I was delighted to see Indiana Jones and The Great Circle hit Playstation for a few reasons - one, it should always have been a Playstation game. This was a weird one to hold back. Two, the time I've spent with Dabe playing it is some of the most fun I've had this year so far. It's just incredibly thoughtful and has an ongoing franchise play written all over it. Three, I suspected that the PS release might put it on Gabe's radar finally. Which it did! What did he think of it? Let's go to the tape.
The thing that he hates is the thing that I like, so it's important to go into this gulf. What I consider a "thoughtful" pace he considers something that is barely a videogame at all, there is no place to get hold of it. The game wanted him to take pictures of shit - which I was happy to do because Dabe is a photographer and so he always does it way better than he needs to, but it also pays you a resource that lets you build your skills. That kinda completes the loop for me.
The game is not about punching, but it is sometimes incumbent upon one to punch, particularly when one has failed to be invisible which is the fate of all men at some point. One whips often - but primarily, you're whipping a load bearing beam exclusively for swinging purposes. Despite the game being about a swashbuckling adventurer, one certainly buckles a swash from time but this is almost set up like an adventure game - it's about mostly sneaking through places and unraveling an ancient mystery while being somehow the best Indiana Jones movie in recent memory and probably the third best one overall. The world feels like it would exist even if you weren't there - sturdy, and brimming with rewards for the clever.
I have to pause here to consider that I just like Indiana Jones way more than I thought, and the tool I intended to use was sophisticated - a peeling away of the nostalgia until I reach the thrumming core assertions. But I never got around to it, because I couldn't - I tried to imagine the hideous mutant that didn't like Indiana Jones, and my mind recoiled in disgust at its crusty sores and matted hair.
(CW)TB out.
