Indiana Jones FPS: Is This the Way To Go for The Great Circle?

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle may seem a tad confusing at a glance. This is, indeed, the first modern Indiana Jones game we've ever had, and it promises to continue the prime-time adventures of everyone's favorite mid-1900s archeologist. The kicker? It's a first-person shooter.

Now, Indy sure has shot his fair share of Nazis in his heyday. Whether with a trusty revolver, a handy 1911, a carbine, or a sub-gun, Indy is obviously quite handy with a gun of any sort. His movies, though, were never about shooting, really. Shooting Nazis and demonfolk was just this thing that cropped up along the way, and the focus of the action was, instead, on whip-cracking and face-pummeling.

As such, the Indiana Jones license lends itself more obviously to a third-person game. Something along the lines of, y'know, all the other franchises Indy has inspired over the years, like Tomb Raider and Uncharted. We're here to discuss precisely that!

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Why is Indiana Jones and The Great Circle a First-Person Game?

The big conundrum surrounding this game, then, is the question of its perspective. Why wouldn't either the developer or the publisher push for the obvious choice, after all, and bank on Indy's handsome mug to carry the game forward? It did work out remarkably well for Uncharted, did it not?

We don't have an official response to this, naturally, but we do have a few ideas as to why this is the case, and the first is none other than immersion. Not once have we had an opportunity to truly step into the charming boots of Indy Jones on modern gaming machines, and this is the ultimate opportunity to deliver a memorable, immersive, and true-to-form Indiana Jones adventure.

It's also important to remember that, even though the Great Circle is mainly a first-person adventure - not shooter, necessarily - for the most part, certain actions do shift the perspective back into third-person! Climbing a ladder, interacting with certain objects, and entering cutscenes triggers a perspective shift, and this means we're getting the best of both worlds, really.

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Who is making Indiana Jones and the Great Circle?

Kicker #2 is that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is being developed by none other than Machine Games, the good folk behind the Wolfenstein revival. The thing about the new Wolf games is that they're really only two things: incredibly satisfying and punchy first-person shooters, and strangely engaging narrative dramas. Hard to believe, right?

Machine Games has a delightful penchant for cinematic storytelling and mid-mission scene-shifting, and given how cinematic The New Order, The Old Blood, and The New Colossus have been, we've got absolutely no doubt that the same will apply to The Great Circle, too.

Now, since Machine Games is tenured in developing first-person games, specifically, this is the second big piece of the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle puzzle. Why mess with your developer's finest output just to try something new and unproven? Indy's adventure deserves only the best!

Does a first-person adventure properly communicate the idea of Indiana Jones?

Obviously, it's okay to have some concerns as to what Machine Games is doing with the Indiana Jones license. We just won't know how good or bad this game is until we have it in our paws, and it's not coming out until early December. Depending on how you look at it, this either means that we're going to see for ourselves what Machine Games and Bethesda have been cooking very soon, or that we still have to wait for months until that happens.

We're excited, certainly! In fact, we'd be way more worried if Machine Games was tasked with making an Uncharted-style Indy game, as the team doesn't have ample experience in the genre. This way, they're bound to put their absolute best foot forward, and this IP deserves precisely just that.

Further, there's a point to be made about puzzle-solving and exploration feeling the best from a first-person perspective, and these features are absolutely instrumental for a good, genuine Indy title. Something to think about, perhaps.

Can First-Person Gameplay Really Work for Indiana Jones?

In the end, we do think The Great Circle is going to work out, even if only thanks to Machine Games' impeccable penchant for narrative development and satisfying gameplay. And besides, it's not like Indy's suddenly going to be ramming a trench shotgun into a Nazi in close-quarters. Yes, guns will play into the equation but first-person exploration, whip-slinging, and fist-fighting are going to be the stars of the show, and that's extremely promising all on its own.

Don't believe us? Well, the good thing is that there's oodles of gameplay already out and about, and you can see for yourself that Machine Games is onto something special here. It's still a tad early to say whether Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is going to be the start of a brave new Indy gaming franchise, but we're oh so hoping that's what ends up happening. Stay tuned for more, if you're on the fence, and 2Game's going to have you covered!

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