What's Indy's Story?
The celebrated career of Doctor Henry "Indiana" Jones, Jr. has taken him all over the world. Now, gamers get to step into the shoes of the two-fisted adventurer to play out a lost chapter of the Jones chronicles. Indiana Jones® and the Emperor's Tomb™ (from LucasArts Entertainment Company and Buffy the Vampire Slayer development house, The Collective) is coming to an Xbox near you.
Life with Father
Indiana Jones became immersed in the wonders of the past at a young age, joining his archaeologist father, Henry Sr., on digs all over the world. Though his father was a stern and distant single dad, the elder Jones did impress upon his son the importance of study and field research—even if he didn't approve of his son taking on the family dog's moniker as a chosen nickname. After an eye-opening (and chin-scarring) escapade in the American southwest, wherein young Indy fought tomb robbers intent on "dressing down' his father and making off with the goods, the teenaged adventurer realized he would have to find his own path.
Indy always has the right tool for the job.
War, Peace, Love, and All That Jazz
Indiana Jones gained much of his education in the school of life. After leaving his father behind, he took part in many important historical events and met some of the greatest artists, writers, scientists, explorers, and leaders of the early 20th Century. In 1916, a visit to his aunt in New Mexico led to Jones being kidnapped by Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. He later joined the Belgian Army and saw the horrors of World War I, which very nearly cost the young adventurer his life. Captured by Germans, Indy and fellow POW Charles De Gaulle organized a great escape from certain doom.
Later, Indy found work as an agent for hire. One mission pitted Jones in a daring dogfight against Germany's greatest flying ace, "Red Baron" Von Richthofen. Other espionage assignments swept young Indy up in the Russian Revolution of 1917 and—though the details are certainly in dispute—introduced him to the undead legions of Transylvanian vampire Vlad the Impaler, also known as Dracula.
Along the way, Indiana learned to appreciate the finer things. In 1920 Chicago, for example, Jones learned to play the saxophone under the tutelage of jazz great Sidney Bechet. He also helped Eliot Ness foil the plans of one Al "Scarface" Capone.
Jones fights dangers … both unreal …
The Emperor's Tomb
Perhaps driven by the obsessions of his estranged father as well as his own desire to find "fortune and glory," Indy eventually went from soldier of fortune to swashbuckling archaeologist (though no one had ever practiced archaeology quite like this). In 1935, he journeyed to the island of Ceylon, where he was hired to join in the hunt for a lost Chinese artifact known as the "Heart of the Dragon," a black pearl that supposedly allowed one to control the hearts and minds of others. Not surprisingly, he had a lovely and mysterious female ally at his side, the striking Mei Ying. Together they found the broken pieces of the Dragon's Seal, which would let them into China's first emperor's tomb, the supposed resting place of the Heart of the Dragon.
…and horrors all-too-real, like the Nazis.
Their adventure took them to Istanbul, where he explored treacherous underwater palaces; to the streets of Hong Kong, where he had a chance to practice his rusty martial-arts skills; and eventually into the heart of the ancient Emperor's Tomb. Success required Indy to fall back on every skill he'd learned in his globe-trotting travels, in which he fought pirates, Nazis, and worse to gain that elusive fortune and glory.
Look, just hand over the fortune & glory, and I'll leave!"
After the Tomb adventure, Jones ventured on to Shanghai, with new sidekick Short Round in tow, to keep a fateful appointment with the Chinese gangster Lao Che. For details on that story and those that followed, check out Indiana Jones® and the Temple of Doom™, Raiders of the Lost Ark™, and Indiana Jones® and the Last Crusade™. For more on Indy's early experiences, look for the Young Indiana Jones®Chronicles on video and DVD. And, of course, to experience the hunt for the Heart of the Dragon yourself, play Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb! For Indiana Jones, the adventure never ends. And, that's just the way he likes it.
By Danny Chihdo
