“Indiana? Sounds like the name of one of your
states … or possibly a cat.”
–Dr. Charles Sterhhart, commenting on
Indy’s name

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis has all of
the characteristics of a classic adventure game–great plot, great puzzles, great
voice-overs, easy-to-use control system, and, oh yeah, lots of Nazis to beat up.
From Barnett College to Iceland, from Monte Carlo to Crete, from Algiers to the
mythical city of Atlantis, Indiana Jones (controlled by you, of course) will pursue
the nefarious Nazis in order to stop them from uncovering the awesome power of
Atlantis and conquering the world. All blended together, this makes for an adventure
game as epic as any of the Indiana Jones movies …

The Fate of
Atlantis, simply said, has a story to rival any book, movie, game, or any
other form of entertainment you can think of. The game starts off with Indiana
Jones searching through Barnett College to find a statue that one Mr. Smith wants.
After Indy shows the statue to Mr. Smith, Mr. Smith pulls a gun on Indy, and Marcus
and takes the statue. After a brief scuffle with Indy, Mr. Smith escapes but loses
his jacket. From his passport, Indy and Marcus discover that this Mr. Smith is
actually Klaus Kerner, an agent of the Third Reich. Now, as we all know, Nazis
are bad people (despite what Pat Buchanan tells you) and anything that they want,
Indy figures he has to find first. Another object in Kerner’s coat was a magazine
article featuring Indy and one woman, Sophia Hapgood, on a dig in Iceland 10 years
ago. Figuring that Sophia may be in trouble, he travels to New York, where she
is giving a talk. Sophia, now a psychic, tells Indy that Kerner is trying to discover
the secret of orichalcum, a mineral that was used in Atlantis. So Indy and Sophia
head off to stop the Nazis from finding Atlantis and doing generally bad things
with the uber-mineral orichalcum … Who needs the Indiana Jones movies
when you can play this? The plot is superb, so I give it an A+.

The
game uses SCUMM to control navigation, and LucasArts’ tried-and-true engine functions
efficiently. Commands include give, pick up, use, open, talk to, push, close,
look at, and pull. Conversations always have multiple paths, with several choices
to choose from. Possibly the best part of the gameplay in The Fate of Atlantis
is the fact that there are three ways to beat the game–team mode with Sophia,
fighting mode, and using your brain mode. A mode is chosen near the beginning
of the game, and each one is totally different. In essence, you get three games
for the price of one. For these reasons, I give the gameplay an A+.

Like
the rest of The Fate of Atlantis, the puzzles are excellently crafted and
highly entertaining. Though there are a few arcade sequences, they are all relatively
easy and enjoyable with the exception of one. That one would be the dreaded submarine
puzzle. Indy has to maneuver a Nazi U-boat into an Atlantean airlock. The controls
are confusing, and it took me a good half-hour to complete this puzzle. The
Fate of Atlantis is one of the few games where I felt truly satisfied when
I finished a puzzle. There are no Myst-like brain-benders here. All of
the puzzles involve complex logic and thinking skills. Though the puzzles are
some of the best I have ever seen in an adventure game, the one annoying submarine
puzzle requires me to mark down some. Therefore, I give the puzzles an A.

Indiana
Jones and the Fate of Atlantis was released in 1992, but the graphics still
look quite good. Despite their age, some locales look practically breath-taking,
especially the Azores and Atlantis. Colorful VGA graphics and excellently rendered
animations populate the world of Indiana Jones, so because of their age, I
give the graphics an A+.

Strange for a ten-year-old game, but the sound
in The Fate of Atlantis is some of the best I’ve heard in any computer
game, ever. The music, including John Williams’ epic theme, fits the mood almost
perfectly, with bazaar music playing in Algiers, soft Greek music in Knossos,
and intellectual smarty-pants style music in Barnett College. I played the CD-ROM
remake of The Fate of Atlantis, and it features great voice-overs. Though
Indy’s voice is not played by Harrison Ford, it manages to sound incredibly like
him. Since the sound is quite high quality, I give the sound an A+.

If
you haven’t played Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, you are missing
out on a piece of adventure gaming history. With multiple paths to complete the
game, a plot better than any of the movies, and some of the best puzzles in the
whole genre, The Fate of Atlantis stands out as an example of how an adventure
game should be made.

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis final
grade: A+

System Requirements:

PC:

386
VGA card
Supported sound card
640 K RAM
50 K free hard disk
space
1x CD-ROM drive

Macintosh:
Mac
O/S version 7.1 or higher
LCIII or higher or PowerPC required
8 MB RAM required
(with 2 MB free RAM available or 4 MB free RAM available on PowerPC machines)
Double
speed (2x) CD-ROM drive
256 color 13″ or larger display required
Mouse
and keyboard
Less than 1 MB required for saved games