Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

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Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Developer(s)	LucasArts
Publisher(s)	LucasArts
Designer(s)	Hal Barwood, Noah Falstein
Engine	SCUMM v5
Release date(s)	1992
Genre(s)	Adventure game
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone (E)
Platform(s)	DOS, Amiga, FM Towns, Apple Macintosh
Media	3½ inch Floppy, CD (1)

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (sometimes also referred to as Indiana Jones 4) is a graphical adventure game, originally released in 1992 and published by LucasArts. It was the seventh game to use the SCUMM adventure game engine.

Contents 1 Plot 1.1 Prologue 1.2 The Lost Dialogue 1.3 Middle part 1.4 Atlantis 2 Cast & Crew 3 Trivia 4 Sequels 5 See also 6 External links

[edit] Plot

[edit] Prologue

It's 1939 - the eve of World War II.

Dr Indiana Jones and his friend Marcus Brody are asked by a certain Mr. Smith to find a particular strange idol from the College museum to match a strange key which he possesses. When Indy returns with the item, they find a small metal bead inside the statue. Immediately Smith points a gun at Indy and Marcus, takes the statue and its contents, and prepares to escape. He succeeds eventually, but not without losing his gun and a fist fight with Indy.

From the documents found in the coat that Smith lost in the fight, it is revealed he's really Klaus Kerner, an agent of the Third Reich. He is interested in excavations that happened many years before in Iceland. It was there that Indy found the now stolen statue, the origins of which he was never able to identify. Kerner's second target is Sophia Hapgood, Indy's assistant from the Iceland expedition, a spoiled, rich kid, according to Indy's description. She has lost her interest in archaeology and started presenting herself as a psychic, giving seminars about Atlantis and communicating with the Atlantean god-king Nur-ab-sal, all which made her quite a celebrity.

[edit] The Lost Dialogue

Indy rushes to New York to one of such currently held seminars to warn Sophia and maybe protect her if necessary. When he finally gets to her, she reveals she has stolen some of the most valuable artifacts from their expedition, all of which are lost now - her apartment has been ransacked by Kerner. All artifacts are lost except the most prized one - a certain mysterious necklace, which she keeps always on herself. Sophia is also able to explain what are the Nazis after - the power of Atlantis. The knowledge she gathered about the Lost City through many years of obsessive searching will make her an indispensable companion for Indy on his quest, whether he likes it or not.

The race begins between Indy and the Nazis to find the mythical lost continent of Atlantis, which may contain technology vital to the future of the world, since the metal bead Kerner found in the statue was Orichalcum, a legendary metal that holds far more power than Uranium, without any harmful radiation. The German Army would utilize the element as an unlimited source of energy to machines and the base for unequally potent bombs.

The key to finding Atlantis is a lost dialogue of Plato, called the The Hermocrates, in which Plato supposedly discussed Atlantis much further than in his previous works (In two dialogues: Timaeus and Critias). Or is this legendary dialogue just a hoax?

Indy and Sophia head off to the remnents of the archeological site in Iceland, where they meet Doctor Bjorn Heimdall. He tells them that two people can help them on their quest for Atlantis - one is doing research in Tikal, the other is an elderly gentleman living in the Azores. Heading first to Guatemala, traversing the jungle, they reach the ruins of the Tikal temple. They meet there Doctor Charles Sternhart, who claims that he translated Plato's 'Hermocrates' in English, but is reluctant to give any further information about it or his researches of Atlantis. Inside the temple Indy discovers a hidden tomb holding among other things a stone disk with strange markings, which Sternhart recognises as a Worldstone. He quickly grabs it and flees by a secret passage.

Meanwhile, Kerner brings the bead and the statue to the Nazi behind the whole idea of seeking Orichalcum, Dr. Hans Ubermann. The scientist tests the potential of the small sample delivered by Kerner and when most of the laboratory equipment explodes in effect, both man are very pleased.

Trading with Philip Costa from Azores, Indy and Sophia learn that a copy of the Hermocrates should be in one of the book collections at Barnett College - the school where Indy teaches. Indy recovers the dialogue and learns from it about three peculiar stone disks which are vital to discovering Atlantis: the Sunstone, the Moonstone and the Worldstone. Sophia reveals that one of two old associates, she has indirectly done business with, had claimed to own a Sunstone, but she can't remember which one: Alain Trottier from Monte Carlo or Omar Al Jabbar from Algiers.

