"Memoria"

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis is perhaps the largest adventure game released by Lucasarts for the PC (don't know about some of those later Monkey Island games..)and anyone familiar with these games should know how distinctive and well designed they are. Fate of Atlantis... is perhaps my favorite (rivaled only by Sam and Max, of course!). It's probably the least lighthearted of them all, but by no means is it dire; it's simply more mature than the Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle games. It's storyline and dialouge are definately comparable to the actual movies, not to mention the superb voice acting. But the kicker is definately the atmosphere of the game. Certain games can feel more like an experience; you can feel like you are actually in the game's environment, exploring, staring at the scenery; Fate of Atlantis is the ultimate. Perhaps the secret lies in the low key MIDI discreetly seeping from your speakers, or the lushly rendered back drops, or the characters' appropriate reaction to whatever bizarre event should come their way. Or perhaps the secret lies in the sauce. But in any case, the game fares well without the atmosphere factor as well.

First, the Graphics. Fate of Atlantis employs a graphical style that is very common in earlier PC games.. all of the other Lucasarts adventure games have it (please help me to stop making reference to them!) and I remember a mini golf game I used to play that used it as well. I distinguish it by the way the water trickles, if you've seen it you know what I mean. The characters look absolutely fantastic (if overly pixelated).. and the environments are something else. But you're used to that.

I've had Fate of Atlantis for a long time, and eventually I came to the realization of how much the music in the game KICKS ASS. The problem is that it's too quiet! But I guess that's the way it was meant to be. Also, the fact that all the music is in MIDI form just adds to the effect even more. It's long (as in not repetetive) and very well composed. I don't know who composed it, but I wish I could hear more of their work. I'm not exagerrating when I say some of this stuff is MEDITATION WORTHY. And it deserves LOTS OF CAPITAL LETTERS. LOTS! My favorites are when you arrive on Thera/Crete, the hot air balloon (over sea) theme, and the Lesser Colony. The map theme is so peaceful that your brain may not be able to handle the sheer tranquility and could start wreaking havoc on your other organs.. Do yourself a favor, and when you reach Crete, just leave the game be for a while and listen. Only occasionally, does the piece go near a melody, but it doesn't need to.

Gameplay is pretty much the same as any other Lucasarts adventure game. You have a box of commands at the bottom left, and a box of items at the bottom right. Click a command and then click whatever you want to apply the command to (i. e. pick up-jar) and Indy will magically comply. Pick up any items you see and later figure out what to do with them. The thing I like about this particular game is that you can't go back to previous locations, so if you miss an item while looking through a setting, you can't progress any farther without it. In other words, you aren't going to realize you're missing something near the end of the game and have to search every location you've gone through for the missing item.

The story is worthy of a movie of its own. It progressess the same way an Indy movie does anyway. Not only that, but it has a bit of educational value! Unfortunately you may have trouble distinguishing between fact and fiction. Plato did write about Orichalcum in Timaeus but everything about Atlantis itself is almost entirely made up (except for maybe the location). It also ties in to the Manhattan Project when the Nazis discover that this Orichalcum metal abundant in Atlantis has ''all the energy of uranium, but without the radioactivity.'' Will millions of innocent Americans and Europeans be fried to death by an orichalcum-powered atomic bomb? Find out in the next episode of the Indiana Jones saga, coming soon to a PC near you.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/12/02, Updated 10/25/02