Note: This review is based on the 256-color
version.

Being somewhat new to adventure games (I’ve only been playing
for two years), I figured the old grognards on the newsgroups knew what they were
talking about when they claimed that the Indiana Jones games were some
of best that LucasArts offered. So, I ordered my copy of LucasArts Classic Games
Pack and breathlessly loaded Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade, patiently
waiting for adventure gaming bliss to wash over me. Instead, I found myself stuck
in arcade sequence hell, nearly busting my keyboard while attempting to fight
off Nazis with inept arcade controls.

At least the game looks good while
you are pounding your keyboard into submission. The graphics are of a higher quality
than those of later LucasArts titles such as the Monkey Island series.
The animation is also on par with, and often exceeding, the usual LucasArts quality.
Backgrounds as well are of high caliber, some being rather nicely detailed (especially
the airport and caverns).

One would reasonably believe that LucasArts would
have, at the very least, made the arcade sequences attractive considering the
unreasonable amount of times they are seen. Actually, they are downright laughable,
with about one frame of animation for every type of punch and block. I would have
given the graphics a higher score, but because I kept seeing the same hokey action
sequences over and over again, I give the graphics a C+.

Unfortunately
(like most games that use the internal speaker), music is incredibly sparse, save
for important parts or plot junctures. You would assume that, since this is an
Indiana Jones game, the classic Raiders of the Lost Ark theme music
would be used full force in those few parts where they do use musical accompaniment.
It is, however, conspicuously absent. In place of the film’s music is some horrible
“cultural” music (it’s supposed to sound like music native to the particular
region but sounds like it was made by someone who has not even been within a 1,000
miles of the specific area). It’s unfortunate that the classic Indy themes aren’t
utilized, and because of this, I give the music a D.

The sound effects,
however, are a godsend. Every sound effect sounds like it should (unlike later
LucasArts games such as Monkey Island 2). Not only that, but there are
dozens of them, and they are all unique. Add to the fact that you never have to
hear the same annoying sound being played ad nauseam in an area and you’ve got
some sounds worthy of an A+.

Though the plot is directly from the
movie, it is still pretty interesting, as the game takes a much more humorous
stab at the Indiana Jones formula. A whole laundry list of in-jokes have
been added to scenes that were cut from the movie, as well as Indiana Jones’s
personality changing to that of a chipper Englishman (one sees this in such lines
as “I’ll be back in a jiffy” and “Don’t be a twit”). On top
of that, this is the first LucasArts game to feature the infamous “I’m selling
these fine leather jackets” line. The plot deserves an A for adding
the above onto a already damned cool movie plot.

It is with a glum face
I come to the actual gameplay. You would think no one, let alone LucasArts, could
do wrong with all these fabulous ingredients. But alas, it is so! What were they
thinking when they intermingled combat and mazes? Mazes are annoying as it is
without having to settle a fight every single turn and they are, hard as this
is to believe, even more annoying than usual in this game.

Mind you, there
are ways to get around these fights, though with exploration for clues leading
to fights, whatever enjoyment solving the puzzle lends is eliminated by the time
you figure it out. The sad part is that those puzzles are the only really decent
ones in the game. The others have solutions that are so blatantly obvious you’ll
spend little, if any, time solving them. All is not lost, however, with the addition
of the biplane flying scenario, which delivers the goods in the arcade sequences
but is too brief to leave any lasting impression. The gameplay deserves the
D I give, for incorporating every adventure game bane under the sun.

If
I could discard the horrible gameplay and music, this game would deserve an A.
But since gameplay is what makes a game, I’m going to have to knock
it back a few to that of a D. I normally would tell you to stay
away from this game as much as possible, but since it comes with many other (and
much better) games, I wholeheartedly recommend buying the Classic Adventure Games
Pack, though certainly not for this.