The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian

"Its not bad, but its not good either."

Introduction:

While it may seem like another move based game solely developed to rack up money due to its popularity, The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian is still a fun game, making it a game that fans of the beat 'em up genre should at least rent. The game's downfall is that it adds nothing new to the genre, making the engine seem tired and used. Still, those that have thoroughly enjoyed the movie and been quite pleased with the genre; The Scorpion King is worth a check, especially considering that it comes in such a low price.

Story:

The Scorpion King is not based on the movie, playing as a prequel to the movie. The story stars Mathayus, the Rock as a mercenary. When Mathayus was ordered to kill the king of the nearby-civilized town, events started occurring, such as the uprising of Magus and the underworld. Magus is a powerful magician that is hell bent on releasing Set, Egyptian mythical God that has been prisoned in the underworld for his sins against his brother Osiris. Not all was lost, for the sword of Osiris that was shattered long ago had the potential of defeating Magus. So, Mathayus journeys out into the world, searching for the one sword capable of bringing redemption to the world.

Gameplay:

Rise of the Akkadian plays like your standard beat 'em up game; you go around beating up groups of enemies just to advance to the next area. Rise of the Akkadian does a decent attempt of adding more to this formula, such as adding a limited stamina bar that increases your strength, as well as adding a combo system that doesn't come in a variety, nor is it of any great effect.

You'll be battling it out against endless waves of enemies using four different weapons; the fist gloves, a standard sword, a spear and a broad sword. The fist gloves are your more agile weapon but inferior in strength, giving you the most in melee combat. The sword is very swift, an all arounder. The spear may be considered weaker than the fist gloves, but that flaw is easily forgiven by the fact it's capable of handling surrounding enemies thanks to its length. The broad sword is the most powerful weapon in the game with an extended reach much like the spear, but its downfall is that its weight will make it slow to strike. Later on the game, you'll be acquiring more improved versions of the four weapon classes as said before, only changing in strength.

Unlike its movie counterpart, Mathayus has no ranged weapon. It's quite disappointing to see the game lack this feature, because the way Mathayus has handled his bow and arrow in the movie was anticipating. Though there is a new addition to the weaponry not used in the movie; the shield. The purpose of the shield is to protect any incoming arrows and strikes from enemies, but it cannot serve its purpose forever, since it does have its limits. Just like the weapons, you can acquire shields that are able to endure more punishment.

Like all beat 'em up/hack n slash games, the main goal of the game is to reach from one point to another while killing off enemies that interfere in your travels. The Scorpion King doesn't go beyond this, which is the biggest downfall of the game. Aside from the poor attempts of creating puzzles that certainly does a good job of resting your mind of the repetitive action, you'll be killing massive hordes of enemies in an extremely linear fashion, and it does eventually get tedious. Sometimes I cried because there was too much exploring in games such as Wind Waker, Metroid Prime and various RPG's, but little would you realize that minimum exploration would serve the same amount of boredom. Basically, when you've killed the appropriate number of enemies in a certain area, you will be given access to the next area, which isn't too different from the last.

That doesn't mean Rise of the Akkadian isn't any fun. While you will find the later parts of the game to be quite boring, the boss battles more than make up for this. You'll be facing off against monsters such as Medusa, Apep, Anubis, Set and a lot other mythological creatures from Greek and Egyptian myths. The bosses here definitely put up a hell of a fight, and in fact, three of my five favourite boss battles are contained in this game. The boss battles are very fun and very challenging; that enduring the boring parts that contaminates this game is well worth it.

Besides, the battles against the game's standard enemies aren't that boring and repetitive; it's actually quite fun if you take rests inbetween a level or two. You can perform combo attacks which could either cause heavy damage against an enemy or two, or cause splash damage, which would cause standard damage to all surrounding enemies. It may seem like the game is pulling off a Kill Bill where Mathayus is completely invincible with the variety of weapons he uses; the game still plays well enough to be fun and entertaining. The different types of enemies you encounter range from agile and annoying pests such as birds, dogs and Anubis's minions, to the giants like the Titans and fat green trolls. As you might of guessed, the enemies such as the Titans and trolls are especially more vulnerable to the broad sword, while enemies such as snakes and hounds are weaker against the spear classes.

Graphics/Sounds:

The graphics are above mediocre, both in cutscenes and in the game. This one cutscene showed Mathayus kicking down a door with poor strength, but still breaks it down as if he bulldozed the poor thing. The models are pretty bland and lack detail, but it still manages to look decent, but nothing spectacular. The environments look pretty standard as well, looking pretty dull, giving you the impression the developers didn't care for anything about the game except for its license.

The sounds, much like the graphics are pretty dull and tired as well. It uses the same generic slashing sounds that every other movie and game has used, but the voice acting is actually pretty good. The role of Mathayus is played by the Rock, and the acting in general is solid and fluent, enough to sound decent.

Replay value:

Once you've played it once, you probably wouldn't play it again. The only reason why you would want to replay the game is because of the side-quests tasks, in which this case is collecting rubies. Collecting rubies do nothing but unlock more of the extras features, which are nothing but concept art and such that you couldn't care much for. For me, the only reason why you would want to replay it is to experience all of the boss battles again, because they are that memorable and challenging.

Buy or Rent?:

The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian is a game that would only fit a 3 day rental period, but with such a low price, you are better off buying the game at $9.99.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 10/04/04