Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants (XSX) Review
Summary: Indy returns to Rome with a more cerebral side story featuring some of the best brainteasers in the whole adventure.
4
Choose Wisely
The Order of Giants is an excuse to delve back into Machine Games’ impeccable Indiana Jones and the Great Circle? Oh, if you insist.
Indy is back, in well, he’s got a hefty puzzle-packed side quest at the Vatican to attend to, and it’s a pretty decent one to boot.
I’ve made no qualms about proclaiming Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, not only one of the best Indiana Jones games but one of the best Indiana Jones adventures, period. (Definitely better than the last couple of movies. oof)
If you want to read my full rambling, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review, click that hyperlink.
If, like me, you wanted more Indiana and can’t wait for the inevitable sequel, The Order of Giants is an additional four hours with the good doctor Jones, spirited away to the bowels of the Vatican and the streets of Rome. This new story-based DLC sees Jones mostly think his way through a string of secret chambers, catacombs, and inexplicable caves while investigating the history of the monastic giants that serve the Holy See and a sacred artifact they’re thought to possess.
In a strange move, though, this isn’t an epilogue or a separate adventure you dive into from the main menu. Instead, Order of Giants can be played at pretty much any point after you’ve reached the Vatican.
All you need to do is walk up to Father Ricci and his pet parrot, who are lingering by the small fountain up the slope just off the main square, and away you go for several hours.
The way Order of Giants is presented is probably the weakest part of the experience. There’s no fanfare, and it doesn’t feel vital or needed. It’s more like a chunk of a movie that was left on the cutting room floor and hastily stitched back in for a Director’s Cut. In other words, it completely annihilates the otherwise tight pacing of the game’s second act.
It may feel like a distraction, but it’s still a pleasant one. A slow-burning side story, that though not particularly big on action or set pieces, is stitched together with some of the best puzzle design in the entire game.
Highlights included a marvelous water puzzle that sees you diverting little riverlets into the mouths of hungry snakes, and an incredible brainteaser that sees Jones follow the life of a crusader on a series of epitaphs while manipulating pieces on a giant map.
However, there is one flaming puzzle that is utter balls in more ways than one (you have been warned).
Other than this, though, the action is typical of the rest of the larger game; there’s no new fighting or stealth mechanics added, just the usual mix of light platforming, sneaking, and smacking nazis around.
Troy Barker is still fantastic as Indy. The music still kicks ass. There’s still a nice blend of action and comedy, and the overall tone remains true to George Lucas’s classic movies throughout.
Final Thoughts
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants can be romped through in a single sitting, but despite its fairly short run time, there’s still some fantastic new brainteasers that make you feel like a clever archaeology professor and some atmospheric new areas to whipcrack your way through like a nazi-punching archaeology professor.
What I’m trying to say is that even though it’ll only take you as long as rewatching a couple old George Lucas films about a tomb-raiding archaeology professor. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants is a welcome stopgap until Machine Games returns with another fantastic fascist-thumping adventure starring everyone’s favourite archaeology professor.
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