Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis 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 and is widely regarded as a classic of its genre.

Fate of Atlantis featured three different paths to choose for completion of the central part of the game. At this 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 the Sophia Hapgood character as a reluctant sidekick and part of many puzzles). Each path includes some new objects and locations, different characters and dialogue lines, and alternate 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 (which requires multiple playthroughs) received the full 1000 IQ (Indy Quotient) score.

The game is one of the few LucasArts adventure games in which it is possible for the player to die (the other titles being Maniac Mansion, Zak McKracken and Last Crusade, as well as one special case in The Secret Of Monkey Island). After the player's death, a short epilogue and a score appear. Most of the time the game makes it clear to the player when there is impending danger, so that he or she can play more cautiously.

Plot
It's 1939, a few months before World War II. Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones Jr., (Voiced by Doug Lee) at the request of a certain Mr. Smith, retrieves a strange idol from the Barnett College museum to him and his friend Marcus Brody. However, when Indy presents it to Smith, he holds him and Marcus at gunpoint, takes the statue and escapes.

The two find out that he is Klaus Kerner, an agent of the Third Reich who's interested in excavations in Iceland, where Indy and an ex-colleague of his, Sophia Hapgood, once worked on an archaeological expedition. Kerner's second target is Sophia, who lost her interest in archeology and became a psychic, giving seminars about Atlantis and communicating with the Atlantean god-king Nur-Ab-Sal.

Indy goes to New York City and meets up uneasily with Sophia while she is giving a speech. The two find that Klaus had already been there, having ransacked her room. All her artifacts are stolen except a necklace, which she always wears. Sophia explains the Nazis are after the power of Atlantis because of orichalcum, a legendary metal purported to be more powerful than uranium. The German Army with Kerner and mad scientist Dr. Hans Ubermann are after the element in order to utilize it as an unlimited source of energy.

The key to finding Atlantis is a lost dialogue of Plato, called the The Hermocrates.

Indy and Sophia return to Iceland where Doctor Heimdall directs them to two other scholars. In Tikal, Guatemala they meet Doctor Charles Sternhart who translated Plato's 'Hermocrates' into English. Inside the temple Sternhart takes care of Indy's discovery of a tomb and a stone disk, which Sternhart recognises as a 'Worldstone'. He grabs it and flees by a secret passage. Philip Costa from Azores, on the other hand, tells the couple, after a bit of persuasion via an eel figurine artifact found back from Iceland, that a copy of the Hermocrates should be in one of the book collections at Barnett College.

The document speaks that in order to gain access to Atlantis, three stone disks, the Sunstone, the Moonstone, and the Worldstone, are needed. According to Sophia, one of two old associates had a Sunstone: either Alain Trottier from Monte Carlo or Omar Al Jabbar from Algiers.

It is at this point that the player has to choose between either the Team Path, in which Indy continues on with Sophia and the game consists mostly of puzzles involving tag teaming with her, the Fists Path, in which Indy goes alone and the game involves lighter puzzles and more fighting, or the Wits Path, in which Indy goes alone and there are harder puzzles and less fighting.

The Wits Path
Indy goes to Monte Carlo and meets Trottier, acquiring his business card. He then travels to Algiers where he shows Trottier's business card to Omar Al-Jabbar's assistant, but Indy still cannot see Al-Jabbar. After giving the assistant a red fez, Indy is able to track the assistant to Al-Jabbar's house. Locking Al-Jabbar in his own closet, Indy steals a map, several statues and a camel so he can venture to the dig site. After bribing patrols with the statues and asking nomads for accurate directions, Indy finds the dig site and an idol like the one from the opening sequence. He finds a note in a truck saying the Nazis are going after Trottier in Monte Carlo. Indy then repairs the truck and drives to Algiers. From there, he flies to Monte Carlo.

Indy arrives in Monte Carlo and tries to warn Trottier about the Nazis, but is too late and Trottier is kidnapped. Indy follows the Nazis' car and crashes into it, scaring them off and saving Trottier. Trottier explains he knows the entrance to the lost city is in Thera and that he threw the Sunstone out of the car to protect it. After searching the streets, Indy manages to find it.

