Why First-Person Indiana Jones Is a Mistake

Thursday's reveal of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle showed one of the most anticipated Xbox and PC games that we now know is planned for 2024. The fan base has hotly debated if a first-person Indiana Jones game was coming, or if the adventure would be in third-person. We now have our answer: both? Except not really. 

Instead of giving the player agency to switch between first-person and third-person seamlessly like Rockstar Games allows in Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2, the third-person view of Indiana Jones is limited to when he's interacting with the environment or during cutscenes. All gameplay will be in first-person view, and this is a mistake.

In the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle gameplay trailer, developers honed in on the idea of feeling like Indiana Jones, putting yourself in the shoes of the famed explorer. As good as this game could be, I'm not sure it will be able to recover from what already feels like a significant blunder. 

Why (Mostly) Ignore the Silhouette Of One Of Film's Most Iconic Characters? 

Video games like Tomb Raider and Uncharted gave us a taste of what it felt like to play an Indiana Jones-inspired story in a third-person perspective. An argument could be made that a third-person Indiana Jones and the Great Circle would feel like an imitation of these games.

However, since both Tomb Raider and Uncharted were heavily influenced by Indy in the first place, this was an opportunity for MachineGames to set a benchmark for what these games can be on a next-gen platform.

While players will be locked into gameplay for the majority of the game, MachineGames is showcasing the classic character during actions where the players is interacting with the environment, like climbing a ladder or pipe, and also in cutscenes. 

This feels like a compromise that heavily favors the idea that Indiana Jones should be played as a first-person character. Don't take my criticism as a lack of excitement: The game looks like it could be an amazing adventure that spans the globe, allowing you to visit exotic locales. 

But it would be more enjoyable to do that while seeing one of my favorite characters interact with the scene, as opposed to a flat camera view of what's unfolding in front of me. Not to mention for those who suffer from claustrophobia or nausea from FPS games, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will be a non-starter. 

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Gameplay: Whip Play Needs To Be Precise 

I'm a little concerned and hesitant about how the actual whip play will feel in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. With a first-person Indiana Jones game, how precise and responsive will Indy's most famous weapon be? Will an auto-aiming mechanic allow it to instantly snap to the nearest enemy you're looking at, or will there be a reticule on screen to guide you?

How many things in the environment can we actually interact with by using the whip? Can you swing across any crevasse or pull weapons out of enemies' hands?

Can you aim for the legs and trip up a guard or cause damage with quick lashes? A third-person perspective would give a greater awareness of the world around Indy and provide the player with the satisfaction of seeing Indiana Jones flourish and snap his whip like Harrison Ford has done on screen for so many years.

A lot of things need to come together for Indiana Jones to be successful: the environments, enemy AI, gameplay, story, art direction, and of course, whip and gunplay. If the whip at any point feels glitchy or doesn't respond in the way a player desires, it'll break the immersive experience MachineGames is attempting to create by going first-person. 

How Will First-Person Indiana Jones Differentiate From Other FPS Games? 

First-person perspective games have become so numerous that it can be difficult to have a differentiating factor. Indiana Jones had a huge advantage of putting a famed character at the forefront of what the player does, but instead is sacrificing that so the player can "feel" like Indiana Jones. 

My concern is that the player will feel less like Indiana Jones and more like any generic avatar play-acting as they try to solve puzzles. 

I'm not saying a third-person adventure game is an inherently unique approach—look at any nearly any PlayStation exclusive released over the past decade—but it gives the developers more freedom to develop a voice and feel for how the character should perform. 

The moment you go first-person, the game becomes more about the player and less about the character. MachineGames claims this is exactly what they're going for, but then why make it an Indiana Jones game in the first place? 

Indiana Jones is one of my all-time favorite characters. I still hang onto some excitement to check out this game on my Xbox and see if it delivers on what MachineGames is looking to do, but I can't help but feel disappointed at what a first-person experience means for what I was hoping would become a new series for Xbox and PC.

Why go to the effort of getting Harrison Ford's likeness and only use him in cutscenes and select moments? It feels like a missed opportunity, and I just hope the rest of the game lives up to its promises and makes a first-person Indiana Jones game a risk worth taking.

Otherwise, the first-person Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will quickly go from a potential first-party Xbox icon to just another generic FPS that will soon get forgotten.