Reviewed: June 21, 2002
Reviewed by: JoLene Lark
Publisher
Universal Interactive
Developer
Way Forward Technologies
Released: April 2, 2002
Genre: Action
Players: 1
ESRB: Everyone
6
4
7
6
5.5
Supported Features:
The Scorpion King: Sword of Osiris is yet another action game that is expanding into the GBA title collection. Universal Interactive published The Scorpion King game that is of course based upon the film that was released this past spring, 2002.
This game takes place after Mathayus (the scorpion king) defeated Memnon. A new foe named Menthu has kidnapped Mathayus’ bride Cassandra. Menthu with the assistance of his apprentice sorceress Isis, are plotting to use Cassandra’s magical powers to awaken the Dunes of Natash that will thus cast a storm that will desolate the lands of Egypt. It is up to Mathayus, whom you control in this game, to uncover the sword of Osiris and save Egypt and Cassandra.
The game play in this game is simple; kill everything that is in Mathayus’ way that inhibits his finding his Cassandra. This game’s controls were rather easy to learn. Besides the usual moves such as jumping, attacking and crawling a few specialized moves are included. The first special move is the wall spring jump, which allows Mathayus to jump off of a wall. The second move is the ceiling climb; this move allows Mathayus to cross areas such as spike pits that are capable of killing him quickly. There are also a few defensive sword moves that are highly utilized against each of the section enemies.
There are two primary weapons in this game. The sword is the weapon in which Mathayus starts his mission with, although this is not the fastest weapon it is still powerful. The scimitar is another type of sword that is much quicker. It is important to note that his weapon is easy to destroy versus the regular sword.
There are a variety of enemies in this game that Mathayus must conquer. The first are the red turban warriors. The warriors are Menthu’s military henchmen. It usually takes three strikes with the sword to kill them. The next enemy you will encounter are the cobras. These snakes usually can be killed with one sword hit. The mummies are the last enemy I wish to tell you about. They usually pop out of the ground so be certain you are not running into them as they emerge as that hurts Mathayus’ health level. Also it usually takes two sword swipes to kill this enemy.
Hidden within this game are scorpion statues that lead to secret lairs. Within these lairs are artifacts called Runes, which you need to collect. Once all six Runes are inserted into Mathayus’ glove the full power of the Osiris sword will be evident. It is with this sword that Menthu and Isis can be destroyed while saving Cassandra.
Overall graphical quality was fair in this game. At times the contrast was quite poor and I was thus more prone to the mummies emerging from the ground attack damage. There were also times where Mathayus seemed to be walking on top of the quicksand and others where he instantly was sucked into it.
Another graphical quirk occurred during a windstorm in the desert - the graphics were overtaken by hundreds of granulized particles that were too big to be sand. There were a few areas where the graphics were great, however for the most part I can only say that they were only average compared to other GBA games in the action genre.
Finally this game’s conversations took place in a box on the tope of the screen. This box was very well construed and the text was very easy to read, however it took too much of the screen size at times.
The Scorpion King: Sword of Osiris game boasts a wide variety of music. The one fault in this game is the lack of dictated dialogue as it is only printed on the top of the screen. A well rounded soundtrack was evident in each level of this game. Besides the soundtrack this game also boasts a fair amount of unique sound effects that range from the wind blowing to a boomerang swishing noise that one of the enemy’s weapons created.
Via it’s unique password pictionary save method this game will provide many hours of enjoyment if you can get past the mediocre graphics. The save function only “saves” at the end of a segment and it is at times hard to tell how much longer you have to play. It was very difficult to run out of lives in this game as numerous health globes were available to boost your hit points.
If you have any inkling of being a character from ancient Egypt this is an excellent game for you. In my opinion this game border lines not being worthy of being purchased and should be considered for renting due to the mediocre graphic quality. There also was no multi-player option or any options to change player difficulty settings.
The Scorpion King: Sword of Osiris is the classic good versus evil adventure game as it is up to you to save the world and the girl. Mediocre graphics as wells as a weak enemy selection are the two major downfalls in this game. However the above average sound scheme helps save this game from not being considered for purchase.
