Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy

Can't decide between being a sword-swinging hero or a dead pharaoh? Now you can be both! Find out how in our full preview.

	Version PS2, Xbox, GCN	Developer Eurocom	Publisher THQ	Genre Adventure

By Rico Rodriguez

Many, many moons ago, console gamers were graced with a game that combined the exploration of a giant game world with action-packed combat and a wide assortment of gadgets that were actually necessary to master if you wanted to complete the game. That game was The Legend of Zelda, and it was good.

Good enough to spawn life to a whole series of games, each not only building on the last, but building on what a game could be. And then some enterprising soul at Eurocom Entertainment Software decided that the PS2 needed its own Zelda game, and so far it's looking quite decent. Sphinx and The Cursed Mummy owes a lot to the Zelda series, but they do bring some original elements to the table as well, making the finished product much more than just a very well polished Zelda clone.

During the course of this third-person adventure game you alternate between controlling both Sphinx and The Mummy. Sphinx is the Link stand-in here, and he comes standard with a sword for close enemy encounters and a bow gun that he can use both to attack and to trip far away switches and buttons, not unlike, say, a slingshot.

You begin with standard, everyday blow darts, but you'll have the opportunity to earn darts with special abilities, like darts that bounce off the walls or that deliver a shot of acid. Treasure chests hidden throughout the game will yield other useful goodies like remote-control explosive beetles. Sphinx will also be able to learn new abilities, the most exciting of which is the ability to metamorphoses into a winged lion for aerial combat and chase scenes.

The Mummy is most definitely not built for combat. In fact, while playing The Mummy, you won't even have an attack button, just the ability to jump and grab things. On the plus side, The Mummy is already dead, and so can take unlimited hits from the enemies he encounters. While Sphinx is an unabashed action hero, The Mummy's levels are all about puzzles, the key to which are taking advantage of The Mummy's undead state by putting him through the sort of punishment that would kill most any other game character.

In the course of advancing through The Mummy's levels, you will set him on fire, electrocute him, smash him paper thin, turn him into a puff of smoke, petrify him, and split him into three smaller mummies, each with its own comical animation. Each of these effects will be temporary, and you will be racing through levels to light a torch, power a switch, slip through bars, and other similar tasks before you revert to your normal state.

As the title suggests, the game is built around an Egyptian theme, but it most definitely does not take place in the Egypt you know. The game's universe is connected by a series of portals, and each of these portals leads to another world, each with its own civilization.

Sphinx's mission is to travel from land to land via the portals to collect a set of crowns needed to defeat the evil Set. You'll be controlling Sphinx for about 70% of the game as you open up new portals and fight off the armies of Set, who wants the crowns for himself. You'll also interact with about 200 characters over the course of the game, some with information that can aid your quest, and some with quests of their own.

The Mummy is mostly preoccupied with finding his organs, bringing himself back to life, escaping his prison, and reclaiming his throne and his love from the man who betrayed him. The stories start off unconnected save for the fact that Sphinx witnesses The Mummy's mummification, but the plot lines do converge as the two characters path cross in the game, at which point each of the main characters becomes more directly involved in the other's quest.

The character design is solid. Sphinx is the young strapping hero we expect to save the world single handedly, and The Mummy is an uncoordinated mess that comes across surprisingly cowardly for an invulnerable character. The Mummy's run in particular is very chuckle inducing. The landscapes are similarly well thought out, and evoke a sense of mystery for both indoor and outdoor levels.

While not exactly ground breaking, Sphinx and The Mummy is shaping up to be a solid game with great visuals and enough action to suck you into its world. Developer Eurocom Entertainment Software is proud enough of their game to expand the offering from the PS2 to not only the Xbox but the Gamecube as well, putting it in direct competition with the latest, and by many accounts greatest, Zelda game yet.

Their confidence appears well earned, but only time will tell if Sphinx and The Cursed Mummy has enough appeal to stand on its own merits.