Review - Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings (Wii)

Movie-based games generally suck. They really do. This is why there’s a good reason to be optimistic that Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings for the Wii wouldn’t turn out so bad. After all, it’s been over a year since Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was released, so A2M and LucasArts had enough time to polish the next Indy game until it shined. Does Staff of Kings break the mold of bad Indiana Jones games? We get cracking to find out.

The pseudo-religious premise behind the game is quite interesting: Indiana Jones is on the hunt for the staff of Moses—the same one that he used to part the Red Sea in the Old Testament. You’ll go through a number of interesting locations like Panama, Nepal, San Francisco, and a zeppelin named Odin. The level design is actually pretty good, presenting a decent amount of challenge and a lot of options for environmental combat. As Indy, you’ll shove bad guys into tables and aquariums or swing through chasms with your trusty whip. Throw in a bit of vigorous Wiimote pumping, death traps, and puzzles, and you’ve got an Indiana Jones game that actually feels a lot like movies the character is known for.

Everything isn’t perfect, however. For one, the AI is a mixed bag. Enemies can do smart things like flank and gang up on Indy, but they can be dull-witted and get stuck behind corners. Thankfully, your foes don’t wait in line to be beaten up—they’ll smack you even when you’re busy clobbering someone else. The puzzles are generally easy, save for a couple of rather obtuse problems. The game provides enough clues to solve these puzzles, but one particular hint wasn’t helpful in shedding light on a problem, so a bit of luck was needed to get through it.

It gets worse. The Staff of Kings controls are pretty bad, and could get incredibly frustrating at times. The button layout is intuitive enough, but it’s the waggle response that provides a lot of headaches. Throwing punches is similar to Wii Boxing—the nunchuk is for the left fist, the Wiimote for the right fist. Indy can throw a few different punches, while pressing B and swinging would bring out the whip. Unfortunately, these controls choose to act up at the most ill-timed situations, like the middle of a fight. The result: a lot of unnecessary deaths at the hands of ordinary thugs. It would’ve helped if A2M included an option to block, or perhaps an option to play without the waggle. The game has this overreliance on waggle controls, so it can be quite wearisome.

Staff of Kings is short, lasting up to six hours. Normally, this is frowned upon but in the game’s case, it might be a boon because players wouldn’t have to put up with it much longer. Fortunately, there are other goodies crammed inside the package, such as a coop mode that lets players control Indy and Henry Jones Sr., and an emulated version of the classic Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. Interestingly, the highlight of the whole disk is Fate of Atlantis, not Staff of Kings. If you’ve lost your copy of the timeless DOS adventure, then this game is a must buy.

The visuals are surprisingly good here, thanks to a few nifty effects like bloom and transparency. Indy’s mug looks a bit odd at times, but the facial animation is capable of conveying emotions that change appropriately, depending on the situation. The art design and color palette is east on the eyes. The other models don’t look as good though, especially their stiff animations. Audio is pretty good, especially the Harrison Ford sound-alike. Sound effects aren’t particularly exceptional, but the familiar John Williams themes are simply incredible.

There was a lot of things going for Staff of Kings—the combat that plays a lot like an Indiana Jones movie; the visuals are pretty good for a Wii game; and the search for Moses’ staff are sure to fire up any fan. Alas, a few stumbles make Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings a bit more difficult to recommend. Perhaps its greatest saving grace is the unlockable Fate of Atlantis, but even then, players would still have to put up with Staff of Kings‘ ghastly waggle controls. If you must get Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, beware of the risk that comes with it.

6/10

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