I really want to like this. There are too many average platformers on the market and we thought Eurocom’s yarn looked very promising indeed, melding Mario and Zelda together in an epic adventure. It seems to have a lot of character and flair and a good chunk of the game is great stuff - the developers have gone further than most in this respect. But it doesn’t go far enough. This review will be pretty critical but that’s only because the sum of its parts are less than its whole. For starters, the game has a lacklustre beginning. It’s duller than daytime TV (have you seen This Morning lately?) and you’ll need to persevere for a good hour or so before mind-achingly dull becomes bland okayishness. After this it does start to shine, mainly when you’ve got puzzles to solve and more interesting areas to explore, such as the towns or dungeons. However, the game does tend to lull into these coma-inducing tedium moments worryingly regularly - the desert is lifeless and some of the tasks pointless. Whereas in a game like Wind Waker you’d want to sap every last piece of goodness from it, here you’ll just run past any side-quests to go back to where the meat is. For everything the game seems to do right it then does something wrong. As we’ve already said, puzzle solving is its forte and the Mummy levels emphasise this, with no enemies to distract you. These levels are the highlight of the game, as you punish the Mummy by electrocuting him or setting him on fire to further your progress through the castle. Such moments are hilarious and thoroughly entertaining. It’s a pity that only six of the levels allow you to play as the Mummy, so instead you’ll get bored by the charmless, devoid-of-any-personality Sphinx instead. The main protagonist’s quest is hindered by two major problems. Firstly, there are too many moments where pixel-perfect jumps are needed (or should that be polygon-perfect now?). Furthermore, fighting can be an on-off affair due to the lack of a lock-on targeting system. It’s not a problem early on but it increasingly becomes a nuisance. Oh, while we’re on fighting we may as well bring up bosses. They’re all rubbish and easier to defeat than wet tissue paper. A blind man could beat them, with his hands tied behind his back. This is a real oddity. Aping Zelda is not a problem but it seems to forget many of its better features and comes across all Starfox Adventures instead - pretty, substantial but soulless. If you’ve never played a Zelda game you’ll be a lot happier with it and there aren’t real alternatives on PS2 or Xbox bar Beyond Good and Evil but its faults are too large for us to glide over. This is the type of game which feels like it needs a sequel to bring everything together but whether it sells enough for their return is questionable. And one last thing - lip synching but no voice acting is really disconcerting. Just like mummification, then.
Other Helpful Reviews for Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy
Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy on the Sony PlayStation 2 brings a very creative and immersive blend of two genres, 3D Platforming and an adventure game in the style of Zelda. The story resolves around two characters, Sphinx... Read Full Review
A game way ahead of its time, Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy has amazing graphics and innovative gameplay. In most of the game, you control Sphinx, a headstrong demigod confident in his abilities against the evil Set, the g... Read Full Review
