Greg's Review on Fate of Atlantis

By Greg Kulevich

Many Indy fans regard Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis as the greatest Indiana Jones game of all time. This is because Fate of Atlantis is an action/adventure game with the emphasis on adventure. Some people prefer the “point and click” style of the Monkey Island series and some of the vintage LucasArts games to the “third person action” style of Infernal Machine, Greatest Adventures and others, because it allows more room for greater dialogue possibilities and greater interaction with the people, places and things that can be found on the screen.

Combine the “point and click” adventuring style with a great Indiana Jones story and you have yourself a great game! I believe that some of the puzzles and other elements found in this game are ingenious. For example, using the clues in “Plato’s Lost Dialogue” to discover Atlantis, as well as the search for the three key stones (Sun, Moon, and World), and many others. Since this game is centered more on adventure than action expect to solve many puzzles until you are through.

This game is for the action lover too. There are numerous fights in the game (all of which can be avoided, but for the fighter in the crowd, I would say, well, fight!). If you choose your path right you will in store for an exciting car chase, a hot air balloon ride, or a race across the desert with camels.

Something that is nice about Fate of Atlantis is its replay ability. Essentially there are three different paths you can take to get to Atlantis: the Wits Path, the Fists Path, and the Team Path. Depending on the decisions that you make and the way you choose to solve the puzzles of the game you will be headed down one of these paths. The Wits Path will be filled with challenging puzzles. The Fists Path will have Indy up to his neck in hostile confrontations. And the Team Path will have you join forces with an old friend Sophia Hapgood. The two of you will work together and find Atlantis as a team. All three paths are different and all have a different story. I suggest trying all of them!

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis is classic.

Graphics: 4 out of 5

Point and click games do not need great graphic to back up the game, but this game does have some great graphics. During Fate of Atlantis you will travel to many locations, which are all beautifully done. I like the city of Knossos, Crete.

Sound: 5 out of 5

The score for Fate of Atlantis is a work of art. Clint Bajakian created a wonderful and original score for this game. There are many fan websites out there with have the MP3s from Fate of Atlantis available for download. Many Indy fans even made there own soundtrack using these MP3 files! The score is great and fits well with the game.

Controls: 5 out of 5

I have to give Fate of Atlantis a 5 for controls because it is so simple. The “point and click” style is very simple to use and fits well with the game. For those unfamiliar with the “point and click” style, basically you just move your mouse over an object on the screen and choose an action to be preformed on that object. Such as “walk to” [truck], “pick up” [stick] or “give” [money] to [beggar].

Fun? 5 out of 5

This game is so fun because there are so many choices to be made. You can completely be yourself in this game allowing your own individual personality to show through the dialogue choices and the way you solve the game’s puzzles. Fate of Atlantis has such a good story that it is will be one great show throughout the game.

Synopsis: (Not a walkthrough, may include some hints)

(Depending on the path you take in the game the story will change slightly)

A mysterious stranger arrives on the campus of Barnett College. He goes to see Indiana Jones and Marcus to tell them about this strange key that he has in his possession. By careful examination, Indy and Marcus determine that the key might be closely related to a small horned statue that the museum found on a dig in Iceland. Indy retrieves the statue from the museum’s collections, and returns to his office with Marcus and the stranger. They find a key hole in the bottom of the statue and use the key on it. It works! They find a small metal bead or marble inside the statue but nobody knows what it is. Suddenly the stranger pulls a gun on Indy and Marcus. He steals the statue and tries to get away. Indy tries to catch him but only manages to rip the jacket off the stranger’s back. The stranger gets away with the statue. Indy and Marcus search the jacket and find the strangers ID. They find out that he is actually Nazi SS and his name is Klaus Kerner. They also find a newspaper clipping. The clipping is about one of Indy’s earlier digs in Iceland. Two names are circled on the clipping, one is Indy’s and the other is Sophia Hapgood. Sophia was a fellow archaeologist on the dig, but recently turned “psychic”. Indy decides to see if she is all right.

