Indiana Jones finally hits Adventure World in 'The Calendar of the Sun'

At last, Adventure World can live up to its subtitle, "An Indiana Jones Game." Indy has finally arrived in Zynga Boston's debut game for Zynga in a quest known as "The Calendar of the Sun." The first of what's to be many more adventures with the original man in the fedora, this series of five missions has players team up with Indy and actually help the guy achieve his goals.

Starting tomorrow, Nov. 29, players Level 3 and above can jump into Adventure World to help Indy on his quest to find--what else?--a mysterious artifact. (Players will also notice tomorrow that the game has been renamed to "Indiana Jones Adventure World.") And, of course, some evil adventurers have a head start, though we seriously doubt they're Nazis.

Indy is an active character throughout all of the missions you embark on him with, though you never control him. Based on a preview of the new content provided by executive producer Toby Ragaini, you'll instead trade helping hands with Indy. For instance, we all know how much Mr. Jones(bonus points if you get that reference) hates snakes. There will be points in a mission when Indy simply can't move on because he'll be blocked by slithery creatures. It'll then be your job to take out the snakes before the two of you can move on. But don't think you'll always be killing critters for the guy.

"We treat the Indy character with a certain degree of reverence," Ragaini tells us. "He's not just gonna be standing around waiting for you to do something. He's going to appear at points of high drama in the game, and we want to keep his presence an exciting, dynamic force in the game."

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Indy will also pick up extra treasure for players as he marches onward through jungles and dungeons. We imagine this trading of helping hands will continue through the first three maps within the greater "The Calendar of the Sun" storyline available at launch: Jungle Approach, Lunar Mine and Mystery of the Moon Door. These missions also pack a new collection for mystery boxes in which players must find the following: Archeology Term Paper, Satchel, Antidote, Glasses and a Journal.

Of course, more content is already in the making for this long-term branding of Adventure World. In later adventures with Indy, players will get access to his famous fashion and, better yet, his gadgets, like snake bait, greased push blocks and even a bear trap. But back to what Indiana Jones is doing in Adventure World. It actually makes a bit of sense, and that's exactly how Zynga Boston--and more importantly, Lucasfilm--wanted it. Indy arrives to the Adventure Society camp in 1934, exactly a year before his first adventure on film, Raiders of the Lost Ark. (The initial Indy missions in Adventure World will even reference Forrestal, a minor characters whose remains are found in Raiders of the Lost Ark.)

"To give you some idea, the president of Lucasfilm was here just about a week ago," Zynga Boston GM Nabeel Hyatt reveals to us. "So, we could sit down and brainstorm about not only this release, but how we're going to have Indy carry forward in the game." Even before this meeting, which we're sure wasn't the first, Indiana Jones's appearance in Adventure World does feel authentic. The character's artwork looks surprisingly similar to Harrison Ford and Indy-themed music is even included in this re-release of sorts. Sure, it's the studios end of bargain to keep things accurate and genuine, but it seems like the team was motivated by more than just a contract.

"We've really taken the time to work with Lucasfilm to make sure all of the dialog, everything with Indy is perfectly in keeping with his iconic status. It's safe to say that we're all pretty enormous fans, and it's something of a childhood dream for a lot of us to work with Lucasfilm," Ragaini gushes to us. "To have Indy join Adventure World is pretty damn cool."

Check out the rest of our Adventure World Cheats & Tips right here.

Are you excited to see what becomes of Indy's involvement with Adventure World? What do you think of this branding initiative compared to previous branding events by Zynga? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.