Over the years, few games manage to match the acclaim equal to their cinema counterpart. These include games like Alien Isolation, and Robocop: Rogue City. Indiana Jones last 2 cinematic returns were met with a lot of dismay but despite the titular character being voiced by Troy Baker, The Great Circle is an absolute unforgettable adventure that fans of the ardent explorer should all embark upon, and with a PS5 release, the adventure is absolutely cinematic.
Story
If you are a fan of any Indy films, you will know that the beginning of each movie starts with something minor and later on snowballs into something a lot greater. What starts with a nightfall confrontation with a hulking giant who overpowers Indy later on reveals a much bigger picture - a circle even.
Indy’s adventures take him to the Vatican, Egypt, and more. each of the locations packed with its own unique beauty, people, architecture, environments, and so much more.
I haven’t felt this immersed in a video game since getting the platinum in Robocop: Rogue City, and it made me feel like I was playing an unreleased Robocop movie, which absolutely blew me away.
The Great Circle has an equally great story with a memorable cast, easter eggs and references to other movies, characters, and more.
Presentation
One of the highlights of the game is the Pro version - which I was fortuntate enough to play. The PS5 Pro version features a native 4K with improved Ray-Tracing, a feature that is absent in the Xbox Series X version due to hardware limitations. I already knew that even the Xbox Series S ran the game at 60, but to see the advanced Ray-Tracing in action, and always seeing the resolution stay at 4K was also refreshing. This is one of those games where if someone asks “was your PS5 Pro really worth the money?” I will immediately boot up this game and hand them the controller.
WIth near seamless loading, haptic feedback and controls, this is easily the definitive way to play The Great Circle on console. It is an unmatched experience that would otherwise cost significantly more on a PC.
Everything from the buildings, the foilage, characters, and everything is all rendered beautifully and at times in the right conditions, I feel like I am playing a movie. I haven’t been this captivated by graphics since Robocop and Alien Isolation - and one of those titles originally launched on the PS3.
I have 0 complaints about the presentation and this game stands as one of the best use-case examples of why the PS5 Pro is an unmatched powerhouse of a console in modern gaming.
Gameplay
This is where my only complaint stems - the gameplay. The game is supposed to be very stealth focused, but right at the beginning of the game, after the musuem, there is almost no way to sneak past the first guard, and this was me playing without any guide or help. I tried for a solid 10-20 minutes experimenting with various routes and techniques to knock out the guard without being seen and ultimately gave up just to fight him.
I love first-person action adventure titles that implement stealth properly - the Deus Ex games that feature Adam Jensen were some of my favorite games and I had the platinum in the PS3 and PS4 entries for their games, which is why the stealth of this game kind of frustrated me at certain points.
You are encouraged to be stealthy but there are certian chokepoints where there is literally no other way but to fight.
Indiana even has a revolver that is meant to be a backup weapon, but it is nearly useless. With a limited supply of bullets and barely able to take out enemies even on easy, I felt that the revolver did not live up to the hype set up for it from the infamous Raiders of the Lost Ark encounter.
I compare it to Deus Ex because similar to that game, there are instances where when you are climbing or doing certain actions, the camera switches to a third-person perspective. Indy is still well-detailed even here and I happy with that, but in Deus Ex, I had non-lethal options to take out enemies when stealth wasn’t an option.
Unless Indy has an object in his hand, he is incapable of doing stealth takedowns, despite brandishing a whip and a pistol.
I understand Adam Jensen was augmented, but even Nathan Drake from Uncharted can do simple takedowns even without a weapon in hand, and this is what irritated me about the game. It makes you do stealth without giving you the ability to do it fully.
When you aren’t made to go through insufferable stealth sections, the game offers you a plethora of side quests and story content. Each city you visit holds a unique branch of quests and content to discover even after you beat the game, which is even more reason to continue playing once the adventure is over.
Conclusion
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is easily a hall of fame entry for me. It is one of those games that appears only once a console generation and truly elevates a long forgotten IP to a new status - one that will live on in the minds of gamers when someone says “its a shame that IP never got an equally good game”. Similar to how the staying power of Alien: Isolation is still prominent to this day.
If you can get past the irritating stealth asked for players by the game, you will find one of the best adventure games out in the market right now. With the Pro enhancements, the game is nearly a cinematic masterpiece as well. With lots of additional side content
