Sphinx And The Cursed Mummy (PS2 Review)

Gamers are a jaded lot. On one hand, you can hear them constantly demanding for new gaming genres and unique playing experiences. However, when it comes time to put their money where their mouth is, you can usually see them picking up the sequels to previously released games from years gone by or falling into the hype machine to be ground up like hamburger because they have followed the trail of bread crumbs left by the mass media. Then, after a few months, they return to their soapbox to clamor on about the failings of the industry since all of the few unique titles have disappeared from the retail shelves with extremely poor sales.

 

2003 had a tremendous amount of new and original titles released that simply did not go anywhere in the sales department. Two of the biggest would have to be Prince of Persia and Beyond Good & Evil. Both of these received critical acclaim from media sites across the spectrum and were serious Game of the Year contenders that did incredibly bad during the holiday season. But these weren’t the only outstanding or original titles to be snubbed by the consumer. EyeToy: Play had some success, but disappeared into a wisp of smoke quickly. Namco’s I-Ninja was another highly rated title that didn’t get the respect it deserved by the masses. Even games that had big marketing campaigns behind them, like Disgaea, Disaster Report and Primal were left sitting on store shelves while the multitude of numbered sequels outsold them in droves.

Another game that had a big push that went nowhere was Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy. THQ had a tremendous amount of development difficulties bringing this game to retail. First, the game went through numerous title changes during its creation, which always makes things difficult for average gamers to keep track of a title’s progression through the development cycle. Secondly, THQ released a demo of the game well before many of the programming issues, mostly camera problems, were ironed out which probably helped to scare away many of their promising sales. Finally, Sphinx was released during the same two-week period that SOCOM II, True Crime: Streets of LA, Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King all came to market. With these three things going against it, there is no surprise that the game quickly slipped into oblivion. However, the really important matter is did gamers miss out on a diamond in the rough or just another so-so release. There is only one way to find out, just read on brave explorer and see what you may have missed out on.

If you aren’t familiar with the story background, let me give you just a small taste so I don’t ruin the interesting storytelling ability of the game. This is a tale of ancient Egypt not told in the history books. Long ago, there was the formation of the Egyptian Universal Empire that joined multiple worlds by means of Solar Disc portals, similar to the portals found in Stargate SG-1. However, the Empire fell upon hard times and the magical crowns that held the portals together were scattered and lost. The civilizations on the many worlds became separated and the memory of the other worlds has faded with the passage of time. The legend says that there are two opposing forces trying to recover the crowns and unite the Empire again. Osiris, a force of all that is good and righteous, is seeking to repair what has been sundered while Set is looking to reunite the crowns for his own evil intentions. Now it is up to Sphinx, and the young Tutankhamen, to bring the portals back under the control of the forces of light before they can be used to rain darkness and destruction upon the many worlds on which they exist.

For players fed up with over-simplistic puzzles or seemingly unnecessary backtracking to find out-of-place items to put into even more out-of-place statues then you are in for a delightful treat. Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy will tax your brainpower with little to no hints at all for how a gamer is to progress though the many levels. Although this may be refreshing for the gamer who thinks outside of the box, it may become frustrating to those players used to cookie-cutter styled games of this nature. Personally, I found this to be a refreshing challenge and looked forward to being able to sit down and have to actually work my way though all of the beautifully designed levels.

The motif setting of ancient Egypt is recreated to a tee. The use of various vibrant colors, along with all of the lavish backgrounds, really helps to mentally transport the player to a land lost in time. Everything, from the stone pyramids to the vast desert environments, brings a gamer into a unique mindset and keeps the interest level peaked throughout the entire adventure. Levels are chock full of tiny tidbits to enchant even the most jaded player and progression through the different environments is logical and calculating. Eurocom and THQ get an A+ for their effort. Between the shimmer of the desert heat and the water effects, you might be wondering if you haven’t actually gone back in time to experience what it was like to live in the time when gods walked the Earth.

As good as the visuals are in Sphinx, the audio portents are on the opposite side of the spectrum. The language of all the characters is nothing more than a collection of grunts and twittering, with their actual conversations being displayed in text boxes. With the elaborate character design, one would imagine that THQ would have completed the package and gave their creations some wonderful personality through the spoken word. Even though this is a minor complaint, in this day and age of gaming, it is one not easily forgiven. Furthermore, players are subjected to the bare-bones stereo/mono selections instead of meeting the current Dolby Pro Logic II minimum standards of today. Neither of these are the death of Sphinx, but it would be nice to have a gaming company give players all of the available options when they give a title such an extravagant media push.

