Decent but uninspired movie tie-in
Perhaps the greatest movie action hero in history returns in a game based on the classic third film in the series and while it follows closely in the footsteps of its cinematic kin, there's something not quite right here and it fails to capture the magic. Similar to Temple of Doom in many ways, this one is an action game out and out, and follows the movie's plot, with players starting out in control of a young Indy as he searches for the Cross of Coronado before moving on to the main event of the search for the Holy Grail itself. This all takes the form of a series of side scrolling platform-style levels which require a mixture of skills, including climbing, jumping, exploration and even some mild puzzling. Of course, Indy has access to his trademark whip to deal with the various baddies he encounters along the way, and with environments to be explored included caves, a circus train, a Zeppelin and a castle, all of which featured heavily in the film. The Last Crusade is certainly not short of action, with plenty of fisticuffs to enjoy but there is no real spark of individuality here and it largely feels like any generic move tie-in. It's all a bit too samey to be truly enjoyable with a lack of variation between levels that soon becomes tiresome, while one can't help wishing that more elements from the film had been included. Perhaps an Ocean-style approach to movie tie-ins, as seen in Robocop and elsewhere, might have been a better idea. The graphics are nice and chunky but everything moves along at a pace which is slightly slower than you would hope for so when you get down to it, this is far from Indy's finest gaming moment, with that honour perhaps falling to Fate of Atlantis.
