Indiana Jones And The Great Circle review: Makes you actually feel like an archaeologist-­adventurer, writes PETER HOSKIN

Indiana Jones And The Great Circle (Xbox, PC, £59.99 or included with Xbox Game Pass) 

Verdict: Fortune and glory

Rating:

Ok, my life has peaked. It won’t get any better than this. Because, for the past few weeks, I have been Indiana Jones.

Not watched Indiana Jones. Not hummed along to his theme tune. But actually been Indiana Jones, digging around in the dust of ancient civilisations for mystical doodads and punching Nazis in their supercilious faces.

This is all thanks to MachineGames and its latest creation, Indiana Jones And The Great Circle. 

Machine earned its fine reputation by reinvigorating the first-person shooting (and, as it happens, Nazi-punching) series Wolfenstein — and it’s the first-person nature of this Indy game that makes all the difference.

Here, in what might be the most enjoyable tutorial sequence in all of gaming, you’re looking through Indy’s eyes as he reminisces about his boulder-fleeing escapades at the start of Raiders Of The Lost Ark. 

You look through his eyes up at the pyramids of Giza. And down into the catacombs of the Vatican. Everything is painstakingly re-created, especially things that will matter most to fans of the movies — like Indy’s brilliantly tweedy pal Dr

Marcus Brody. But it’s not just sights, it’s also tactility. While this Indy occasionally has to get his hands dirty with actual combat, there’s greater emphasis on swishing cobwebs aside or picking up one of the many puzzle pieces. The mission is exploration, not extermination.

The upshot is that you actually feel like an archaeologist-adventurer. Just like Indy, in fact.

Making dotted lines on the globe as he embarks on one of his greatest stories yet.