Even though Eurocom did a great job in repairing the very broken third-person camera from what I experienced in their earlier demo, there still are difficulties in keeping track of your surroundings and the multitudes of baddies that Sphinx will face as he works his way through the game. This does present some minor frustrating controller-tossing moments, but on the whole, there is little to complain about compared to other games of this same genre. The overall learning curve is delicate and gamers will be able to handle the more challenging creatures and ingenious environmental layouts as they progress through the game at its designed pace. The actual length of the game is more than acceptable, and players will have over 20 hours of playing time to enjoy their trip into ancient Egypt.

Playing through Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy I was under the impression that I was playing two separate games at the same time. Most of the time, you are assuming the personage of Sphinx, a young budding hero in search of saving the world from the dark grasp of evil. Just like most modern-day characters, his arsenal of moves and abilities is quite impressive. Not only can he take on multiple creatures with his trusty weapon, but also has the ability to capture enemy monsters with special beetles to be used in aiding him in his quest. He also can swim, climb and jump right from the start of the game with additional abilities to be acquired as the game progresses.

However, just when you start to get into the flow of how Sphinx moves and grooves his way through the game, you get to take an intermission break and discover how to win friends and influence people with your other persona, the Cursed Mummy. The boy king, Tutankhamen, meets with some evil of his own and is changed into a shambling undead creature. His main goal is to recover the fragments of his soul that have been sealed away in Canopic Vases so that he can once again return to the land of the living and challenge the evil Akhenaten for the right to regain his lost throne.

Although Sphinx is the powerhouse of the tag-team combo, I would have to say that it is the levels with the Mummy that are the better of the two. Since he has already been killed, and is the walking undead, there is nothing available to render the bandaged hero unable to continue. In fact, you get to put the Mummy through his paces by using environmental hazards to your advantage to open inaccessible areas. For example, you come upon a switch behind a wooden barrier, it’s time to set your character aflame and have him burn away the obstacle. The Mummy’s mannerisms and reactions to being squashed by large rocks, set on fire and even electrocuted are wonderfully hilarious and put the title over the top where the fun factor is concerned.

Both Sphinx and the Mummy acquire addition abilities as the game moves forward, so there is some backtracking through previously explored levels to acquire a 100 percent completion, but this is less like work and more of a reward for sticking with the game compared to other titles that I’ve played. There also is a decent scattering on mini games within the different levels, including some rather extensive side quests, to keep this game actively spinning in your gaming machine for an extended period of time. However, there are no other real reasons to keep on playing once you have completed your quest, as nothing new gets unlocked when you complete the title the first time through, nor is there any online mode at all.

Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy brought a pleasant surprise to this gamer’s experience. Having relied on the unpleasant experience of the incredibly difficult camera in the demo, I was expecting the worst and got blind-sided by something rather interesting. The Mummy still does a great job of stealing the show from the true main character, nevertheless, you aren’t forced to trudge level after level with a substandard game when Sphinx is center-stage. The intricate level design, along with the stunning graphics, brings the best to the table anyone could hope for from a sleeper title. Although this will in no way surpass such grand platformers like Ratchet and Clank or Jak and Daxter, you certainly could do much, much worse when looking for something fresh and challenging. 

Difficulty: 8

Control: 9

Audio: 6

Visuals: 9

Replayability: 5

Overall: 7.9

Dr. Muto (PS2 Review)

A long time ago, on a dark and stormy night, a group of friends gathered together. Since this was before the advent of the PlayStation, they decided to pass the time by having a ghost story contest. Each person went to their rooms to come up with an original tale full of ghosts and ghouls. Upon retiring, a nineteen-year old girl came up with one of history’s best known horror novels and easily won the contest. The year was 1816. The contest was held by Lord Byron. The young girl was Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly. The story, inspired by a dream, was Frankenstein. Although most people believe that the story is about the monster, it is actually about the vicious twistings of one man’s mind and the obscene manipulation over the power of life. 

Over the years, the image of the typical mad scientist has been engraved into our minds. The standard usually includes the usual white lab coat, the wild, unkempt hair with the maniacal, bulging eyes. Probably Gene Wilder’s character in the movie Young Frankenstein sums up the picture perfectly. Well, gamers now have the opportunity to play their very own mad scientist in Midway’s Dr. Muto. With the funky glasses on his nose, he has all the key ingredients to allow him to join the exclusive club.