Indy arrives in Thera and heads for the mountains. He finds a cave, and inside he uses the Sunstone to acquire a stone carving. Inside an entrenching tool, Indy finds a note from Sophia saying that she's been kidnapped and taken on board a Nazi U-Boat heading to Crete. After trading the stone carving for a basket, picking up a net, and using an invoice to obtain a balloon, and hot air from the mountains, Indy creates a makeshift hot air balloon, and flies it onto the Nazis' U-Boat, knocking out one of the ship's lieutenants and disguising himself with his uniform. Here, he manages to steal the Nazis' Moonstone and create a fire in the aft torpedo room. Using the fire as a distraction, Indy fires himself out of a forward torpedo tube and, once on shore, uses the Sun and Moon stones to open the Labyrinth.

Inside, Indy finds a deceased Doctor Sternhart and takes his Worldstone. He finds a map room which leads to an old subway, which he powers up with orichalcum. The train takes him all the way to Atlantis.

The Fists Path
Indy travels to Monte Carlo and meets Trottier, obtaining his business card. He then travels to Algiers, and saves Omar Al-Jabbar from a Nazi soldier. With the map and the camel Indy gets from Omar, he reaches an archaeological dig, where he finds the Sunstone. Stealing a hot air balloon from a Nazi guard, Indy flies to Crete.

In Crete, Indy follows a diagram and uncovers a Moonstone. He uses both the Sun and Moonstones to open a labyrinth. Inside, Indy finds a deceased Sternhart and takes his Worldstone. He uses his brute strength and his trusty whip to get past several traps and Nazi guards, and finds Sophia in a hole, from which he frees her. They find a map room which leads them out. They then travel to Thera.

There, Indy and Sophia hire a boat and Indy dives down, looking for an entrance to Atlantis. However, the boat was a set up, and a Nazi U-Boat arrives, after which Kerner kidnaps Sophia and leaves Indy to die underwater with only 3 minutes of air. Indy manages to find the entrance to Atlantis just in time.

The Team Path
Indy and Sophia go to Monte Carlo and trick Trottier out of the Sunstone, before heading to Algiers, where they confront Omar Al-Jabbar, a shopkeeper. Omar reveals that there is a dig by the Germans somewhere in the desert. Indy steals a touring balloon but the balloon is shot down by one of the Nazis who is guarding the dig. At the dig site they discover a mural that gives Indy directions for Crete, the Palace of Knossos as an Atlantean colony.

At the ruins of Knossos, using the hints from Hermocrates, Indy and Sophia dig out a hidden Moonstone. Working with both disks they open an entrance to the Labyrinth. There they find the body of Doctor Sternhart, who starved while unable to get out from a certain chamber. Indy and Sophia take the Worldstone from him. After a lot of searching they reach 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 but Indy manages to get on the submarine and impersonate a crew member. He quietly frees Sophia and gets the stolen disks back. Then he steers the ship towards an underwater entrance and dock, which is none other than the entrance to Atlantis itself.

Sophia is again kidnapped when they arrive to Atlantis.

Atlantis
After a lot of exploring and puzzle solving to rescue Sophia from a prison and enter Atlantis' second ring, Indy finds out that Nur-Ab-Sal guided Sophia to Atlantis through the medallion, in order to reclaim his old kingdom. His ghost possesses Sophia completely. Indy takes the opportunity to snatch the necklace and hurl it into a pool of lava in Nur-Ab-Sal's throne room.

Indy and Sophia continue on to the heart of the city, a massive chamber full of lava with passageways leading up and down. The two manage to navigate the chamber to the city's centre. In the Colossus - a huge machine in the centre of the capital, which gave the Atlanteans god-like powers, they are ambushed by Ubermann and Kerner. Kerner decides he is the most worthy one around to transform into a god. Based on Plato's tenfold error, Ubermann feeds the machine with 1 bead instead of 10, which turns Kerner into a grotesque horned dwarf, who falls into the lava below. The Nazis then force Indy to stand in the machine to be the target of the next experiment.

Jones manages to convince Ubermann not to use him as the experiment, lest Ubermann and the Nazis become targets of a godly Indiana Jones' wrath. Rather, he appeals to Ubermann's anger and lust for power to let him be transformed by the machine instead. He feeds the machine 100 beads and the machine turns him into a being of pure energy, who then explodes, activating the volcano that has been asleep for millennia. As the city is crumbling, Indy and Sophia make their way to the submarine and take it to the surface. The city collapses deeper under the water, while Indy and Sophia watch the sun set on the smoke.

