Jones'n for an awesome game? Look no further!

Overview:
Indiana Jones is an archeologist who spends most of his time having action-packed, foreign adventures during the 1930's. Everyone has heard of Indiana Jones. The phenominal film trilogy and countless games before this one. His nazi-beating, artifiact hunting exploits are as intense and entertaining as ever in "The Emperor's Tomb." Not too much plot style difference here. You do some searching in ruins, get hired to go find something, and meet up with a unique cast of friends and foes along the way.

Graphics:
Indy looks identical to Harrison Ford. All of the environments are detailed very well and look very well done. The textures look old and worn when they are meant too (ie- Celanese ruins), or flashy and clean (ie- Hong Kong). The textures are nothing short of impressive. The player models themselves are just as good as the rest of the graphics.

The effects all look well done, such as fire and water. Not the best of either on the system, but that doesn't mean they don't look really good.

One thing that really stood out as impressive for me was the fact that all of the weapons and accessories Jones has collected are visible on him. You find a shotgun, then don't need to use it, just wear it on your back. Don't need a whip or machette at the time, keep them on your belt. When you use them, they arent stuck there where they were, they are inhand only (unlike many games). Indy can even lose his hat during a fight, so you can go and grab it and put it back on. It's little Neat things like that, that really add to the appeal o the game.

Sounds:
Best. Sounds. Ever. Let me start off with the voice work. Indy sounds exactly the same as Harrison Ford. If it's one thing The Collective (developers of this game, as well as Buffy) should be known for, it's their ability to cast awesome voice talent. Jones aside, all of the other people sound really good and like real people. People speak their own ethnic language, and it sounds good on top of that.

The sound effects such as gun sounds and the whip-crack all sound spot on. The fighting sounds in general could not have been done any better. The environmental sounds are a little light, but they aren't really supposed to be too dominant over everything else anyways.

The music is phenominal. The Indiana Jones theme is alive and kicking, as this game shows. The other orchestrated themes are also well done.

Gameplay:
The pace of the game is perfect. It feels as fast paced as Indy's adventures look on film. No frame drops or issues with slow-down here.

The controls are all responsive and have some nice little features. Everything happens when you need it to, which is extremely important when trying to make a jump and not die trying. The camera is controlled by the user and the L trigger acts as a reset for the camera in tigh spots. One of the nifty little features, and the main one at that, is when you need to use a machette or a whip, all you do is press Y, and it switches automatically to the item you need. Very handy!

The fighting is really great in this game. The best battles ever had outside of a fighting-specific game are found here. You really feel involved in the fight. You can use anything from your surroundings to aid you, or break it and use its pieces. You can punch and kick guys, beat them on the ground, shoot them, stab them, whip them, shove them off a cliff, and it just goes on like that. Anything you could do to fight dirty in real life, is basically here at your disposal. Think of this as an "Indy Simulator" where you can do anything he can. From time to time you can also control mounted guns, which is a nice addition to the gameplay.

The swimming works really well. You move with the analog, and swim with B. It works very nicely.

Overall:
It's the best action adventure game I have played in recent memory. Very well done.