The game begins in a dream sequence where Dr. Muto is receiving an award for creating the ultimate power supply source ever created. However, things go awry when the machine is activated and it accidentally blows up the entire planet. Obviously shaken, our hero awakens to discover that it wasn’t just a dream. He really did blow up the place in a big way and resolves himself to make right once was wrong by creating a machine to rebuild the planet from the ground up. However, the glitch in the system is that he must traverse around the galaxy to find special items to transform his blueprint of retribution into reality. Most of these places are teeming with baddies and only by utilizing brains over brawn does he have any chance of success.

When I started playing Dr. Muto, I can honestly say I wasn’t planning on it being a life-changing experience. Since it was a new property by Midway, with a completely new mascot, one can typically expect games of this nature to be less than spectacular. In fact, games like this are usually a dime a dozen and have more problems than positive aspects. Surprisingly, I was more than wrong.

Usually, 3-D platformers suffer from camera issues. Even those in the upper echelon of the category have some problems here and there. Those that get sorted into the “also ran” section have such strikingly drastic problems that the ability to just play the game becomes questionable. Although Dr. Muto does not improve in this area over such proven giants like Ratchet & Clank or Sly Cooper, it does manage to keep the player in the game without many instances of not being able to see where you are or the cause of repeated cheap deaths. The camera usually stays close to its assigned position, but there are numerous other views, and a quick correct button, that you can use when your view is less than perfect. A slow or clunky camera is normally my biggest complaint when attempting games of this nature and I can honestly say that not once did I fling a string of colorful metaphors for leaping where I couldn’t look.

 

The other big issue with platformers is creating a reason to hunt through every dark crevice playing hide-and-seek with tons of collectible items. Fortunately, Dr. Muto gives the player an intelligent reason for creeping and crawling through dusty corners and sewer pipes. Not only are you looking for the pieces to put your machines together, but also trying to gather as many powercells that you can find to keep your computer back at the lab running at full capacity. 

 

Luckily, Dr. Muto is not empty-handed as he is armed with a hand laser that will usually obliterate any foe that he comes across. However, there are some that are immune to this power and must be disposed of by using the tractor beam option of his hand remote and flinging them into walls or off of one of the many cliffs. These are not the only power-ups that Dr. Muto gets to utilize, for there are many special extras that aid him in his quest to rebuild his planet. The strangest has to be the Wille E. Coyote rocket boots that hurl our hero high into the air for limited amounts of time to gather those normally unreachable collectibles. The look on Dr. Muto’s face as he shoots for the stars is nothing less than pants-wetting and is worth repeated performances just for the laugh value.

 

The big twist that separates Dr. Muto from the rest of the pack is his ability to assume the form of multiple creatures by acquiring the DNA of the various baddies populating each level. Each additional persona has unique abilities and it is necessary to swap often to work your way through the rather ingeniously designed levels. But, combining the correct DNA sequences is not the easiest thing you could imagine and players must gather quite a few of them, from different combinations of monsters, to put all the pieces in their correct place. Nevertheless, the reward is worth the effort as every Muto-ish creature has it’s own abilities and attributes that will make your gaming experience nothing less than pure pleasure.

Every creature will have a different way of handling the foes that will stand in their path. The first alter-ego that you get exposed to is the Muto Mouse. It is this little squeaker that gives you the biggest challenge as his size does make things difficult when facing larger enemies. But, he is a quick little sucker that can squeeze into the tightest areas and get the goods that most of the larger forms could only look at from a distance. His exact opposite is the Muto Ape, a large, hulking creature able to butt-bounce just about anything that stands in his path into a pancake. However, his weakness is speed. Honestly, he has two speeds, slow and slower, both of which make catching the smaller creatures a true challenge. There are about an additional half-dozen other beings that Muto can morph into, but I don’t want to ruin the fun and excitement of uncovering them for yourself, Nevertheless, I can truly say that each one is a real gem that needs to be experienced and they add quite a bit of extended shelf-life for the game as you experiment with which forms might be able to get that last elusive power cell.

Even though the Muto Zapper is only available in Dr. Muto’s human form, all of his alter egos have ways to take care of themselves, and some can even assist in gathering DNA strands form other creatures. In fact, during the boss battles you will have to switch back and forth between them to get the job done right. The first boss has an exposed toe in his armor and only the Muto Mouse is small enough to whip it. Then, while he is hopping in pain, you can either transform into your human guise or that of the Muto Ape to deliver a more powerful, life-draining blow. Then, you have to swap back to the mouse once he recovers to start the process over again. 

The controller layout is exceptionally user-friendly and reacts instantly to any action initiated on the controller. Gamers have the option of inverting the up and down axis, which always is a nice touch for those gamers who like their down to be up and turning the vibration function on or off. You also can change the 3-D camera from active to passive, depending on your personal taste and even activating a capture camera when you acquire new DNA strands.

