Indiana Jones and The Staff of Kings was officially announced today, although we’ve known about it for a
while now. The Wii title will allow you to swing the remote
like a whip, allowing you to not only take out Nazis on screen but any vases, lamps or small children in the immediate vicinity. A trailer is up on the official site that’s actually more entertaining than Crystal Skull… not that that’s saying much. Of course, it contains no in-game graphics- as you can see from these screenshots, it looks decidedly last-gen.
The game was originally announced way back in 2005 and although PS3 and Xbox 360 versions were mentioned, nothing’s come up on them in a while. The last non-Lego Indiana Jones game (Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb) was actually very entertaining, with some great brawling mechanics. It was fun just to grapple with enemies and smash them with whatever items you can find on hand. It felt very faithful to the source material and ripped off the best bits of Tomb Raider (hey, it’s only fair!), so let’s hope this new game’s no exception.
Besides the usual run n’ gun n’ whip gameplay, you’ll also be able to control vehicles like a biplane and ride out-of-control things like a raft down a river or even an elephant through the streets of Istanbul. There is also a new quest “with a familiar character never playable before in an Indy game” that allows for 2 player co-op, and a four player versus mode where you can compete in deathmatches in biplanes or tanks.
The game also has the distinction of having one of the greatest unlockables ever- the complete version of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. For those who never played the classic Lucasarts game, it’s simply one of the best adventure games of all time, and will work fantastically with the Wii remote. At least I’m assuming it’s going to be compatible.
In fact, that should be the next thing they work on- imagine how great a Lucasarts adventure game compilation (updated to take advantage of Wii controls) would be? A man can dream, right?
Anyway, expect the game to hit in Spring. Nintendo DS and PSP versions will hit as well, but what everyone really wants to know is what happened to the 360 and PS3 versions that we saw years ago?