[edit] Middle part

At this point in the game, through dialogue with Sophia, the player is presented with a choice of three different paths to take through the game: Wits with Indy alone relying mostly on puzzles, Fists with Indy alone relying on many fighting scenes over puzzles, and Team with Indy and Sophia being together for all the course of the story cooperating and exchanging hints (unless Sophia is kidnapped).

Paths differ not only in the way puzzles are solved, but the entire universe, since some events and objects appear only in one of them. The following summary will give the general outline they all have in one.

Indy (and Sophia) must go to Monte Carlo and Algiers to meet Trottier and Omar Al-Jabbar respectivelly, in order to find the Sunstone. Al-Jabbar reveals that there is a dig by the Germans going on somewhere in the desert which Indy must discover counseling a map. At the digsite Indy discovers a mural that gives directions for Crete, the Palace of Knossos as an Atlantean colony. They steal a truck and head for his next destination.

At the ruins of Knossos, Indy digs out a hidden Moonstone. Working with both disks on a pedestal he opens an entrance to the famous Labyrinth. There he finds the body of Doctor Sternhart, who starved not being able to get out from a certain chamber. Indy takes from him the Worldstone. Here, in Fists Path, Indy will find Sophia who was lost during losing the Nazis. After a lot of searching he (they) reaches a map room containing a detailed model of Atlantis.

Meanwhile, a Nazi submarine surfaces off the island, and the Nazis enter the labyrinth. They kidnap Sophia and Kerner locks Indy in a small chamber without any means of escape. After escaping, Indy manages to get on the submarine and even impersonate a crew member. He stealthly frees Sophia and gets the stolen disks back. Then he steers the ship towards an underwater entrance and dock. They're in Atlantis at last. But the Nazis were first and already roam most parts of the city.

[edit] Atlantis

Sophia is again kidnapped and Indy left alone in the dark in a sealed chamber. After activating the lighting he opens a passage and begins to explore.

Atlantis has a cyclical structure (three homocentric rings around a central 'capital') with the most important part in the centre, in the old times locked away from the public districts from all but a few chosen. Many places resemble giant industrial factories, some of which can still be activated. The most mysterious thing, he encounters, are the disfigured human-like skeletons scattered on the streets, the nearer the centre of the city, the more of them. The skeletons are not only disfigured, but have horns.

It is revealed that Nur-Ab-Sal somehow guided Sophia to Atlantis through the medallion, in order to reach and reclaim his old kingdom again. Near the centre of the city his ghost posseses Sophia completely and Indy has some hard time trying to get rid of him.

In the very centre of the city Ubermann and Kerner find the Colossus - a huge machine which was supposed to give the Atlanteans god-like powers. Convinced of his racial perfection, Kerner, without any second thoughts, decides he is the most worthy one around to transform into a god. At his order Ubermann starts the machine, which turns the man into a grotesque goat-like creature, after a few awkward steps falling into a deep chasm. Ubermann is not so blinded by enthusiasm as Kerner and now even more careful. He orders his soldiers to force Indy to take place in the machine. He is to be a guinea pig for a different setting of the Colossus. In the last second Jones manages to convince Ubermann, that it is his wish, to become a god, and upon acquiring his god-like powers he will immediately use them to destroy the poor scientist, not wanting to share such abilities with anyone. In consequence any sense the Nazi had is overpowered by anger and his own lust for power. He replaces Indy in the machine using the setting that he believes to be the right one. He turns into a being of pure energy, laughing and flying in the air. Suddenly the luminous creature explodes. This activates the volcano that has been asleep for millennia. As the city is crumbling to dust, Nazis dying all around, Indy and Sophia make their way to the Nazi submarine and take it to the surface of the sea. The city collapses deeper under the water, while Indy and Sophia watch the sun set on the scene of the catastrophe. And then they kiss.

