Why the cooperation with The Collective on this game? We saw an early demo of The Collective's Buffy game and realized that engine would be great as the basis for a new Indiana Jones game.

We saw an early demo of The Collective's Buffy game and realized that engine would be great as the basis for a new Indiana Jones game.

Is Hal Barwood - project leader and writer of 'Fate of Atlantis', 'Desktop Adventures' and 'Infernal Machine' - again involved in making 'Emperor's Tomb'?

Hal was involved in the early stages and provided great feedback on the story.

Will Indiana Jones for the third time be voiced by Doug Lee?

We're using a voice actor named David Escher. We wanted a slightly younger-sounding Indy for this game since it takes place in 1935 (before Indy's adventures in the movies).

Why did you choose to make a second Indiana Jones 3D action/adventure game instead of an adventure game type like 'Fate of Atlantis' or 'Grim Fandango', but with a bit more action?

Well, I think making an Indy game that's a 3D action/adventure game is really more in keeping with the spirit of the Indy movies more than any competing products. I think the Indy movies are really about fun and entertaining the audience and that's been the inspiration for 'The Emperor's Tomb'. We wanted to capture the elements of the Indy movies and present them in a game.

During E3 we heard that the music of 'Emperor's Tomb' would only consist of the original score from the Indiana Jones trilogy. But we later heard that the music is being composed by Clint Bajakian. Will the game feature both?

Other than the Indy theme, all the other music in the game has been composed specifically for the game by Clint Bajakian. It's also the first time that a LucasArts game has featured music performed by a live orchestra. The results are amazing sounding and I think Clint's done a great job of capturing that John Williams feel while providing fresh material specifically for the 'Emperor's Tomb'.

There's one scene in 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom' in which Wu Han says to Indy: "I've followed you on many adventures, but into the Great Unknown Mystery, I go first, Indy." Now with 'Emperor's Tomb' taking place just before the events in the film, is this game one of the adventures with Wu Han?

You'll have to play the game to find the answer to that one : )

Will the interactions with other characters in the game be with cut-scenes like in 'Infernal Machine' or more like in the classic adventure games where you can choose what to say?

Interactions with other characters will be in cinematics. There are no dialog trees like the classic games.

The 'Emperor's Tomb' trailer shows a lot of great and fluid hand-to-hand combat, which adds a lot to the adventure spirit of the Indy games. Besides Indy's fists, whip, and pistol will there be any other weapons to defend yourself with in the game?

There's a variety of other weapons that Indy can utilize: shotguns; submachine guns; knives and swords; plus improvised weapons such as chairs, shovels, and bottles.

Will there be a multi-player option, where characters from the game and movies can be chosen for a more interactive adventure?

No, 'Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb' is a single player game only.

Has Indy's whip animations and actions evolved in any way? Will it still be so dangerous when trying to whip the weapon out of the hands of an enemy? Because in 'Infernal Machine' whipping an armed enemy was like trying to commit suicide.

Indy's whip is infinitely more useful in the 'Emperor's Tomb'. Indy can use his whip to navigate around the environment, i.e., swinging from place to place. He can also use it as a weapon both to attack enemies and to disarm them.

We have already seen screenshots featuring Nazi's and ninja's and there's even a concept art painting of a gigantic octopus. Does this mean we can expect to see more supernatural creatures like in 'Infernal Machine'?

There's definitely a supernatural element to the storyline but the majority of the opponents are fairly realistic.

One last question. Can you already tell us what the system requirements for the PC version of 'Emperor's Tomb' will be?

t's a little early to finalize them, but we're looking at: P3 733Mhz; 128MB of RAM; and a GeForce 1 or better videocard.

Thank you for your time, Jim.

- by Aaron Higgins