Indiana Jones' "strongest action scenes" favor style over violence

Indiana Jones' "strongest action scenes" favor style over violence

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle may have the "strongest action scenes," but don't expect the violence of developer Machine Games' Wolfenstein series.

Opinion by Tom West

Published 28 Nov 2024

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Indiana Jones and the Great Circle won't be as violent as Wolfenstein, but as Machine Games' latest comments indicate, it does have the strongest style from the developer yet! With a little over a week until we can collect the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle achievements, our excitement is building for the upcoming Game Pass game especially now that the developer has stated it has the "strongest action scenes" to date.

Tom says —

Don't worry, Indiana Jones' action is very different to Wolfenstein's ultrviolence

• Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is an upcoming "adventure-action" game from Bethesda Game Studios' MachineGames
• Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will release day-and-date on Game Pass Ultimate on Friday, December 6, 2024
• MachineGames previous titles: Wolfenstein: The New Order, Wolfenstein: The New Colossus, and Wolfenstein: Youngblood.

During an interview with Xbox Wire discussing Indiana Jones and the Great Circle's development process, creative director Axel Torvinius said something that caught my eye: "I dare to say we have some of the strongest action scenes from a MachineGames perspective yet."

Given that this comes from the developer that made ultraviolent Wolfenstein games about blowing Nazis into pieces, I think that Indiana Jones presents a fascinating change of emphasis for the developer — particularly in terms of violence.

When thinking of MachineGames and the word "action," my mind immediately falls on B.J. Blazkowicz blasting through an army of Nazis while wielding two assault rifles in a blaze of rampant aggression, or blowing chunks out of a mechanical Nazi dog with a grenade launcher.

Although satisfying in many ways, Wolfenstein's style is defined by its substance. It uses over-the-top blood-and-guts action combined with heavy-feeling gameplay mechanics to fill us with joy as we gleefully wreck the plans of some of the worst people in history.

So, with MachineGames saying Indiana Jones and The Great Circle has the "strongest action" over Wolfenstein, it's worth noting that upsetting Nazis is the only similarity shared between the two games. Unlike Wolfienstien, violent action — like combat — is a secondary gameplay feature for Indy as it focuses on the excitement of exploring the world's mysteries.

During our Indiana Jones and the Great Circle hands-on preview, I had plenty of time to toy around with the more traditional form of action, too — combat. When you're thrown into a combat scenario, MachineGames targeted "the look and feel of the stunts and action sequences in the early Indiana Jones movies."

As such, the action feels as humorously punchy as the films it's imitating, complete with slapstick animations for knockouts that will see some enemies spin around in a daze before crumbling into a heap on the floor. While you can pick up and wield firearms, melee combat will fill the chunk of your action experience by dodging and countering enemy punches.

With flurries of hits that thump as they connect with a Nazi noggin, depending on where you are, your opponent might bounce off a wall, crash through a chair, or fall over a table. Using the whip allows you to disarm your opponent or drag them into an environmental object with a satisfying crack as it tears through the air toward its target. Using every tool in your arsenal is the key to survival — it's also key to capturing the style of the Indy we all know and love.

It marks a huge change of pace and tone from unleashing a hail of violence in bullets and blood like in Wolfenstein. The strength of Indiana Jones's combination of humor, slapstick melee, and variety of tools is in finding joy in playing a game all about the movie-style of violence.

Multiple times during my preview, it was clear that this is more of an Indiana Jones simulator than a video game and I can't wait to sink hours of my time into perfecting Indy's fighting technique. So, when we think about this as MachineGames' "strongest action," it's not about the violence — but Indiana Jones and Wolfenstein's unique, incomparable, styles.

Take a look at everything we know about Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Are you excited for Indy's upcoming adventure? Let us know in the comments, budding archaeologists!
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Written by Tom West
Tom has been playing video games since he was old enough to hold a controller, experimenting with a number of systems until he eventually fell in love with Xbox. With a passion for the platform, he decided to make a career out of it, and now happily spends his days writing about that which he loves. If he’s not hunting for Xbox achievements, you’ll likely find him somewhere in The Elder Scrolls Online or fighting for survival in Battlefield.