Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy

"Underrated and quite humorous despite its flaws"

It isn't very often that I find a game that I really hang onto for very long. In fact, I've owned so many games that I can't remember them all by name. They frequently feel like so many other games out there that they're forgettable.

But that's not true for Sphinx. I bought this game assuming that it would be a Prince of Persia clone, but I soon realized that I had a foot in my mouth.

It's not to say that this game is by any means perfect, but I would probably keep this baby for the rest of my gaming life.

Introduction:
The time period of this game is in ancient Egypt and revolves around Prince Tutankhamen and the highly controversial Akhenaten. In addition it features many Egyptian demigods, one of course being the Sphinx.

Gameplay:
Sphinx plays off fairly easily with decent hit-detection, but suffers badly under poor camera conditions. There were many times where I started to lose my patience because of the camera not being particularly useful.

The game itself has a lot to show you, and unfortunately I haven't discovered whether or not there's a first-person perspective. It would have been spectacular to be able to stop for a moment and take a good look around for clues when I got stuck trying to figure out how to move on. And the camera kept many things hidden from me while trying to keep Sphinx from dying.

But don't get me wrong, Sphinx is a really fun game to play once you get over the camera.

In addition, there are places that have mini-games if you want to earn power-up items or Scarabs(currency).

Story:
I don't want to give away any spoilers to those of you who've stuck with me. Let's just say that you start out the game as Sphinx and that you get to play as the mummy from time to time.

This game has a terrific story for those of you who like history mixed in with humor and deceit. Plus the demigods have amusing personalities that probably wouldn't be far off from their true nature.

Graphics:
As for graphics, this game has really nice mapping. The characters faces/bodies have very nice polygons. Definitely one of the game's brighter qualities. There's no doubt that you'll become attached to the characters that you meet if you end up enjoying this game.

As for non-characters, the game has a beautifully rendered world full of color and vibrancy. The water effects and cities are anything but dull and lifeless. When I played Sphinx, I was constantly reminded of bright colors like those used in the Spyro the Dragon games.

Even though many of the dungeons have dark and uninspiring colors, the game presents these places to the player as realistically looking as possible. Add that to the effect of things like water geysers and fire spewing pits, you'll actually enjoy picking on the mummy, while trying your best to keep Sphinx unharmed.

Sound:
Unfortunately, this will be an area that many people curious about Sphinx will be sorely disappointed. That is if you enjoy having voice over. I am not one who usually goes out of my way to listen to english voice over, but it would have been greatly appreciated here.

You won't be hearing any voice acting whatsoever. The only voices heard while playing are basically grunts, even though the characters presented on-screen are moving their mouths during dialogue.

If you're one of those people who completely swear by playing with dubbing, then this game probably isn't for you. Or at the very least small children who haven't learned how to read will probably miss the more complicated parts of the story. It's not like they won't get some basic points and humor out of it though.

As for bgm, it will either be lovable or downright out of place during the story presentation. The music would have been perfect blended with voice acting, since the Arabian music style is ambient and is assumed to be very much in place with the Ancient Egyptian time setting.

Play Time/Replayability:
I spent considerable amounts of time missing certain aspects of the game trying to move on to next part of the story. Often in hind sight, they were due to not seeing something off-screen. It's also a rare thing for me to get motion-sickness while playing video games, which limited me to playing as long as I intended to.

As for playing the game again, I certainly would do so just for the entertainment value of the poor mummy's exploits.

Final Recommendation: RENT
If you stuck with me until the end reading this review and you found yourself curious about Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy, you should at least rent this underrated game for a weekend. I can't recommend anyone to just buy the game simply because it's not perfect compared to the current standards. The lack of voice acting will probably bother many of you out there. I grew up when games only had text during dialogue, so I was only slightly disappointed in that respect.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/29/04