If you are a veteran of platformers, you are going to have to recondition your way of thinking if you plan on having any success with Dr Muto. With most games of this nature, what you see is what you get. Not with this title. Level design is nothing less than ingenious. Not only do you have your standard 3-D platform jumping and baddie killing, you also get to experience some good ol’ fashioned 2-D side-scrolling adventure. Furthermore, you really have to get used to looking your environment over utilizing the first-person view to find those half-hidden ladders or ledges to get to the upper level platforms normally out of view of the standard third-person camera. Some levels will require you to go back through after you have unlocked additional characters because of their special abilities of jumping, climbing, swinging, flying or swimming. 

To actually achieve 100% completion will require about twenty hours of trial and error gameplay. Luckily, Dr. Muto has an unlimited amount of lives and works off of a checkpoint system so you won’t have to start a level completely over if you take the semi-eternal dirt nap. One additional nice touch is that once you collect the DNA from a creature and kill it, it does not reappear on the level upon repeat visits to get you confused over which ones you have acquired and which ones still need to be collected. The same goes with any crates containing energy ions or special items. However, monsters or crates that offer health regeneration will reappear every time you return or restart a section.

Visually, Dr. Muto gives gamers everything they could desire, and then some. From the well-crafted full-motion videos, all the way down to the character animations that occur when you leave the controller idle for an extended period of time, Midway has brought forth the complete package. All of the different planets are theme based and the subtle details will keep your attention throughout the entire game. Even the various baddies that you face will have unique actions before and after they notice the presence of your character. Levels are colorful and full of little touches here and there to keep your interest peaked. Furthermore, there is no real visual difference between the platform versions. So, if you are a multiplatform owner, your only real choice is in the preference of which controller feels more comfortable in your hands for a title of this nature.

The audio portents of the game are just as impressive. The voice-acting is some of the best I’ve heard ever in a video game and Wally Fields plays the part of Dr. Muto to a tee. However, the good doctor is not the only one that gives players an earful. Dr. Muto’s computer, Al (obviously a twist on HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey) sounds just like the stuck-up, know-it-all that he really is, and also is performed by Fields. The background noises and music keeps the player’s interest all the way through the game. There is no doubt that you will want to keep the sound on when playing through the multiple levels that each planet offers just to hear the splat of an enemy or the wisecracks dished out by AL as he offers you advice. There are separate audio controls for the background music, special effects and the voices, so you can tweak the audio output to your personal liking. Another good thing is that besides the normal mono and stereo options, gamers that have their systems hooked up to a surround sound system can enjoy the Pro Logic setting for that true immersion into the game.

Dr. Muto comes with a built-in movie player. No, that doesn’t mean that you get to watch the original Star Wars trilogy. Rather, gamers get the ability to rewatch all of the excellent FMVs (Full-Motion Video) without having to restart their game. Also there are two ending movies that need to be unlocked. One opens when you finish the game and the other becomes available once you achieve 100% completion. Believe me, the second ending is definitely worth going back into the game to find those last few missing items. There also is a cheat section tucked away in the game options menu for those that enjoy those out of the ordinary gaming experiences.

Like most of Midway’s recent titles, there is a “behind the scenes” video that gives you a look at the development team responsible for the game. You also get a close-up look at the artwork and drawings that went into the creation of the game. Gamers are also given the opportunity to check out two other Midway titles with the inclusion of Haven and Defender promos. I know that I say this each and every time I do a review of a Midway game, but these are the little extras that add that special touch to the game itself and really are a nice way to give the inquiring gamer more than most game producers on the market today. We all know that there is usually unused space on the DVD disks, and these all pull double duty without any added cost to either the producer or the consumer. Once again Midway, bravo for giving us that extra special effort.

Believe it or not, Dr. Muto succeeds where more seasoned franchises fall flat on their faces. For gamers disappointed with the latest renditions of Crash Bandicoot or Spyro the Dragon, this platformer gives you everything that these elder series used to and then some. Midway has put together the complete package and brings forth a solid gaming experience from the word go. Although you shouldn’t expect this title to unseat genre leaders like Mario or Ratchet and Clank, you definitely get your money’s worth. Gamers stuck in a rut waiting for the next generation machines to hit the market should go out and give this one a spin. You won’t be disappointed.

Difficulty: 7

Control: 9

Audio: 10

Visuals: 9

Replayability: 7

Overall: 8.9