If Jones does not convince Ubermann to use the device, Jones himself undergoes the transformation and explodes; trapping the Nazis (and Sophia as a result) in the ruins.

Alternate Endings
If Jones agrees to use the device himself, then he undergoes the transformation and explodes, nonetheless trapping the Nazis (and Sophia) in the ruins.

If Indy leaves the ghost of Nur-Ab-Sal in Sophia, or if Indy doesn't rescue Sophia from the Nazis and instead continues into the inner ring, then instead of Ubermann experiencing the final transformation, Sophia/Nur-Ab-Sal does. Ubermann is knocked into the lava pit by the exploding energy of Sophia. Indy escapes on his own and is left wondering why Sophia didn't listen to him.

Protagonists
Professor Henry "Indiana" Jones, Jr. (Doug Lee): The main character. Well known adventurer, archaeologist, and professor. The player plays as Indy for the majority of the game.

Sophia Hapgood: Known psychic and former archaeologist. Indy's love interest and companion. The player gets to play as Sophia a few times throughout the game, also depending on the path chosen.

Antagonists
Klaus Kerner: An agent of the Third Reich, Kerner is interested in harnessing the power of Atlantis for use in weaponry for the Nazis.

Dr. Hans Ubermann: A Nazi nuclear scientist working on bombs, who obsesses about harnessing the power of Atlantis.

Other Characters
Marcus Brody: Loyal friend and confidant of Indiana Jones. Found in the opening sequence at Barnett College.

Biff: Bouncer at Madame Sophia's show in New York. Indy's experience (or avoidance) of him outlines his potential path (team, fists or wits path)

Dr. Bjorn Heimdall: Archaeologist at a dig in Iceland. He provides Indy and Sophia with the names of Sternhart and Costa, later freezing to death after refusing to stop working in sub-zero temperatures.

Dr. Charles Sternhart: Archaeologist and scholar, who translated Plato's Lost Dialogue. He is the caretaker of the temple in Tikal, where he escapes with the Worldstone. His body is later discovered by Indy and Sophia in an underground labyrinth, where it was revealed that he was unable to find an exit and later starved to death.

Felipe Costa: Information and antiques trader, who resides in the Azores.

Alain Trottier: A businessman and trader from Monte Carlo, who has a Sunstone (or in the Fists path, helps Indy obtain one).

Omar Al-Jabbar: Merchant and businessman from Algiers. His sympathy or antipathy towards Indiana Jones depends on which path is chosen.

Nur-Ab-Sal: Dead ancient leader of Atlantis whose spirit is in contact with Sophia Hapgood through an Atlantean necklace excavated in Iceland.

Production

 * The cover art for the game was designed by William L. Eaken, the Lead Artist on the project, trying to emulate the style of Drew Struzan, who has painted the artwork for all three Indiana Jones movie posters.
 * The game was re-released on CD-ROM with a full voice-over soundtrack in 1993.
 * 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.
 * A four-issue comic book mini-series by William Messner-Loebs and Dan Barry, based on the game's storyline was published before the game's release by Dark Horse Comics.
 * LucasArts had planned on developing this game for the Sega CD, but cancelled the game after its Sega CD edition of The Secret of Monkey Island failed to be much of a commercial success.
 * LucasArts also had plans for an Atari ST version of the game but the game was cancelled due to the many software publishers abandoning development for the system in the U.S. at the time. However an Atari ST version of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis: The Action Game was developed and released by U.S. Gold for Europe only.

Sequels
The ending credits include announcement of a near-future appearance of 'perhaps much younger' Indy, apparently referring to The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, a TV series that aired after the game's production.

The planned sequel, Indiana Jones and the Iron Phoenix, was discontinued by LucasArts in 1995.

LucasArts also released two 3D action titles using the Indiana Jones license: Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine (which also features Sophia Hapgood, this time taking place in 1947) and Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb (which takes place in 1935, shortly before the events of the Temple of Doom movie). A third game, Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings is in development currently for the Wii, PSP and DS.

It was announced in February 2009 that in the Wii version of the game Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, that players would be able to unlock and play the original Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.