Indy travels to New York City were Sophia is holding a lecture on her “psychic powers” and what they tell her about the lost continent of Atlantis. Indy gets tied of hearing her nonsense and disrupts the lecture and embarrasses Sophia in the process. Sophia and Indy return to her apartment to find that it has been ransacked! Thankfully nothing has been stolen. Sophia produces a necklace from underneath her shirt. She believes that the necklace was from Atlantis and it had given her “psychic powers”. Indy doe not believe, but tells Sophia about the Nazi at Barnett College. The two agree that the Nazis are looking for Atlantis for some reason. They decide to fly to Iceland, to there old dig site to see a professor there and ask him if he knows anything.

The professor in Iceland points Sophia and Indy in the direction of the two leading experts on Atlantis in the world today, a Mr. Costa in the Azores and a Dr. Sternhert from England, who is currently working in Tikal, Guatemala. Sophia and Indy go to see Dr. Sternhert. He tells them about “Plato’s Lost Dialogue” which has many clues to the location of Atlantis. Sternhert, Indy and Sophia go into a temple to see Sternhert's work. He believes the temple to have something to do with Atlantis. Indy finds a secret room with a tomb. Sternhert says that the tomb is Atlantian because he finds a World Stone (one of the three key stones to Atlantis) in the tomb. Sternhert grabs the World Stone and darts through a secret passage before Indy and Sophia realize what happened.

Meanwhile in a German lab, Kerner gives the statue to a German scientist by the name of Urberman . He takes the metal bead and puts it into the mouth of the statue. The statue is activated and starts to spin around and drill through the earth! Urberman revels that the metal is urichalcum, a metal that contains the ability to store energy. The idea is that if the Germans can get a hold of the vast reserves of urichalcum stored in Atlantis, they can build some super weapons with it. As well as super bombs!

Indy and Sophia go to see Mr. Costa in the Azores. He tells them about “Plato’s Lost Dialogue”. Mr. Costa tells them that it could be found in a special collection. Indy recognizes the collection and it is right back at Barnett College! They go back to Barnett College and retrieve the book from their collection. While reading the book, Indy and Sophia learn about the three key stones. Three stones: the Sun Stone, the Moon Stone, and the World Stone are needed to enter the city of Atlantis. Sophia knows two collectors that collect Atlantian artifacts, and they may have some of these stones. They travel to Monte Carlo to find one of the collectors. They find out that he has one of the stones, a Sun Stone, and Indy and Sophia trick him into giving it to them.

Next they travel to Algiers, Algeria, where a second collector is. He tells them of a Nazi excavation out in the desert that they think may be connected to Atlantis. The team goes into the desert in search of the dig site. Once they find it, they discover that the site is abandoned. Indy searches the site and discovers something that was left behind, a Moon Stone! The Nazis return and Indy and Sophia escape by using a hot air balloon. They fly it to Crete because it was mentioned in the dialogue. While looking around Knossos, they find the lost labyrinth using the Sun and Moon Stones. Inside the labyrinth they find the dead body of Dr. Sternhert and his World Stone. Deeper in the labyrinth they discover that the labyrinth is also one of the entryways to the Lost City of Atlantis! Using the Sun, Moon, and World Stones Indy and Sophia enter the city and they discover that the Nazis are already there.

Indy and Sophia navigate the passages of Atlantis, while avoiding the Nazis. They find that Plato was right and there are Atlantis is laid out in three concentric circles. Once Sophia enters the inner most circle she becomes possessed by the spirit in he necklace and it is up to Indy to save her. Sophia returns to normal and she and Indy find out the reason for the destruction of Atlantis. The Atlantians built a machine that was supposed to turn humans into god-like individuals. Instead the machine turned people into hideous monstrosities. There was a civil war and Atlantis was destroyed as a result. Indy and Sophia unwillingly lead the Nazis to the machine. The Nazis develop a new plan, now they want to become gods! They believe that because of their superior Aryan qualities, the machine will work on them. They are wrong and they pay for there greed, the machine collapses and the Nazis die. Indy and Sophia race out of Atlantis and take the Nazi U-boat to safety.