Indiana Jones goes next-gen

By Ellie Gibson Published 15 May, 2006

New details of movie tie-in.

LucasArts has revealed more info about Indiana Jones 2007 (working title), which is currently in development for PS3 and Xbox 360.

The storyline has been written "with direction by" George Lucas, and begins in 1939 - one year after the events of The Last Crusade, and around the same time as the nazis started kicking off.

Playing as Indy, you'll have to use your fists, whip, gun and possibly even hat to see off all manner of enemies and piece together "a mystery of biblical proportions". Indiana Vinci Code, maybe? There are also "spring-loaded environments" which you can utilise to do over your enemies, and we're promised some thrilling chase sequences. You'll be helped along the way by Mr Jones's allies, but you'll also have to face off with one of his worst enemies.

The game features "revolutionary new euphoria technology" which means characters will "move, act and even think like human beings without canned animations dictating their movements." If characters stumble, they'll attempt to maintain their balance, for example; they'll brace themselves for falls, and grab on to nearby ledges to save themselves from doom. The result, according to LucasArts, is "a series of experiences and payoffs that will never be the same twice."

We got to see the game on show at E3, and we can confirm that this technology appears to be working rather well - we saw Indy trying to cross a wobbly rope bridge, trying to compensate for the wobbliness and grabbing the edge when at risk of falling. There was also a lovely looking level set in San Francisco, where you're decking enemies whilst atop a moving tram - knock 'em off and they go smack bang into oncoming traffic, satisfyingly.

Indiana Jones 2007 is out in, well, 2007. There will also be new Indy games for PS2, PSP and DS, but since they're being developed externally nothing has officially been announced yet.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (17) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Sko #1 6 years ago

    No mention of their other gimmick? DMM, wasn't it?

  • Elfish #2 6 years ago

    It's not actually a movie tie-in though... because the game is 1939 and Lucas has said the new movie will take place in the 1950s.

  • neilka #3 6 years ago

    The stench of Jurassic Park: Trespasser lingers around some of the claims in this article.

  • #4 6 years ago

    If they can really do that charachter animation s**t I'd be deadly impressed, but I bet they can't! There'd be some seriously good coding behind that.
    they'll attempt to maintain their balance, for example; they'll brace themselves for falls
    Sounds a bit like canned animation to me, when the limbs react in a purely logical physical manner (i.e. taking into account accelerations, moments, torque, radius of gryration, second moments of intertia etc) to prevent falls/trips etc then I'd be impressed, but i'm not even sure those robotic boffins have got all that down. Sounds like bulls**t to me.

    I played the last indie game though, and enjoyed it (a lot more than Lara Croft stuff anyway), so maybe this'll be good anyway.

    P.S. Indie 4 the film is goona SUCK. Apparently Callista Flockhart is gonna be in it! ouch.

  • krudster #5 6 years ago

    Cast aside ye cynicism - the physics-led 'animation' is very good indeed, giving the impression of what ragdolling should look like. One of the demos was of a guy controlling the rope bridge, chucking rocks at Indy, wobbling the bridge and seeing the impact on him. It's good tech.

  • Blerk #6 6 years ago

    I watched Raiders of the Lost Ark for the very first time last Saturday!

    /is last

  • frod. #7 6 years ago

    There's a few videos of this animation thing knocking around somewhere, and it does look rather good.

  • neilka #8 6 years ago

    "P.S. Indie 4 the film is goona SUCK. Apparently Callista Flockhart is gonna be in it! ouch."

    I think I saw her in the last one, just after the Nazi chap drank from the wrong grail.

  • #9 6 years ago

    Must. Seek. Out. and gain back confidence in these kinds of statements.

    I just never thought anything associated with Lucas these days could possibly be good....

    EDIT : neilka - lol!
    Edited by 1 at 15/05/06 @ 16:19

  • asphaltcowboy #10 6 years ago

    The screenies on GS look pretty nice!

  • Feanor #11 6 years ago

    "I think I saw her in the last one, just after the Nazi chap drank from the wrong grail."

    LOL!

  • Empedocles #12 6 years ago

    The Physics/animation is through Natural Motion I believe, so their claims are pretty likely to be true.

  • MrWonderstuff #13 6 years ago

    Any word if there's a PC version?

  • NmHd #14 6 years ago

    "robotic boffins"

    I promise that NaturalMotion isn't staffed (entirely) by robots.

  • Carlo #15 6 years ago

    Hopefully It'll be as good as the previous one (Emporers tomb).

    /Loved that game. Can't wait!

  • L0cky #16 6 years ago

    Uh, Wii version? Whips? No brainer?

  • dbeamish #17 6 years ago

    I liked the euphoria thing from some of the E3 videos. Where the glass in the car only breaks if hit in a certain way etc. that was interesting - but graphically I didn't think it was up to much.