wouldn't he remember the package if it's important and in his office?))
Some pixel hunting (the loose brick in the castle, the library in Venice - ugh! (finding the books, hovering the mouse over the middle metal post which is the only one you can examine and use on the floor panels for some reason), the wine bottle - can't interact with any other object at the restaurant; can't just look around to get a general description of the room or area you're in)
Vague descriptions of some objects (this looks familiar to me - OK, why?, can't read the books in your inventory properly)
Sometimes hard to tell where you can and can't go
Can't view the catacomb map while in the catacomb tunnels (you can see some distance ahead so obviously there's a light source to use?)
Trial & error (third test (knowing to go without hesitation), can't detect the guard on the second floor of the castle by looking through the window from outside, finding the one window that opens in the castle, getting into the vault in the castle, guards in the castle can detect you without vision, getting the Nazi uniform is pointless if you fought any guards before getting it?, one way path from the catacombs level 2 to level 1 and on the second floor of the castle (the window path))
Difficulty spike at Brunwald castle (unforgiving fights and stealth, no castle map?, can't use health if you've entered a room with a guard in it, trial & error to initiate conversation to try and talk your way out of a fight, can't feed the dog unless you pick the 'give' command (can't 'use' the food on it, can't even look at it which gives the impression that you can't interact with it)
Plenty of empty/pointless rooms
Some backtracking (beer) and the biplane segment (fun though)
You don't get the cutscene about the grail painting if you didn't trick the servant in the front hall in the castle?
Tedious to get past the checkpoint guards (there's seven of them) after the biplane ride if you didn't make Hitler sign the passport that you got from the castle (there's no hint and it's a weird scene)
Need the physical grail diary included with the game for some clues towards the end (real grail, first and third test) – sixty plus pages of (mostly) handwriting is a bit much to go through for a game
Some poor sfx
Level Design-6 Frustration-8.5 Fun-6 Originality-7
Overall Score-6
+
Pretty fast walking speed
Can cancel an action while Indy is moving towards the object/NPC to be interacted with
Dialogue tree system
Some alternate solutions (the guards, Vogel, biplane (survive planes to skip checkpoint guards later on) or zeppelin, etc.)
Action hotkeys
Can skip sentences/paragraphs (.) and cutscenes (Esc)
Text speed and volume level options
Good art direction and fairly expressive sprites
CD music
Some decent humour (silly, morbid, slapstick, parodies)
Some good puzzles (skulls, the guards in the castle remember your outfit, second test)
+/-
No game speed options except for the double speed feature in ScummVM
Uses the numpad for fighting scenes (can't be reconfigured but you can use a controller in emulation - not that it helps much because the controls are rather unresponsive and it's nearly impossible to read the enemies' moves)
No Sallah or Kazim (from the movie)
Need to know/look up how to read notes at one point (skulls puzzle)
-
Some interface issues (can't view the bi-plane manual while trying to use it, can't keep moving horizontally by holding the LMB down, can't left or right click to open or examine, need to press twice to perform an action on a selected object/NPC, can't start walking around by clicking after having selected an action to perform but not confirmed it by clicking twice (need to select a different action first, the game sometimes acts like you picked 'look' when you try to do other things with objects), can't skip walking animations, need to use the 'what is' action to detect interactive objects/NPCs when looking around with the mouse pointer)
Many objects/characters can't be examined
Color usage could've been better (more shades, better color choices) in this version (Loom looks better overall)
No journal/log feature
Some plot oddities (odd transition from the meeting with Donovan back to the school (scene ends in the middle of conversation, what to do next isn't clear but you can go to someone named Henry's house or to Venice), the meeting with Hitler scene (says nothing, need to make him sign one of three items)), the game is oddly quiet at times (no ambience or music, few sfx - fewer than in the Adlib version?), no images of inventory items, no point in getting the students out of the reception room in the beginning?, easy to miss items early on (the sticky tape - you're supposed to pull a bookcase that when examining it Indy says 'it's nothing special' and 'it's kind of lumpy' is a really vague alternative to 'it's wrapped around an object' (item images would've helped here), the locked chest - he also says that he can't move the plant on the table cloth if you pick push or pull instead of pick up (same thing with some other items later on) and says there's nothing special about the table it's on, same thing with the package under the junk mail in your office - need to pick up several letters to notice the package underneath (why wouldn't he remember the package if it's important and in his office?))
Some pixel hunting (the loose brick in the castle, the library in Venice - ugh! (finding the books, hovering the mouse over the middle metal post which is the only one you can examine and use on the floor panels for some reason), the wine bottle - can't interact with any other object at the restaurant; can't just look around to get a general description of the room or area you're in)
Vague descriptions of some objects (this looks familiar to me - OK, why?, can't read the books in your inventory properly)
Sometimes hard to tell where you can and can't go
Can't view the catacomb map while in the catacomb tunnels (you can see some distance ahead so obviously there's a light source to use?)
Trial & error (third test (knowing to go without hesitation), can't detect the guard on the second floor of the castle by looking through the window from outside, finding the one window that opens in the castle, getting into the vault in the castle, guards in the castle can detect you without vision, getting the Nazi uniform is pointless if you fought any guards before getting it?, one way path from the catacombs level 2 to level 1 and on the second floor of the castle (the window path))
Difficulty spike at Brunwald castle (unforgiving fights and stealth, no castle map?, can't use health if you've entered a room with a guard in it, trial & error to initiate conversation to try and talk your way out of a fight, can't feed the dog unless you pick the 'give' command (can't 'use' the food on it, can't even look at it which gives the impression that you can't interact with it)
Plenty of empty/pointless rooms
Some backtracking (beer) and the biplane segment (fun though)
You don't get the cutscene about the grail painting if you didn't trick the servant in the front hall in the castle?
Tedious to get past the checkpoint guards (there's seven of them) after the biplane ride if you didn't make Hitler sign the passport that you got from the castle (there's no hint and it's a weird scene)
Need the physical grail diary included with the game for some clues towards the end (real grail, first and third test) – sixty plus pages of (mostly) handwriting is a bit much to go through for a game
Some poor sfx