The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian

"An okay game with many flaws."

I had low expectations when I first started playing this game,and indeed those low expectations were met. It's not a horrible game,but it's not a great game either. Unlike Goldeneye or Enter The Matrix,this is a pretty average and run of the mill movie-to-video game transition that solely relied on the name of the game's star to carry it. I enjoyed it from start to end,but I must say it could have been so much better.

Graphics - 7/10

Although the strong point of the game,there's nothing spectacular here,almost out-dated looking by today's standards. It looks like it was made for the Nintendo 64,or possibly Dreamcast. You'll easily be able to recognize The Rock's face,and most of the character models are decent enough. The levels look nice however,with some fairly good detail put into the large palaces, caverns and towns you'll trek through in the game. The FMV's are pretty good,but they are very sparsely used in the game

Sound - 5/10

The Rock,AKA Dwayne Johnson,lends his own voice to the game,which is a nice touch,but what perplexed me is that The Rock's voice is only heard in the cutscenes and FMV,and not in the in-game sequences! Instead,some Native American sounding guy blurts out one-liners like ''All you did was slow me down'' and ''That's better!''. The background music gives that nice,'Mediterranean' mood and feel to the game,which I liked,but after a while becomes repetitive, especially the generic 4 note beat that plays when you are in battles,but since you won't hear much with all the slashing and bone's breaking,I guess it compensates.

Controls - 4/10

The controls are pretty simple and basic: a punch button, a kick button,a jump button, and a Special move button. However,that is where the good ends. The camera angles are HORRIBLE,it's a basic, loose flying camera-third person perspective, and because of that,the camera constantly gets stuck behind walls and other objects,leaving you blind and not knowing where the hell you or any enemies are. And if you ever to a 180 to turn the opposite direction,the camera will be right in your face,instead of facing the way your character is facing. The hit detection is screwed up as well. I don't how many times I could've sworn landing a blow on some enemies,only having them come out unscathed and ending up slicing my face open with a Scimitar. I know some programmer must have been drunk while programming these controls.

Story - 5/10

The usual ''Getting revenge'' plot. A Sorcerer named Magus has killed your pet rock and now you are on a quest to avenge your pet rock's death. Okay,so that isn't exactly how the story goes,but that's the basic premise.

Game Play - 4/10

Hmmm,not much to say. Very linear. In order to progress to the next area you must kill all enemies in the present area for the door to unlock and take you to the next area,where you rinse and repeat for the entire game. It does sound as boring as you think it does. The enemies do get a little more difficult as you progress,but otherwise all you need to do is a few swipes of your sword,and maybe a special here and there and he's dead. Speaking of swords there is quite a nice variety of weapons in the game. Gauntlets, one handed swords, two-handed swords, and spears/staffs make the fighting a little more refreshing as you go on.

The downside,however,is that you can't choose what weapon you equip. You must find them in chests scattered throughout the game,usually near save points. And if you don't enjoy the current weapon you have,too bad, You can't go back to an older weapon,the only way you can change weapons is to find the next chest and see what's inside,which is good,however,because the weapons get bigger and more powerful as you go on. The Strength and Endurance bars are pointless. They never went up during the game even with all the powerups and it didn't affect your character's performance in the game.

One fun thing that can help you in battles is tossing large vases and bottles containing either fires, explosions, or some kind of Toxic Tar substance,that will hurt many enemies in the vicinity if they are got in the radius,and YOU too if your not careful,which I found out the hard way. Boss battles are also a nice change of pace, but I found that most of the bosses were too easy. With enough thinking you can figure out how to kill them in a matter of seconds. And last,there are many little ''artifacts'' that you can unlock in the game by collecting rubies. These including concept sketches, movies, and other little Easter eggs.

Overall,this game would appeal more to the younger audience,with it's super easy game play and WWE superstar The Rock as the star, more mature and advanced gamers might want to stay away from this one. If you want,it's a good weekend rental. I beat it in 5 days with no guides or cheats,and other than the artifacts to unlock in the game,there's no reason to play this more than once. Good idea,bad execution. If you must buy it,get it used for 10 bucks.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 05/22/03, Updated 05/22/03