Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings

Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings for PSP is a 2009 single-player action-adventure from Amaze Entertainment, published by LucasArts. It sends the fedora-wearing archaeologist on an original, globe-spanning quest set in 1939, as Europe edges toward war. Rather than adapting one of the films, this PlayStation Portable entry tells its own story about a legendary relic: the Staff of Kings, an artifact associated with Moses and the parting of the Red Sea. It shares its title and broad premise with the Wii, PlayStation 2, and Nintendo DS releases, but the PSP game was developed separately for Sony's handheld and has its own arrangement of the adventure.

The campaign opens with Indy pursuing an ancient idol in Sudan before a new lead draws him into the mystery of a missing former mentor, Professor Charles Kingston. His search brings him into conflict with Magnus Voller and Nazi forces pursuing the same prize. Along the way, Indy deals with antique dealer Archie Tan and his granddaughter Suzie, joins forces with photographer Maggie O'Malley, and follows clues through locations including San Francisco, Panama, Istanbul, Nepal, and the Red Sea. The story uses the series' familiar mix of archaeological intrigue, traps, criminal adversaries, and escalating peril while building toward a race to stop the Staff from falling into Nazi hands.

Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings PSP is played from a third-person perspective and combines exploration, platforming, hand-to-hand fights, shooting sequences, puzzles, and short action challenges. The analog stick moves Indy through compact, often maze-like environments, while contextual prompts let him climb, jump, grab ladders, operate mechanisms, and interact with objects. The Circle button lets him dive clear of hazards, an important response when a collapsing route or trap turns an ordinary passage into a chase. Progress comes through a linear series of missions, but the individual areas make room for collectibles and optional objectives alongside the main route.

Indy's whip remains a central part of the adventure's identity, used alongside his fists, sidearm, and the objects he can handle in the environment. Encounters shift between close-quarters brawls, traversal challenges, and targeted shooting scenes, so the game regularly changes pace instead of relying on one kind of action. Puzzles and mechanisms ask players to read the surroundings and activate the right objects to open a path. The PSP release uses conventional buttons and analog controls rather than the motion controls of the Wii version or the Nintendo DS touchscreen, giving this handheld adaptation an input scheme tailored to the system.

Collecting artifacts is tied to the game's Fortune and Glory progression. Completing objectives earns Glory, which can be spent on upgrades to Indy's abilities, while discovered artifacts contribute to Fortune and unlock bonus content. This gives optional finds a practical purpose beyond simple completion tracking and provides reasons to revisit stages or improve a run. The game also includes time-trial-style challenges that focus on defeating groups of enemies quickly, extending the action outside the main story.

The PSP edition is especially notable as a purpose-built handheld take on a multi-platform Indiana Jones project. LucasArts originally pursued a more ambitious PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game, but those versions were cancelled; externally developed releases instead arrived in June 2009. Amaze Entertainment's version condenses the same 1939 hunt into a portable format rather than duplicating every feature of the console editions. It is part of the long-running Indiana Jones game catalogue, following earlier 3D adventures such as Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine and Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, while telling a separate story with a new artifact at its center.

For players looking for an Indiana Jones PSP adventure, Staff of Kings offers a self-contained serial-style journey built around relic hunting, cinematic escapes, fistfights, and environmental obstacles. Its campaign follows Indy from one clue to the next as the Staff's history becomes clearer and its pursuers grow more dangerous. The result is a distinct version of the 2009 game: an original LucasArts-published Indiana Jones story shaped around the PlayStation Portable's controls, mission structure, collectible upgrades, and handheld presentation.