Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy isn’t really
a game I had heard anything about, but my interest in playing it came from
stumbling across the GameCube version at a Game Stop, during the time when they
were phasing out GameCube stock, and the cover art and praise grabbed my
attention. Sometime later, on a recent trip to Texas, I remembered to look for
it as I perused a couple of places, finding it at a Half-Price Books, once
again on the GameCube platform. After getting it home, I began playing during
my last few weeks of college, with Finals affecting my play time for a bit.
Having recently completed the game, I can say that my time invested in the game
was well worth it.
Two demigods named Sphinx and Horus are
tasked by their master Imhotep with retrieving a sword called the Blade of
Osiris. As the two try to acquire the sword, Horus ends up falling into a lava
flow. Not long after Sphinx gets his hands on the blade, his efforts to go back
are hindered and so he is forced to travel by way of a mysterious portal.
Meanwhile, Prince Tutankhamen is getting ready to celebrate his birthday, while
his brother Akhenaten is preparing a special surprise for him. Eventually, his
and Sphinx’s paths cross as Tutankhamen gets captured and is transformed into a
mummy through a ritual, which Sphinx disrupts. Once Sphinx makes his escape, it’s
clear that there’s more to all of this than meets the eye.
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| Sphinx, one of the main protagonists and wielder of the Blade of Osiris. |
The story is actually pretty
well-written, particularly the Mummy half of the story (which has sort of an
anti-climax), but what bogs it down a little is the severe lack of voice
acting. In its stead is some text acting as subtitles so you know what each
character is saying. However, while normally you can skip some of the text at a
prompt (and also make it scroll faster), there are points where it goes through
by itself, so you’d better hope you were able to read it fast enough. The only
real semblance of voice acting in the game is some grunts or screams, and even
then the closest thing you get to full voice acting in cutscenes is an evil
laugh from the antagonist, Set.
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| Tutankhamen, the other main protagonist, after being turned into a mummy. |
What makes this game interesting is that
you can play as both Sphinx and the Mummy (Tutankhamen) at different points in
the game, each having their own style of play. Sphinx portions of the game play
out more like an action game of sorts, including having a health bar (made up
of ankhs) and gaining more abilities over time that aid in battle, along with some
minor platforming and puzzle solving. The Mummy portions of the game, on the
other hand, are all about puzzle solving, with some elements of stealth; these
puzzles can get more elaborate and creative than the puzzles in the Sphinx
portions, mainly since they tend take full advantage of the Mummy’s undead
state (he can’t die from what you have to put him through, although it is
implied he can still feel pain), and the fun that can be had from solving these
puzzles is aided by the fact that you don’t need to worry about health. On top
of this, anything you happen to acquire in the Mummy portions is transferred to
Sphinx at the end, so the two sides kind of feed off each other. Both of these
gameplay types are really well thought out, though personally I had more fun
with the Mummy portions of the game (which is probably at least partially due
to my enjoyment of puzzle games), and the only problem I have with the Sphinx
sections is that they can get a little cryptic sometimes, which can necessitate
the use of a guide (Protip: Even though you have to strike a creature multiple
times until it glows yellow before you can use a Capture Beetle on it, you do
not need to do so on a Slim Burble; these guys you can capture immediately.)
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| Pictured: A Slim Burble |
Another thing about the Sphinx portions
of the game is that, more often than not, the sequence of events needed to
advance plays out more or less like a point-and-click adventure game, often
requiring completing a Mummy section to obtain a crucial item. For example,
near the beginning of the game, in the Corridor of Champions in Abydos, there
is an optional gauntlet you can go through. In order to go through the
gauntlet, you have to pass a test. To pass the test, you have to bring a
diamond back to a crocodile person in under 20 seconds. To do this, you need to
be able to somersault, or double jump. To get the somersault ability (which you
need anyway to gain access to another area in Heliopolis to advance), you have
to find 3 Abydosian pearls to give to a guy so he can give you a key, then use
the key to gain access to a higher level, go to a Monster Shop, use a number of
scarabs you collected to buy a monster (it doesn’t need to be an expensive one)
so you can donate it to a museum to get a zipline handle, use a zipline to
travel to a boat, give the captain some scarabs to travel to Heliopolis, then
swim over to an area so you can trick a monster into burning a box, use what’s
inside the box at two marked points to summon an eagle, then trick another
monster into blowing up some boulders, go through a cave to another area so you
can swim to an island, enter a shrine where your mentor brings a basket
(Bas-Ket) to life to revive Tutankhamen, use Tutankhamen to complete a series
of tests in three different rooms by using fire and electricity, allowing
Tutankhamen to retrieve some stolen diamonds from the museum in Abydos and the
Wings of Ibis, then Sphinx gains the stolen jewelry and the Wings of Ibis, the
latter of which allows him to somersault, then swim back across and go the boat
that just appeared, give the captain some more scarabs so you can travel back
to Abydos, then make your way back to the Corridor of Champions so you can try
the challenge, do a somersault to bring the diamond back to the crocodile
person within 20 seconds and gain access to the gauntlet. There’s plenty more
where this came from.
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| Sphinx in action (this is a PS2 screenshot because GameCube screenshots are difficult to find). |
As this game is over ten years old and I
don’t have much experience with the GameCube, I’m not sure I can really say
much about the graphics other than that they manage to hold up really well,
which can likely be attributed to the game’s cartoonish art style. The music is
also pretty good, as it does a good job of keeping the Egyptian vibe going
throughout while still having range. It’s not exactly something I would rush
out to buy a CD for, should one exist, but it still does its job really well.
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| Mummy puzzles often require the Mummy to do harm to himself, in this instance dividing himself into three. |
One last thing I should mention as a bit
of fair warning is that this game has a particularly nasty bug, known by
players as the infamous “glitch door”. During the start of the second Mummy
section, if you save at the save point and then turn the system off, a door
that will allow you to advance will remain forever locked, causing you to have
to start the game over again to get another shot at it. Since I knew about this
glitch going in, I did what I could to avoid it, mainly by simply continuing
play after I saved my game, so I never came across it. Should you decide to
play this game though, this is something you should really keep in mind.
Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy is a really
enjoyable game, though whether you prefer the Sphinx or Mummy portions of the
game depends on the player. Its graphics really hold up after over a decade and
it can get really creative with its puzzle design. A fan of action games akin
to Legend of Zelda would probably find some enjoyment in this game, since,
while I have never played a Zelda game before, I have read that this game
shares some of that franchise’s gameplay elements. If puzzles are your thing,
the Mummy portions of gameplay have some really fun puzzles to solve that
provide a unique experience. However, if you own any of the major
sixth-generation consoles (or any later systems that can play those games),
this is a game that’s definitely worth giving a shot.
