Indiana Jones and the Great Circle marks the triumphant return of the Machine Games. This is the studio’s biggest game to date and the first to deviate from the Wolfenstein series on which its reputation rests. It also gives us our first look at the latest technology co-developed by id Software and Machine Games – and although it has its own label, this new technology attempts to correct the many mistakes we see from many AAA releases expect from Unreal Engine 5, including support for ray tracing Global Illumination (RTGI) targeting 60fps at high resolutions. Today we’ll go over some of the great visual features on offer from both a technical and artistic perspective, getting into the basics of performance, image quality and the gameplay itself. Let’s plunge into the adventure.

With its release in the summer of 1981, Indiana Jones grew as a franchise alongside video games as a medium. Because Harrison Ford so successfully brought this dashing character to life, Indy’s success spawned countless spin-offs and related products, including video games – the first of which appeared on the Atari 2600 just a year after the film’s release. Raiders of the Lost Ark, as Rough As confusing as it may be, it would be one of many video games that would attempt to recreate iconic moments from the very first film.

This brings us into the modern age. “The Great Circle” is an original story, but it begins in a familiar way. The introduction to Raiders has been carefully recreated for this new game, and it feels like a statement of intent – as if the designers at Machine Games studied this sequence frame by frame to fully understand how Steven Spielberg told the story. Through reproduction, the team figured out the best way to tell a story in this world. It also allows us to compare the game directly to the film, which in turn reveals some of the game’s visual assets.

Firstly, unlike previous Machine Games titles, all cutscenes in this game are rendered in real time, which is a positive step. This also shows that the character models are mostly excellent, better than I expected before release. There’s a surprising amount of detail to be seen, and while there’s something eerie about these scenes, I feel like the team captured the looks of the actors for the most part. Alfred Molina’s portrayal of Satipo in this sequence feels surprisingly authentic, with his exaggerated facial expressions and lingering confusion as Indy goes about his business. The animations, expressions and recreation of iconic camera angles are beautifully executed in the game’s introduction.

But before we continue, I want to point out one issue: you will notice stutters and occasional drops to 30 fps. There are large frametime anomalies, but that’s only half the solution – certain animations also briefly drop to 30fps, even though the surrounding scene is updating at 60fps. The problem with this is that it detracts a bit from the otherwise great cutscenes, and I hope they can fix that.

Speaking of camera work, The Great Circle offers users two aspect ratio options: a full 16:9 option, the default, and an ultra-wide cinema option. Using the Cinema option gives you a wider aspect ratio that better suits the film – the 16:9 option crops the left and right sides of each shot.

I also wanted to highlight the quality of the voice – Troy Baker takes on the role of Indiana Jones and when I heard them side by side I was quite struck by how much they resembled the young Harrison Ford. Of course it’s not just Indy. The entire cast is brilliant and like previous Machine Games titles, original languages ​​are often included. Sections set in a European city are in the local language, while the villain speaks German and English with an accent – and his performance is truly impressive.

As the game cuts to an interior shot in a temple, the game’s recreation of the film remains impressive, from the facial expressions between Indy and Satipo to the hair depiction of Indy’s unfortunate competitor. It’s clear that Machine Games put a lot of emphasis on rendering hair strands cleanly and realistically, bringing their characters to life. This doesn’t seem to be a highlight hair system, it’s still traditional hair cards but the results are still excellent.

The game’s RTGI is also impressive, as the indirect illumination of light sources such as the sun is calculated using ray tracing. Interiors with a view of the outdoors best showcase the technology’s strengths, with natural light fall-off, contact shadows and shady crevices. It’s a significant step forward compared to previous games based on id Tech, and I think it’s crucial for a game like this that takes place in so many natural locations. You want the natural lighting to really bring each scene to life.

Despite the cost of RTGI, The Great Circle still aims for 60fps – an impressive feat, especially given the high average resolution. On the Xbox Series it’s a big step up from the range of UE5 titles we’ve seen running at sub-1080p resolution with RT enabled at 60fps.

Xbox Series S is an even more demanding platform and one that has seen us sacrifice RT features on many releases. However, RTGI is required here, so Machine Games had to take a different approach to ensure a good visual result. Internal resolutions are still relatively high at around 1080p, but the game relies on variable rate shading (VRS), like Doom Eternal did on the Xbox. This technique attempts to reduce quality in areas that are not of visual interest, which improves performance but can sometimes manifest itself in the form of video encoding artifacts. At the series.

The game’s asset quality has also been reduced, with lower resolution textures resulting in an install size of 87GB compared to 130GB on the Series. Although it’s clear that the graphics take a hit on the Series S, I’d say they have done a better job than usual and created a version of the game that still plays well and looks reasonably good.

Aside from the rather linear opening, the majority of the game takes place on huge, open-ended maps. This is by no means an open world game, but the levels are still larger than what we’ve seen from Machine Games in the past – more like a large Hitman map with realistically spaced points of interest.

Thankfully, the frame rate during actual gameplay is both on the Series. Load times are also surprisingly fast – there’s virtually no visible loading at all in the game, making it feel completely seamless. The only minor performance issue is the aforementioned cutscene issues, meaning the game otherwise runs perfectly on the console.

Additionally, I think this is one of the best licensed games I’ve ever played. It’s rare for a developer to have such a perfect understanding of the source material on which they’re making a game, but it feels like the people behind Indy really love and respect the property. To be honest, the storytelling is much better than in the last two films, and it’s also a lot more down to earth. There are supernatural elements, but it stays largely in the realm of Raiders.

The game’s basic structure allows this to work – essentially you spend time in various locations around the world, engaging in a mix of puzzle-solving, dialogue, exploration, stealth and combat. The way the game smoothly transitions between linear scripted sequences and open-ended gameplay really gives it room to breathe. There are even fun side missions – for example one where you steal a black shirt to gain access to an underground boxing arena. It’s a game that shares a lot of DNA with the first Riddick title, Escape from Butcher Bay, which some Machine Games staff had previously worked on.

Things like the stealth system are also very interesting once you get into it. Basically, Indy can’t discreetly take out his enemies using just his hands – that triggers a fist fight. Instead, players must use objects scattered around the environment to achieve a quick and stealthy knockout. Enemies react realistically to Indy’s attacks and the stealth AI works as expected – although it is a bit “wild” as enemies are happy to go about their business even as their ranks thin out dramatically. Still, it’s all about rewarding experimentation, allowing players to fiddle around while taking out enemies at the same time. Weapons are also rarely used, especially in the beginning, but they are always an option if you can handle the consequences. For example, fire a few shots at an enemy base and you will alert everyone.

The big takeaway for me is that after spending so much time with the game, I really realized how much I wanted a game like this to exist in the first place. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis is one of the first video games I ever bought with my own money, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I like other Indy games too, but The Great Circle honestly surpasses any of them – it really captures the spirit of Indiana Jones in game form and is well worth the time.