Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy (GameCube)

The storyline is basically, you as Sphinx, who is a demi-god, attempting to stop the evil Ra from taking over the universe. At the same time, the ruler of Eygpt has been turned into a mummy, and its your job (and his) to try and resurrect him to his former glory. There are a couple of other twists and turns in the game, but to tell you them would be taking away the surprise and intrigue-putting it bluntly, the story is easily as good as Jak and Daxters and Ratchet and Klanks.

The gameplay is highly original. You play as Sphinx, who as the warrior, can use the arsenal he has at his dissposal, to take down the minions of Ra. He has the usual, sword, blow pipe, some magical abilities, so nothing new there. Its the mummy thats different though. At points in the game, the action centres on the mummy, and because he is a mummy, he cant die. So you literally run into fire, acid, and booby trapped rooms just so you can advance. However, theres also an element of stratergy here. Say you need to be thin enough to fit through some pipes, you need to go and enter a room that'll squash you-then you can advance.

Graphically, its just as good as Jak, and Ratchet and Klank. The characters are all interesting, with many half human, half animal sort of creations wandering around a vast desert landscape or a thriving city plagued with rodents, or an incredible metropolois surrounded in jewels. Some of these will help you, and others would rather attack you before they even look at you-YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. The sound is fairly good as well, with some interesting eastern compositional work that reflects sort of nature of Eygptian history and contemporary religion.

So what lets this game down. There are so many "established" platformers on the market, and this is just another one of them. Its no better in honest, and no worse than the others. But if you like that sort of game, than this is definitely worth more than a look at. (PS it takes roughly 12 hours to complete)

I only bought this game yesterday, but have already got about 5 hours of play from it, and have played as the Mummy as well as Sphinx. There is a lot of humour in this game - which comes more from the Mummy than anyone else - as the way he moves when you either set him on fire or electrocute can be hilarious at times.

The puzzles used are very innovative, and there will be times where you will genuinely have no idea of what you need to do, or how to progress to that ledge which is just too far away to jump to, and there is a real sense of satisfaction, especially as the Mummy, when you manage to crack them. The Mummy's puzzles are far more difficult than those faced by Sphinx, as Sphinx is more action based,so his parts are broken up with combat, and since the Mummy cannot fight, the only action in his sections will come from you scratching your head in difficulty.

The combat parts are nicely done as well, and there is a good mix of abilities. And because you switch from Sphinx to the Mummy quite frequently, theres no opportunity to get bored whilst playing.

It's been a really really enjoyable experience so far, and it promises to get better. Don't let what I said about the frame rate and the odd bit of slowing down put you off this game. It is well worth the money - especially at the price being asked for it on here! I would happily have paid £40 for it.

Until the next Legend of Zelda game arrives, or if you are looking for something a bit more innovative and unusual, or both, you really can't go wrong with this. A worthy addition to any GameCube library, and one that won't be going back to the games shop in a hurry.