Issue #57: A Circle That’s Actually Pretty Great
We review Indiana Jones’s latest adventure while basically goose stepping with the mainstream media.
As you may have noticed the newsletter is a couple of days late this week (what do you mean you didn’t?!), mainly because our rigorous editorial procedures pushed our Great Circle review out by a day. We’ve always been a beacon of professionalism here at Mojo and multitasking is not our “thing.” Read on, and we have a couple of extra thoughts about the latest Indy game that didn’t make it in our proper review.
As the end of 2024 approaches we are preparing to go out with a bang – next week we’ll launch a contest, the first one in many years. The prizes are PRETTY awesome, too, and objectively so. How’s that for a tantalizing teaser?
Yours,
Remi
Full News Roundup
10 Dec: Mixnmojo and the Great Review: “Great” is, of course, a relative term.
09 Dec: Vince Lee descends from the heavens for his Tech Talk interview: To be clear, this is a reference to his god-like stature. He’s not dead.
08 Dec: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is apparently great: It was right there in the name, we should have seen it coming.
08 Dec: Augment your merch booth with unexpected Brutal Legend pins: You gotta stuff those stockings with something.
08 Dec: Our Tech Talk delinquencies mount, again: We blame the holidays.
We Reviewed The Great Circle, Because Why Not?
That’s right, and you should run over to the site and read it before we give you a couple of newsletter exclusives.
OK, so exclusives might be a bit of a hyperbole, but here are a couple of additional thoughts on the game:
First, as mentioned in the review, the individual gameplay components have some flaws: The stealth is a bit unsophisticated and the puzzles so-so; the combat does not really reflect the movies too well, at least not initially.
If you’re an Indy fan, those niggles aren’t nearly enough to spoil the greater (no pun intended) game, but I do wonder if they might be a bigger deal to those who are playing The Great Circle as a standalone game only. I.e., not an Indy game. I’m not sure how many of you that’d be – some might claim this is a bit of a niche of a niche of a niche newsletter – but the point remains. Knock a Crystal Skull off our four-out-of-five review if you’re in the non-Indy camp.
In Good Company
If you wonder where the The Great Circle ranks in the pantheon of Mojo-related games, Metacritic has it in at #41 for Xbox Series X/S (the platform I reviewed it on). Return to Monkey Island sits at #36 and Psychonauts at #40 – it’s a tight cluster.
As an aside: I described the game as a less sophisticated Hitman, but it looks like the reviewers at large disagree. Hitman 3 is currently ranked #42. Apparently not everyone appreciated the “Instinct” feature as much as I do. 🤷
OST
Make sure to give the official soundtrack a listen on Spotify, Apple Music, or Amazon Music, it’s quite excellent. That’s right, Amazon has a music service, who would have thunk it?
Tango Over to Kickstarter
For those who remember The Booze of Monkey Island fan game – presumably most of you – the team behind it is Kickstarting The Adventures of Tango Rio. Not too surprisingly, it’s a clean, colorful looking adventure game, so, really, what do you got to lose? It already crossed its goal, too. Check it out.
Last Week’s Mojole Results
It’s the game that sweeps the nation! Can you beat Mojole, our fiendishly difficult daily puzzler? Only hardcore LucasArts aficionados need apply.
04 Dec: “poem###” – Another puzzle involves getting a poem written.
05 Dec: “drunk##” – Really, the whole point of the game is to get three characters drunk.
06 Dec: “thimble” – Thimble Bar is the name of I Cheese's bar.
07 Dec: “sticky#” – One puzzle revolves around sticky pudding.
08 Dec: “festoon” – A festoon is involved -- never heard that word before, either. ('Wreath' would be a more common term.)
09 Dec: “garland” – Or 'garland,' another common word for 'festoon.'
10 Dec: “turnip#” – Even turnips are involved.
And for the competitive amongst you, the Mojole forum thread has gone strong for more than two years. The two juggernauts to beat: Sushi and Huz.
Become a Mojoer! (sponsored content)
Hey, kids, do you want to become one of us? Why not join our Patreon? One single dollar will make you a Friend of Mojo. And for the privileged few, there’s the $5 Diamond Club tier, which will earn you a special mention in The Adventurer. Join now! Our interns are hard at work finishing up the special mention section!
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