GAME writes: " Whip-cracking adventure with the world's coolest archaeologist.
Despite what its millions of fans say, Star Wars is only the second best movie franchise of the 80s. Intelligent movie-goers know that the Indiana Jones trilogy provided the most iconic cinematic moments of that era. The be-hatted adventurer has also provided some pretty memorable gaming moments, although arguably his biggest contribution to gaming was to provide the inspiration for Tomb Raider. Past exploits aside, though, it's incredibly exciting to be able to welcome this completely new Indiana Jones story to Wii and PS2.
The brink of war
Story-wise the game slots nicely into the whole Indy legend. Fortunately it takes place a full 18 years before Dr Jones' creaking efforts in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. In fact this chapter is set in 1939, just a year after Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. As well as featuring an Indiana Jones still in his prime, Staff of Kings also features a suitably epic quest. This time around our whip-wielding archaeologist is searching for nothing less than Moses' staff (you know, the one that could turn into a serpent, part the Red Sea... stuff like that). Unfortunately the Nazis are also after the artefact so that they might use its phenomenal power to further their aims of world domination. We always knew those Nazis were a bad lot..."
Nintendo Life writes: "Filled with cut scenes and swashbuckling action sequences, The Staff of Kings has the feel of an actual Indiana Jones movie. There are a lot of concepts included here that, if fully realized, could have made for a spectacular movie-style game. Sadly, as it turns out the imagination of the game's developers exceeded their grasp."
GV writes: "The Indiana Jones franchise is one I hold very close to my heart. Even more so than Star Wars. Yeah, I said it. You see, there's just something about an adventuring archaeologist fighting Nazis and exploring our world that speaks to me. I ate up everything Indy-related when I was growing up. Of all the TV shows I watched as a child, The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones was the only one I had to see every week as soon as it came on. I still think part of the reason I enjoy the "gets worse every time you watch it" Boondock Saints is because it stars Sean Patrick Flannery, who I so desperately wanted to be growing up. New Indiana Jones gaming experiences are few and far between, so when the chance to don a digital fedora came up with Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, I jumped at the opportunity. Disappointingly, like the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, this Indiana Jones adventure was better in idea than it was in execution."
Evil Avatar writes: "Indiana Jones has been relatively neglected in the world of videogames when you compare it to Lucasart's most famous franchise. Odd really when you consider the that Harrison Ford's character is the perfect videogame hero. A2M, who will soon release the shooter Wet, seek to take advantage of his particular strengths for this outing. With the Lego version of Indy's first three adventures standing out against Batman and Han Solo it was always going to be a challenge to produce a more successful adaptation of the character."
The Good
* Some of the best presentation on the Wii.
* The locations change frequently and are interesting enough.
* The extras are great and the sheer volume of gameplay styles thrown into the single-player makes for a tolerable experience.
The Bad
* The combat system is fudgy on the Wii.
* The platforming is slow and simple.
* Your iconic whip is almost ignored other than a Scorpion-esque 'get over here' fighting move and being used to traverse gaps.
* There's a few glitches in the collision detection and the checkpoint placement causes immense frustration.
The Ugly
* Horrendously unambitious.
