Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures

• Platform: IBM PC Compatible
• Release Date: 1996
• Genre: Action
• Style: Action Adventure
• Similar Games: The Legend of Zelda (Nintendo Entertainment System), Chicken Run CD-ROM Fun Pack (IBM PC Compatible)

Game Description

Remember the good old days of video gaming where games were about fun rather than big beautiful 3D graphics? Older games tended to rely on its entertainment value rather than trying to impress you with its technical breakthroughs and glorious sound quality. LucasArts remembers this and the result is Indiana Jones and his Desktop Adventures

In these desktop adventures, you'll take control of the infamous movie hero Indiana Jones and guide him through an almost endless amount of little quests. You'll have to mingle with native jungle dwellers, overzealous treasure hunters, solve puzzles and use various weapons, including your whip, to terminate wild beasts and/or gangsters who are trying to stop you. The random quest generator is there to almost guarantee you a different quest every time so you never play the same game twice!

Are you looking for a game that revisits the "good old days" or you just want that perfect time-waster? Well, if so, Indiana Jones and his Desktop Adventures should be right up your alley!

Roots & Influences

Indiana Jones and his Desktop Adventures was designed soley for those people who are looking for that perfect time-waster. The many quests in Desktop Adventures are all quite simple and fun and don't take very long to complete. This is perfect for that gamer who has to sit in an office and work all day.

Review: Overall

Indiana Jones and his Desktop Adventures sure is a great idea. It puts you in the role of Indiana himself and it's up to you to guide him through an amazing amount of quests. In fact, because of the random quest generator, there's almost an endless amount of quests to finish. Most quests require you to find a certain item, give that item to someone who needs it and proceed to the next portion of the quest. Like any good adventure game, there's also some puzzles to be solved -- like how to get into certain houses or buildings or how to get from point a to point b and survive. You'll also have to do some fighting. Wild beasts and treasure hunters are trying to stop you from achieving your goals (usually to find an item). You'll have to use your famous whip or any other weapon you find to get by them. And the good news is that the quests won't have you playing for a seemingly endless amount of time. Almost every adventure can be finished in a good 30 minutes or an hour. The fact that this game is linear in what must be done merely amplifies the easiness and simplicities of Desktop Adventures. So needless to say, this is the perfect time waster. It's also very inexpensive and will play on just about any PC nowadays.

This game isn't out to impress anyone with its technological side; its main focus is on fun. Graphics buffs, beware, this game does not look too particularly earth shattering. It's 2D and done in the tradition of the old Ultima games. The visuals aren't very detailed and the animation is quite bad. Indiana doesn't exactly walk -- he hops from place to place, kind of like a "hex" game. And guess what, the soundtrack and effects are pretty outdated. Even the control isn't that great. This is primarily due to the fact that there's no sense of animation or realistic feelings. But you know something? None of this really matters in the end.

You see, Indiana Jones and his Desktop Adventures doesn't take itself too seriously and that's where it succeeds. It's not trying to be anything spectacular. It gives up the big flashy graphics and sound of today in return for a very fun and simple gaming experience. You can play this at work, at home or just whenever you're bored or need to kill off a few minutes. Kudos to LucasArts for keeping the main thrust of every game in tact here: fun.

Review: Enjoyment

Indiana Jones and his Desktop Adventures is a very fun little game and it's the perfect time killer. The quests are pretty fun and the game never takes itself too seriously.

Review: Graphics

The visuals are very plain looking -- there's not much variety in textures and the animation is pretty weak

Review: Sound

Equally unimpressive is the soundtrack and sound effects. They're all very outdated and won't impress anyone.

Review: Replay Value

With the random quest generator, you'll more than likely never play the same game twice, which adds a wealth of replay value.

Review: Documentation

The manual isn't too impressive, though it gets the job done. It explains all you need to know.

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