If we ever see the day that Indiana Jones IV is made for the big screen, then this game has beaten the movie to the punch. I have played many games in my time where developers have used many characteristics and ideas from top grossing films and franchises, but nothing like this copycat. I don’t think that this was bad that they did copy what has made Indy such a successful franchise wrong. The Secrets of Atlantis is centered around archealogy since you probably couldn’t tell already from the Indiana Jones resemblance.

Story

The Secrets of Atlantis takes place around the year 1937, just like the Indy films have taken place in the 30’s and 40’s. Our hero is Howard Brooks, who has a similar hat collection to Indiana, except only thing that is missing is his trusty whip. Our travels take place on the Hindenburg as we go from port to port in search of the City of Atlantis. We also find out that even Brooks father searched for Atlantis.

To even add a bit of Indiana Jones the movie flair to this game, our travels are even mapped out on the map via dotted line illustrations like they were in the Indy films.

Gameplay

Atlantis is a click and point oriented game, where you take your mouse on screen and point where you want your main character to travel. Granted point and click games were what was the thing in the 90’s, it seems to work well here with what the developers are trying to achieve. Back in the 90’s with point and click games, the voice acting was superb…..but here in Atlantis this is one area where the voice work isn’t that great and even the sound is spotty at best. It’s the little things like this that affects the gameplay and brings things down a notch.

With the point and click games we also have puzzles which have always been a part of these mechanics. I like puzzles in my games that aren’t overly challenging, but when their not laid out well it makes it rather impossible to figure out the clues. My advice if you play this game, look around at everything in your environment as you move around or else you are going to pay for it down the road. I recommend searching the environment before moving on as there could be some key items that you might not see right off the bat.

We also have another set of puzzles that I find to be your traditional set of puzzles and those have been set up fairly well. These include locks, gadgets, sliding panels, etc. that come together fairly well. These puzzles are what helps make this game feel like the Indy clone that it is.

Graphics

While the visuals aren’t stunning, they aren’t bad either. The graphics engine doesn’t have the fine details that you would expect in a game here in 2007, but it does the job. Everything seems to be blurred out in the environments and the characters aren’t overly detailed either.

Closing Comments

Secrets of Atlantis is not that bad of a game and would recommend it to any fan of Indiana Jones trilogy and fans of old school point and click adventures. While there are a few flaws with the graphics and gameplay, there is more than enough fun int this package albeit its not an original story or characters.