It can be a dangerous situation when developers start mixing different gaming
styles together. Usually it’s best just to stick with a pure action game and
don’t mess around with the adventure part. Or if you’re creating a first-person
shooter should you really throw in some puzzles? It’s like having too many cooks
in the kitchen. Well, ours friends over at THQ decided to add one part creative
puzzle style game with a one part action/platformer game, stir it gently, and
cook until lightly toasted. The result of this concoction is called Sphinx and
the Cursed Mummy. Is it a tasty treat or should you be worried about food
poisoning with this bad boy? The answer is found straight ahead...
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| This is Sphinx. |
All right, I’ll just come out and say this at the beginning just to get the
suspense over. Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy (SCM) is a great game. There, I said
it and I’m proud of it. As the name rightly implies, SCM takes place among
pyramids, sand, and that general vibe that one gets when you hear anything
relating to Egyptian times. I suppose if you have a strange aversion to sand
then this might not be the game for you, but for everyone else this is a sleeper
type of game that many may unfortunately never get to see. But that’s where your
trusted game reviewer comes in to save the day and to point you toward this
little gem.
In SCM you play two heroes that are equally important to the outcome of the
game but who have extremely different ways of playing. One is Sphinx who is your
typical young hero. He’s cocky, head strong, and has a tail. Well, maybe the
tail part isn’t so typical. Sphinx is the action hero of the game. He uses
swords and blowpipes to fend off the bad guys. On the other side you have the
Mummy, who used to be Prince Tutankhamen until an unfortunate accident with a
bed sheet. Hmmm, actually now that I think about it it was really an evil trap
led by his brother that transformed Prince Tut into a mummy and a Cursed one at
that! Nevertheless Mummy and Sphinx soon hook up in a dungeon and our heroes
start their quest to stop the evil dark Set from doing generally bad things.
During the game you switch between Sphinx and Mummy as they go on different
paths on their journey. While playing as Sphinx you are more of a tough guy and
usually use your sword to solve problems. Sphinx starts the game without much
going for him weapon-wise, but as you get further along you will get some more
interesting and powerful weapons/upgrades. Some of these items will allow you to
gain access to previously sealed places. There are some puzzles that Sphinx has
to solve in order to get to certain areas. Overall the difficulties of the
puzzles throughout the game are on the more challenging side. Parts of the game
are hard but once the solution is found it doesn’t seem like a cheap solution so
I would say that while being on the harder side it’s very fair.
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