[edit] Cast & Crew

• The project was led by Hal Barwood; Barwood wrote the story and designed the game together with Noah Falstein.
• The music for the game was composed by Michael Land, Clint Bajakian, and Peter McConnell. In addition to the original music the game uses the famous Indiana Jones theme composed by John Williams.
• The cover art for the game was designed by William L. Eaken, trying to emulate the style of Drew Struzan, who painted the artworks for all three Indiana Jones movie posters. Eaken was also the Lead Artist on the project.
• The game was re-released on CD-ROM with a full voiceover soundtrack in 1993. Doug Lee's impression of Harrison Ford's voice is particularly highly regarded.

[edit] Trivia

• Much more epic than the earlier Indiana Jones adventure game, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Fate of Atlantis featured three different paths to choose for completion of the central part of the game. At a point, during a dialogue sequence, the player can choose between: The Wits Path (Indy has to use his brains to solve problems), the Fists Path (lighter puzzles, lots of fist fights and action movie-like solutions to problems), and the Team Path (features Sophia Hapgood as a reluctant sidekick and part of many puzzles). Each path includes some new objects and locations, different characters and dialogue lines and alternative ways to progress through the adventure to reach Atlantis. The player who finished all of the puzzles in all three paths and all of the alternative solutions received the 1000 full IQ (Indy Quotient) score.
• The game is also significant for breaking with the long-established LucasArts adventure game tradition of not allowing the player to die (though it was also possible to die at some points in their earliest adventure titles: Last Crusade, Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken). After the player's death, a short "what happened" summary and a score appear. To the player's advantage, most of the time the game conveniently alerts the player of impending danger so that he or she can play more cautiously.
• Game resource editing programs like ScummRev have revealed that there is an unused room in the game code that didn't make it to the final version. This room is Sophia's bedroom, and lies next to her ransacked office. In the final version, all that takes place in Sophia's apartment is an extended dialogue in her office. In the bedroom, some objects can be identified with ScummRev; this indicates that the programmers intended some puzzle or additional action to be solved by the player, apart from the office dialogue. One of the usable objects is labeled as Chuck the Plant, which is an inside joke at LucasArts and a nod to several previous LucasArts games.
• The adventure game was released simultaneously with Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis: The Action Game loosely following the same storyline and belonging to the arcade-adventure genre. It never gained much interest.
• A four-issue comic book mini-series based on the game's storyline was published by Dark Horse Comics in 1991 written by Lee Mars before the game was released. The following years, there were rumours that the Fate of Atlantis storyline was taken from a fourth IJ movie concept. Whether this is true or not, the upcoming fourth Indiana Jones movie probably won't have any relations with the game at all.
• LucasArts had planned on developing this game for the Sega CD, but canceled the game after its Sega CD edition of The Secret of Monkey Island failed to be much of a commercial success. It also canceled the Sega CD version of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge.

[edit] Sequels

The planned sequel, Indiana Jones and the Iron Phoenix, was discontinued by LucasArts in 1995. A few fan groups have been developing their own adventure games featuring Indiana Jones as the main hero. As of November 2006 none of these games had been completed. However, demos are now available for the fan-games Indiana Jones and the Fountain of Youth and Indiana Jones and the Crown of Solomon (see the links below). LucasArts also released two 3D action titles using the Indiana Jones license: Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine and Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb. A third as of yet untitled game is in development currently for the PS3 and the Xbox 360.

[edit] See also

• List of mad scientists – Dr. Hans Ubermann
• LucasArts adventure games
• ScummVM

[edit] External links

• Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis at MobyGames
• Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis section at The Indy Experience
• Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis 2 – A sequel fan-game project currently in casual development
• Indiana Jones and the Fountain of Youth – A fan-game project inspired by Fate of Atlantis with a demo currently available
• Indiana Jones and the Crown of Solomon – A fan game project based on Last Crusade and Fate of Atlantis with a demo currently available
• New Game In Development by LucasArts

Indiana Jones games
Action	Raiders of the Lost Ark | Temple of Doom Last Crusade | Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures
Adventure	Last Crusade | Fate of Atlantis | Iron Phoenix (Cancelled)
Action-adventure	Desktop Adventures | Fate of Atlantis
3D action	Infernal Machine | Emperor's Tomb
Pinball	The Pinball Adventure