Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings Review for Nintendo Wii

Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings box art

System: Wii, PS2, PSP, DS	Review Rating Legend
Dev: A2M	1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid	4.0 - 4.4 = Great
Pub: Lucas Arts	2.0 - 2.4 = Poor	4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
Release: Jun. 9, 2009	2.5 - 2.9 = Average	5.0 = The Best
Players: 1-4	3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
ESRB Rating: Teen	3.5 - 3.9 = Good

There are also supposed to be some areas during combat that can be used to quickly dispatch foes but finding them is like the classic needle in a haystack search. To uncover one of these areas, you’ll need to run around while being unmercifully beaten by enemies, closely monitoring the bottom of the screen for an interaction icon to appear. If you can manage to find the perfect angle and spot required for this to occur, you can then use your whip to, say, pull out a support beam which allows a roof to drop on anyone standing underneath. This idea sounds great in theory, but the execution is dreadful, resulting in plenty of deaths if you attempt to use it.

Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings screenshot

These frequent deaths are only made more aggravating due to a lax checkpoint system and a plethora of unskipable cinemas. There are many portions of this game where you’ll go through several segments and wind up botching something in a later part to find out you have to do all of it over again. This gets incredibly frustrating, especially when the game randomly springs quick-time events upon you with absolutely no warning after a lengthy segment and you’re forced to slog back through the entire ordeal. Things only get worse when you are also forced to watch the same cinematics every time as well, since you can’t skip through any of them.

However, since misery loves company, you could always try to sucker one to three other players into participating in one of the game’s abysmal multiplayer offerings. The co-op mode draws you in with some fan service, allowing you and a friend to play as Indiana and Henry Jones Sr. Sadly, this mode isn’t very much fun, since it generally boils down to a waggle-fest while trying to steer an out of control boat floating down a raging river or some simplistic ‘stand on two switches to get to two more switches’ type puzzles. There are also some four-player multiplayer modes, but they consist of some of the worst parts of the single-player experience such as controlling a biplane by holding the Wii-mote straight up and tilting it like it was a flight stick.

The simple fact is that Staff of Kings could have been a fun, if not a tad linear, action/adventure game if it weren’t for the atrocious motion controls the Wii version shoehorned into the game. At almost every turn, the unresponsive and poorly implemented waggling destroys any enjoyment that could be derived from this adventure. It’s pretty depressing when the best part of this new Indy game is the unlockable full version of the old PC adventure classic, Fate of Atlantis, but sadly, that happens to be the case here. I would say, if you love Indy and still want to check out this title, then you should probably go for the PS2 version because the good parts of the Wii version should remain largely unchanged, but you won’t have to settle for this version’s broken control scheme.

By Adam Brown
CCC Staff Contributor

RATING OUT OF 5

RATING DESCRIPTION

3.4

Graphics
Although the game has some nice lighting effects and decent character models, the stiff animations and reused enemies reek of a straight PS2 port job.

1.2

Control
While everyone probably does want to be able to accurately wield Indy’s whip with the Wii-mote, it just isn’t happening in this game. Instead, expect to waggle and flail wildly while the game largely ignores whatever you’re trying to do.

4.4

Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
This part of Dr. Jones’ experience is still great, since it includes instantly recognizable music from the films as well as a surprisingly competent and similar sounding stand-in voice actor as Indy.

2.0

Play Value
Thanks to the unlockable Fate of Atlantis, there is at least one game that is still fun to play on the disc. Sadly, the forced reliance on horrid and broken motion controls manages to keep the otherwise somewhat respectable Staff of Kings from being enjoyable in almost any way.

2.0

Overall Rating - Poor
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

Wield your Wii Remote like Indy’s signature whip for a variety of uses – from combat to navigation to puzzle-solving.

Use your highly interactive Hot Set environments and your wits to defeat your enemies.

Explore exotic locations around the globe in an all-new story that puts you on an epic quest for the Staff of Moses.

Experience thrilling chases and control vehicles – fly a biplane in a canyon trench, take the reins of a wild elephant through the streets of Istanbul and navigate a raft down a raging river.

For those old-school gamers there is nothing better than unlocking the classic Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis game!