The Mummy Returns

Released in 2001, third-person action adventure game The Mummy Returns was inspired by the story of the movie of the same name. You’ll play as the main characters of the movie – Rick O’Connell and Imhotep. From a gameplay design view, this is pretty neat. While both characters have similar controls – their moves, inventory, and stages are unique. Rick tends to stick to guns and explosives, while Imhotep wields blades and magic.

The Adventures of Rick and Imhotep

When controlling Rick and Imhotep, you’ll defeat enemies, solve movement puzzles, and find hidden treasures. The ultimate goal is to get to reach the end-boss of both the game and movie its based off of: The Scorpion King. Having two different gameplay routes is great because it not only provides replay value, it also gives players the chance to experience the perspective from both the protagonist (Rick) and antagonist (Imhotep).

Hollywood’s Still Figuring It Out

Since the 80’s, when E.T. was licensed for a video game for the Atari 2600 home console, Hollywood has been trying to convert box office success into video game success. For many of these attempts, they fell flat. Unfortunately, The Mummy Returns does little to push the needle the other way. While the character models are certainly passable, none of the voices of the actors from the movie (Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Arnold Vosloo) or voice actors from the cartoon series (John Schneider, Grey DeLisle, Jim Cummings) can be found. The ones used are sub-par, and that’s being kind. Although it doesn’t help that the writing is tacky. It tries a bit too hard to play off the characteristics of the protagonists from the movies and just doesn’t quite hit the mark, or anywhere close for that matter.

It’s Just a Game, No Harm Ever Came from Playing a Game

You’ll be playing this game in a third-person perspective for the entire journey. The controls are very responsive and easy enough to understand from the start. The movement controls may annoy some players since they are relative to the direction the camera is facing. It’s not a complete chore to control this, but it can cause some accidental movements that lead to your death. Another issue you may run into is with actions such as jumping or climbing, which can only be done when the button prompt appears. The ability to jump all the time would have been great as a dodge tactic. Furthermore, there is no ability to choose your target when shooting or using a spell. This means you’ll often end up targeting an enemy you didn’t mean to.

The stages have varying degrees of fighting enemies, platforming, and puzzles while you find the end of each stage. You may face a boss in some stages, but I didn’t find them to be very challenging.

One boss just continued to use the same move while I just strafed left and right spamming my pistols until he was defeated. Once other annoyance is that I found myself backtracking through stages for keys I might have missed, which can be a chore if enemies respawned already.

Pros

• Varying stages that progress you through the story for the film The Mummy Returns
• Two different playable characters to choose between, each with unique skills and levels to play
• The music sets a good mood for each stage, although forgettable

Cons

• The camera and action controls such as jumping can be a chore
• Lots of backtracking to find the end of the stage
• Sub-par voice acting and script
• Auto-targeting enemies can lead you into trouble

Tomb be or not tomb be! Another movie, another sequel and, yes my dear friends, another cash-in videogame. It seems like only yesterday (but was, in fact, issue 48) that we reviewed The Mummy for the GBC and now, only a few months on, the sequel to the game based upon the sequel to the very successful movie is arriving on your handheld console.

The new movie is set a few years after the previous adventure, where we find Rick and Evelyn have settled down, married and ended up with a new son. After raiding another tomb, the happy couple have the rather stupid idea of stealing a necklace that holds great power, and in the process, this not only resurrects the mummy from the last film, but also unearths the very powerful Scorpion King. The game follows the plot of the movie quite closely and thus this is where you come in, taking the role of either Rick or his lovely lady wife Evelyn...

Tomb Time!

The Mummy Returns certainly seems like it could be good value for money. The game is split into eleven levels and these take the form of one of four different gameplay styles. The first is a scrolling 'escape from... whatever' section that forces our heroes to run as fast as they can away from whatever it is that is chasing them. This can be anything from a wall of water to a plague of flies.

The next, again, is a side-scrolling platform section where you must simply get from the left of the area to the right, shooting things and jumping hazards. The third style is a kind of beat-'em-up; playing as either Evelyn or Rick, you must defend yourself with a nice big sword against the hoards of enemies that come your way.

The final gameplay-style is a first-person shoot-'em-up. Your actual movement is restricted to just ducking whatever the enemy is throwing at you, while you use the aim icon to blast your foes.

Out of all of these different playing styles only the last example is really enjoyable. All of the others suffer from a really high frustration factor mainly because the characters you control all handle rather badly. A great example of this is when you have to run away from something. As you desperately try to avoid all of the pitfalls and obstacles, while at the same time trying not to caught out by the edge of the screen, you soon discover that both characters are about as responsive as a tortoise after one too many cans of Special Brew.

Another annoying point is that if you miss-time a jump and land slap bang in front of something, it becomes impossible to jump over it. This ultimately means that the character just has to just stand there and wait for death which happens quite a lot and doesn't really get any better as you proceed through the levels!

Curses!

The game itself doesn't look too bad. The sprites are big and colourful and easy on the eye. The sound effects and music are also rather nice – it's just a pity that the rest of the game falls flat. Admittedly there are some nice touches. Most of the information screens are written in hieroglyphics which you can decipher by holding down the A button, which is cute at first, but ultimately a gimmick. With patience and effort The Mummy Returns can be completed relatively quickly, but because the game is, on the whole, slow, awkward and unresponsive, there is precious little fun to be had here. Its predecessor, although simpler, was far more fun to play and required a bit more thought, so if you have to pick between the two, go for the original. Maybe it's true what they say... sequels do suck!