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Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings

EMAIL PRINT wii

6.5 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 32 critic reviews
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Based on 17 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: LucasArts

Developer: A2M

Genre(s): Action, Adventure

Players: 4

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: June 9, 2009

Summary

Step into the shoes of the legendary hero, Indiana Jones, in an all new epic adventure! Set in the year 1939, Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings follows the rogue archaeologist on an all-new globe-trotting quest. From San Francisco's Chinatown to the lush jungles of Panama, Indy must use his whip, fists and wits to fight through ruthless opposition as he spars with his nemesis, Magnus Völler, in a race for a relic of biblical proportions - the Staff of Moses. Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings features completely interactive environments, where players need to call upon their wits and daring to make each spring-loaded environment a weapon in order to dispense of foes in clever and unexpected ways. Also, embark upon thrilling action sequences that remain true to the spirit established in scenes such as Indy's pursuit of the motorcade in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the mine-cart scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and the free-for-all aboard the tank in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Wield your Wii Remote like Indy’s signature whip for a variety of uses - from combat to navigation to puzzle-solving. Use your highly interactive Hot Set environments and your wits to defeat your enemies. Explore exotic locations around the globe in an all-new story that puts you on an epic quest for the Staff of Moses. Apply your smarts to navigate Indy through challenging terrains with the many maneuvers Indy can do with his whip. Engage in burst gunplay moments and use careful aim and the environment to take out enemies. Face overwhelming odds and escape signature run-for-your-life moments, like a daring escape from a collapsing temple, by matching fast-paced onscreen gesture prompts. Experience thrilling chases and control vehicles - fly a biplane in a canyon trench, take the reigns of a wild elephant through the streets of Istanbul and navigate a raft down a raging river. Cooperative gameplay mode allows you and a friend to brave the challenges in a variety of game modes in an entirely new quest with a familiar character never playable before in an Indy game. Unlock four-player versus mode where you and your friends go head-to-head in a real biplane combat or take on three of your friends in a free for all tank battle! Whether you are brawling baddies or wielding your whip, use the Wii Remote and Nunchuk as nature intended with the intuitive gesture-based combat system. Discover more than 20 artifacts and rewarding unlockables throughout the game. For those old-school gamers there is nothing better than unlocking the classic Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis game on Wii! [LucasArts]

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Zentendo

The sum is greater then the whole with Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings. The two player adventure is well done, and the classic Fate of Atlantis game holds up to this day.

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GamesNation

Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings doesn’t reach a level of excellence, but it does offer good textures, a plausible illumination system and a good serving of effects, all very effective in reproducing the movies’ typical atmosphere. The original implementation of the control system is also another great asset.

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Game Chronicles

While I still wish I was playing this game on a true next-gen system I have to admit that A2M and LucasArts has spun this adventure onto the Wii with some awesome interactive controls that have me feeling more like Indy than any other game in the franchise.

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Pelit (Finland)

A pretty and entertaining action adventure. Too bad it's targeted for casual gamers – it's too easy and/or short for anybody else. [July 2009]

Nintendo Power

Ultimately enjoyable, with some nice gameplay variety and good sound-alike voice acting. [July 2009, p.85]

GamePro

Still, it's an enjoyable way to waste away the weekend, especially for casual Wii owners who are looking for a challenge; hardcore gamers, on the other hand, will scoff at the games' puzzles' but as long as you don't go in expecting the second coming of The Last Crusade, you'll be fine. [July 2009, p.80]

3DJuegos

Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings is an enjoyable game, especially for casual Wii owners.

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PALGN

A flawed but enjoyable experience for Indy fans. Much like the last film really.

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Games Master UK

Seems to forget Indy's also a teacher. All the action, none of the smarts. [Aug 2009, p.66]

Gamer.nl

In spite of a few strange design choices, The Staff of Kings offers a surprisingly good Indy-experience. The game is diverse, fun to play and authentic and even comes with the classic Fate of Atlantis.

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NGamer UK

This is by turns frustrating, fun, exciting, dull, a technical achievement and a bit of a mess, but it's the most authentic Indy game yet.

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Vandal Online

Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings is a pity, because although it has very interesting aspects, the final result is not as good as it should have been.

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Official Nintendo Magazine UK

It's scrappy, inconsistent and boasts over-used motion controls, but there is some fun to be had here. [Aug 2009, p.86]

Nintendo Life

With clunky controls that would have worked great with a little more attention, sub-par graphics, and unsatisfying puzzle solving that can leave you frustrated, Staff of Kings tries very hard to disappoint its players.

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Meristation

Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings offers a new adventure of biblical proportions, carried out by the most famous archaeologist of all time. Unfortunately, the Wii's control systeml is a little untrustworthy as usual. A very nice extra in the form of The Fate of Atlantis, a legendary graphic adventure, becomes the main reason to play the game.

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9Lives

Indiana Jones and the Staff of kings is an average action adventure completely ruined by annoying controls. It remains fun to swing around with Indy and his whip, tackling opponents along the way. The levels are also varied enough, giving you some satisfaction. Best of all is actually the addition of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, a game that every self-respecting gamer needs to play.

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Gamervision

The world could really use an awesome Indiana Jones game. Sadly, Staff of Kings is not it.

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Telegraph

The game is marred by badly implemented controls, poor design and a highly forgettable plot.

