Since it is the holiday season, developers are rushing to get their games out on the market. To make games successful developers have to make sure their game has a unique premise, non-repetitive gameplay, and stand out from the other games. Eurocom has released their latest action/platform game entitled: Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy, and I have to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed this game. Read on to find out what makes this game unique and fun to play.

A long time ago there was an old Egyptian empire called the Egyptian Universal Empire that joined several worlds together though the Solar Disk Portals. After some time had passed that empire was destroyed and left out of the history books. There is now an ancient uprising that involves two gods who are trying to revive the old empire in all of its former glory. Osiris is the good benevolent god while Set is the malicious god intent on destroying the world. The portals are now unstable and monsters are invading different villages and destroying them. It is up to Sphinx and his friend the Mummy to stop Set from destroying everything in his path. Can you handle it?

There are two different gameplay portions in Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy. The Sphinx segments of this game play remarkably close to Nintendo’s own Zelda franchise, which is a good thing. Sphinx game segments are full of action and adventure, there will always be enemies around the corner to defeat, and new items that will enhance the game play.

On the other hand the Mummy segments are more stealth and puzzle oriented. To be completely honest the Mummy portions is what makes this game so fun. It is always exciting and entertaining to see what new things the Mummy will have to do in order to progress throughout the game.

The controls for both of these characters are very tight and always responsive. The main analog stick is for movement, and the “C” stick is for camera movement. This is nice because having control of the camera can at times mean the difference between life and death, because at times the view that the computer gives players can be deadly. The only bad thing about the control scheme is that there is no lock on feature. This is one of the most crucial things that these types of games have to have anymore. At times players will take unnecessary damage because they cannot get a proper lock on an enemy.

Sphinx is a very pretty game for the GameCube. The levels that the players will transverse are very large and brimming with details. The fires put off a nice heat affect, the shadowing on all of the characters is nicely done, and the animations for everything look splendid. The particle effects and the texture used are nicely done for this game.

The biggest portion of this category certainly goes to the character models. The Mummy and Sphinx are brimming with details. The character models have a very high polygonal count and are textured nicely. Even though they are highly detailed Eurocom focused the majority of their attention on the animation of the characters. Sphinx has a wagging tail and has very fluid animations when he is jumping or running around. The Mummy has the best animations of all from being put on fire to being squished and becoming paper-thin. The best part of the game is trying to find out what else will happen to the mummy next.

The music for Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy is very fitting. The music always sounds right for all of the different environments. The music sounds “Egyptian” with all of the different instruments, and it makes players feel that they really are in ancient Egypt at times. The sound effects are nothing that are out of the ordinary. There are the usual sword clashes, explosions, and many other things.

The biggest disappointment is that there is no voice acting. One thing that this generation of console gaming has brought us is voice acting and it is hard to play a game without it. It is not that it is bad to not include it, but it makes the game more enjoyable. This game practically cries out for it with all of the lively animations that all of the characters do, it is really a shame that there is none.

Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy is rated T for Teen for fantasy violence. The game requires 20 memory blocks for saves.

Gameplay: 8.6
Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy is really fun to play, and the switching of the characters helps prevent any repetition that might creep up on this game.

Graphics: 8.5
The game looks very nice. It features some nice effects and great character animations.

Sound: 8.1
The music and the sound effects are really good, but why is there no voice acting?

Difficulty: Medium
This game can either be easy or hard depending on your skill level. Some of the hardest parts are the puzzle-solving portions with the Mummy, but it is worth sticking out through the end to find out what awaits you.

Concept: 8.1
I loved the Mummy parts of the game, this is what made this game so great in my eyes. It was always fun to see what new tortuous things that this dead pharaoh would have to face next.

Multiplayer: N/A

Overall: 8.5
Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy is a really neat game that will help fill the void of quality games for the GameCube this holiday season. If you are looking for a high-quality action game for your GameCube this holiday season, then purchase Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy.