John Payne and the Infernal Machine

John Payne and the Infernal Machine is a action-adventure video game by Rocksteady released in late 2018. The first 3D installment in the series, its gameplay focuses on solving puzzles, fighting enemies, and various platforming sections. The story told is set between the events of Journey to El Dorado and John Payne: Darkest Times, taking one year both before and after the films, and puts the eponymous protagonist, the adventurer John Payne, against the Ku Klux Klan. In a race for a mythological Babylonian power source, he joins forces with Walter Mill and collects four pieces of the Infernal Machine, a biblical device that allegedly opens a portal to another dimension.

The title was designed, written, and directed by Hal Barwood who considered the John Payne franchise a perfect fit for the action-adventure genre. Infernal Machine received critical acclaim, having been praised for its detailed storyline, sophisticated level designs and graphics more realistic than it's predecessor, which many critics agree that the characters looked exactly like the actors in the movies.

Plot
The story of the game is set in 2018 and depicts archaeologist and adventurer John Payne (voiced by Dylan O'Brien) and Phil Lockhart (voiced by Robert De Niro) returning to their career after the events of Darkest Times, that left John with a phost-traumatic disorder. Jessica Harper (voiced and motion captured by Ashley Johnson), a agent visits John and Phil at his apartment in Brooklyn, and informs him that a secret organization are excavating the ruins of Babylon. Led by James Krueger (voiced by Frank Welker), a physicist interested in alternate dimensions, the organization's supposed objective is to find a weapon more powerful than the atom bomb, giving them a deciding to control the world into their secret government and control both Capitalism and Socialism.

Jessica hires the two to investigate what exactly the Russians are searching for, and he travels to their dig site in Iraq. However, John only agrees in going if he can have his partner, reporter Emily Williams (voiced and motion captured by Emma Stone) in the journey, as Jessica agrees. There, they joins up with Jessica's boss Simon Turner (voiced and motion captured by Bryan Cranston) and finds out that Krueger is looking for the Babylonian god Marduk who lives on another plane called the Aetherium. Deep in the ruins of the Etemenanki, John translates some ancient tablets with cuneiform writing explaining the true story behind the Tower of Babel: 2600 years ago, King Nebuchadnezzar II was inspired by Marduk to build a great engine, but the frightened Babylonians tore the tower housing it down, leading four of the god's disciples to escape with some parts of this "Infernal Machine".

John, Phil and Walter embarks on a journey to find these machine parts before the Organization do, and eventually retrieves all four of them from a monastery in the mountains of Kazakhstan, an active volcano in the Philippines, an Olmec valley in Mexico, and a tomb in the deserts of the Sudan. They are then confronted by Krueger and Turner who both demand him to hand over the parts as they think they would not be safe with the other side. Untrusting of his fellow comrades, but opting for the lesser evil, he gives the parts to Sophia and Turner.Krueger says that it was probably better this way, as Marduk would have his revenge on those who desecrated the machine.

Alarmed, John, Phil and Emilytravels back to the Room of the Tablets in Babylon, and finds a now-opened gate leading even further into the ruins, to the core of the Infernal Machine. They catches up with Jessica and Turner, the latter of which intends to convince the other dimension to cooperate with them, and uses the machine parts to activate the engine. He then pushes the unwilling Jessica and Emily into a mystical cage as a means of sending her to the Aetherium as an ambassador. John sees no other way but to kill him to reclaim all parts and rescue her. However, the activated machine goes awry, and Indiana and Emily are sucked into a portal that leads to the other dimension. There, he defeats the malevolent Marduk and frees Jessica from her cage. Having escaped back to Babylon, the team is greeted by Phil and Krueger, who is curious to find out if they encountered God on the other side, which John denies. In the ensuing conversation, the Soviet doctor turns out to be a lot less extremist than assumed, and the three wander off into the sunrise in search of a good bottle of vodka. A bonus level sees John and Emily (voiced and motion captured by Emma Stone) heading to the latin temple from the opening of the film Journey to El Dorado, and has him find Sir Ranulph Fiennes tomb.

Voice Cast

 * Dylan O'Brien as John Payne
 * Robert De Niro as Phillip "Phil" Lockhart
 * Emma Stone as Emily Williams
 * Ashley Johnson as Jessica Harper
 * Bryan Cranston as Simon Turner
 * Frank Welker as James Krueger

Reception
The Infernal Machine received critical acclaims with an average score of 96.60 percent at GameRankings. Although some critics found it to be too similar to Uncharted the game was noted for setting itself apart from the aforementioned series due to being based on the John Payne franchise, and relying more heavily on puzzle-solving. IGN commended the game for its intricate and intriguing storyline. Eurogamer shared the opinion and stated the plot to be "excellently woven", enhancing the feel of "being part of a big blockbuster movie". Computer and Video Games, Eurogamer, and IGN also praised Infernal Machine for its levels, calling them "excellently designed" and including "some of the most brilliant layouts [...] seen in a game of this type" While IGN thought the variety of puzzles provided was sufficient and applauded the inclusion of a hint system, GameSpot found many of the puzzles in the game to focus too heavily on platforming and went on to state that they become "quite repetitive - even predictable" after the first few levels.