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Game Informer

Only approach this game if you intend to play Fate of Atlantis. Staff of Kings hardly finds the Indiana Jones pulse.

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IGN

Staff of Kings is an odd game because it has so much going for it, including fun level designs, great variety, and a wealth of unlockables, but the end experience is inescapably marred by stupidly implemented motion controls on Wii.

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Eurogamer

The Staff of Kings certainly has all the ingredients for a cracking action-adventure, but somewhere along the line the team ended up making arguably the most forgettable Indiana Jones game to date.

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VideoGamer

Staff of Kings tries to do so many things that it fails to nail any of them. The combat is clumsy, the adventuring is dull, the shooting is uninspired and the presentation is severely lacking.

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Eurogamer Italy

Try again Indy! This is one of the worst game ever dedicated to his iconic character.

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InsideGamer.nl

The Indiana Jones-movies were great, the LEGO-installment was fun, but The Staff of Kings disappoints. Visually and gameplay-wise it is pretty mediocre and the adventure is rather short. The Co-op tries to make up, but is also to short. Nope, we'd rather see the old movies than playing this!

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Play.tm

Considering the wealth of amazing movie content spawned by the creative powers at LucasFilm, it still boggles the mind that LucasArts is seemingly incapable of crafting a truly worthy gaming offshoot that encapsulates the wonder and excitement of Indiana Jones or the star-gazing imagination of Star Wars.

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NZGamer

Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings is all the more frustrating because there are tiny, oh-so-brief sprinklings of entertainment to be had - they're just padded wall to wall with frustrating gameplay and below average presentation.

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Teletext GameCentral

If Crystal Skull made the original films look better, then this does the same for Fate Of Atlantis.

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games(TM)

Mercifully, Staff Of Kings is a very short game and it won't be too long before you unlock the vastly superior bonus game, Fate Of Atlantis. [Aug 2009, p.127]

Eurogamer Spain

Quotation forthcoming.

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GameSpot

Too much motion-sensing and some dumb design decisions make Indiana Jones' latest adventure a chore.

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Edge Magazine

The poor relation of its canceled 360 and PS3 brothers. This is a stripped-down version of a game that never was, offering only fleeting glimpses of a magnificent concept through a console and engine that could never, even with four more years to work at it, have handled it. [Aug 2009, p.98]

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Perhaps nobody expected Staff Of Kings to be an Oscar-worthy tale, but the game is marred by its inexcusable “controls,” which lean heavily on the Wii’s motion-sensing capabilities without making them even passably responsive.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 6.5 (out of 10) based on 17 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

nick k gave it an8:
I really enjoyed this game! can not understand the bad reviews. OK its not a masterpiece but its quie enjoyable!

Dave S gave it a7:
This game is definitely worth buying for Indy fans, but an average experience for people looking for a fun adventure game. The fighting system is fun and uses the Wii controls to their fullest. Indy has three different punches and can whip enemies and objects and also can pick up and throw or whack enemies with objects. Controls were annoying mainly for one action sequence (the airplane sequence). Puzzles are fairly simple (such as moving a block over a pressure plate) but become more interesting as the game progresses (such as moving various blocks, whipping objects and using environmental objects in various combinations). The game story is original, but similar to the Indy movies of the past, complete with the Nazi nuisance and the femme fatale. Graphics are decent, middle-of-the road, but nothing compared to the graphics of Mass Effect or Modern Warfare for the 360. Music is like those from the movies. Voice acting sounds like Harrison Ford; not sure if it is him or a sound-alike. The game comes with a port of a classic Indy game, Fate of Atlantis, which came out 17 years ago and is still fairly fun if you can forgive the poor graphics. I experienced some glitches in which the game froze completely and when I should have died but the game continued.

jason h. gave it a6:
I'm about half way through, and had to stop playing. The game is plagued by irritating controls and glitches. Some of the game is extremely entertaining, such as the brawling and the shoot outs. What's left though is a tedius trek through a world made up of invisible ledges and impassible waist high boulders. In other words, though the game is very linear, the next step may become confusing. Oh yeah, and the camera angle can get frusterating.

C P gave it an8:
The worst thing about this game is that you cannot skip cinematic, or the intro credits. very big mistake, very annoying. Graphics are inconsistent, but when they're good, they're brilliant. Don't believe what they say about the motion controls. Fight sequences are great fun if you take the time to learn how to fight properly, tactically. if you just waggle then there's no way you'll enjoy the fights. Greatindy experience. I recommend playing it on hard though.

Matt F gave it a7:
The Good Location variety and detail Shooting portions are awesome Fighting is really good with a little practice Sound effects and score The Bad Ledge deaths Save Points Cannot skip intros and tutorials Waggling to avoid death is cheap The Notable Storyline is not painful like Crystal Skull Multiplayer is fun and easy, great bonus Fate of Atlantis is cool Overall it is a really fun game for Indy fans

Waylon W gave it an8:
great game. Graphics looks a little too blurry at times, but the controls are solid and the game like's to throw different things at you like holding the wiimote like a joystick to fly a plane. Game's a lot of fun to play. Haven't tried MP yet, but it looks to be fun. Oh yeah Indiana Jones: The Fate of Atlantis is included for FREE in this game. That alone makes this a great buy. Two great Indy games in one.

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Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings

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