Classic time: "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" playthrough

Proudly displaying my Indy-gear...

I've replayed Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and finished it in just under 2 hours! That's probably fast, but I've owned this game for thirty years or so, and I've played it countless times, so I know most of the (inventory) puzzle solutions by heart.

I've been a long time Indiana Jones fan. I watched Raiders of the Lost Ark on the BBC, so without Dutch subtitles, and together with the Lucasfilm/Arts Games adventures, that was a great help to learn the English language. I got really hooked by playing The Fate of Atlantis; I bought that game before I got my hands on a secondhand copy of Last Crusade, actually, and it was great fun being able to play as Indy.

I wish you could see the old librarian's face here as well...

The adventure game follows the movie, omits several scenes but also expands on others. It's too bad there's no young Indy section, and all the major action sequences are cut out too, like the motorboat chase and the tank in the desert. We do get to explore the Venetian catacombs and Castle Brunwald more thoroughly. Venice has several cool puzzles for which you need to check the in-game diary, but most of my playing time went into exploring the castle. I was caught several times, lost several fights, because I couldn't remember how to fool all guards.

Let's check out their tapestries, Lord McDonald...

I really like how there are different ways to play it. You can fight, talk or bribe your way past enemies, you can take the zeppelin or fly a biplane out of Berlin, but what's most important is that you need to find two descriptions of the Grail, one found in the catacombs and the other in the castle, together with the physical copy of the diary that came with the game, in order to properly finish it, and it's quite easy to miss those and get stuck in the end.

Dad? What? Dad?! What?! Dad! What!

But that's not all: it's also impossible to find the castle clue if you forgot to pick up an important item at the start of the game! Now, of course, every adventure player worth their salt knows that if it's not nailed down, then take it with you. But still, these kind of dead-ends, and the game-over screens after losing a fistfight as well, are not what Lucasfilm/Arts Games are known for. That's because danger is very important in an Indiana Jones story. You need to have that feeling that you can fail, that you can make mistakes, and that it will cost you dearly. Of course, that makes it a tricky balance to still wind up with a fun game, something you still enjoy playing instead of getting frustrated by it.

It was so simple in the movie. Just throw a guy out the window and go!

The Last Crusade is definitely a game where you will want to save often. During this playthrough, I chose to enter the zeppelin instead of using a manual found in the Venice library to start up a lonely biplane. The biplane would've actually been quicker; I had to reload the zeppelin maze several times, since I was constantly getting knocked out. I used to have the perfect route memorized to avoid all soldiers and get to the exit as fast as possible without a single encounter, but I could no longer do it. The three mazes (catacombs, castle, zeppelin) really prolong the game.

Where's a flock of seagulls when you need them...

Then there's the plane chase. Trying to leave Germany, fighter planes will try to take you down. If you crash, you'll find a car to continue your journey but then you'll have to get past a series of checkpoints. The number of checkpoints that remain depends on how many planes you managed to shoot down. However, you as Indy only control the biplane itself; it's your dad who's holding the gun, and his crosshairs seem to swerve all over the place instead of over the targets. I don't think I've ever been able to take down more than three enemy aircraft.

Hesitate as long as Indy did in the movie and you wont make it...

Sadly, there's no Sallah in this game. And then come the three trials. To be honest, I was kinda expecting more of the trials themselves. The second one is easy, the first one takes a clue from the physical diary and some pixel hunting, and the last one, well, that's just a leap of faith.

What, no sword fight?

This is an older SCUMM game, which I ran through ScummVM (hence the weird looking screenshots). A downside is that these games require a double click to activate the order you give. You're actually compiling a sentence: you pick a hotspot, you pick a verb, then you have to confirm your choices before Indy will do what you want. Also, hovering your mouse over the screen won't reveal anything. Hotspots can only be located by activating the "what is" verb. I'm glad future adventure games simplified that user interface.

I wish I could go back and play a game like this for the first time again. I don't recall how long my original playthrough took. But especially Castle Brunwald is very tricky. I've played the Indy action games as well (Infernal Machine, Emperor's Tomb, Staff of Kings) and I'll probably play The Great Circle too once it comes out, but I really wish they would make a new point 'n click as well.