The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Wii Screens (Nintendo DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

Like Indiana Jones, The Mummy films take their inspiration from the classic Saturday morning serials which were your only real fix of cinematic entertainment before television became popular, not to mention more affordable. Arguably the Brendan Fraser movies flourished thanks to the gap in the market left by the constant delays to the fourth instalment of the Indy franchise. It seems odd then, that after many years lying dormant that they should be released within months of each other, but where The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull had a generic Lego title released on the back of it, The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is actually based on the movie itself. What's it like? Let's find out...

Gameplay

Given that this movie hasn't opened yet, I'm not entirely sure about the plot but I'm guessing, on the strength of the other movies, that this game follows it closely. Your first mission is to locate a tomb and, it's fair to say that most of the tasks you'll be charged with also end in a tomb of some description. Actually getting to a tomb generally involves moving boxes to reach higher platforms and writing down symbols in your notebook. These are then used elsewhere to open doors or trigger other happenings. There are also switches to flip and walls to climb but because of the linear nature of the game's design you'll never get lost and always know exactly what to do next.

In addition to your tomb raiding you'll have to become reasonably accomplished at combat with the most of it is achieved with firearms. There are your dual pistols and a shotgun although these are selected automatically which can be a little frustrating. Then comes a rather dated challenge where you must dispose of all the henchmen whist locating, and topping up, your overall health. Frustratingly this can take several attempts especially when you are also dealing with snipers with high powered rifles. The developers have also employed some of the more annoying gaming structures such as not being able to leave an area until you've killed the allotted number of enemies and also placing some of the longer sections against a timer so if you haven't managed to clear the first area quickly enough, there's little point in going on. Saving automatic, but only after each section and while some gamers will revel in this challenge; younger gamers may find the going a little more frustrating.

Controls

Most of your gameplay is simply moving around but moves like climbing are not done automatically, instead you'll have to press the 'x' button to activate them. The same is true of grabbing onto objects which also require a button to be pressed.

Graphics

The 3D engine here is well above average with the animation and characters very pleasing. There are even some weather effects and the sections in the mountains feature snow blizzards with freezing flakes floating past the screen. Best of all are the cut screens which appear to be pre-production sketches from the movie and add a huge amount of atmosphere to the game.

Sound

While the background music is fitting, if not outstanding, the voice acting is superb especially during the cut screens. Elsewhere you are treated to general grunts and groans and far too much 'I can't do that here', all of which will drive you insane after a bit.

Dual screen

The main use of the touch-screen is to defend yourself and, like Geometry Wars, the direction your stylus is pointing on the screen will determine just what you are shooting at. This works remarkably well, especially when you have masses of Terracotta Warriors to deal with. The other main use is as a notebook to jot down access codes for the various burial chambers. This is essential when you have multiple codes to input and given that this feature works so well it's a real shame the developers didn't develop it further.

Final comments

This latest Mummy game actually starts out as a very entertaining little romp with a great balance between action and puzzle solving. Unfortunately it seems that the developers either ran out of ideas or simply got a little too close to the delivery date for comfort as the latter half of the game is merely consists of you avoiding the obvious dangers during a succession of shooting levels. In addition the developers have attempted to spin the games length out by adding timers to already complicated sections with no checkpoints so a fifteen minute session can easily be repeated countless times. It's not a bad little game overall though; unfortunately it does just lack the attention to detail which would separate it from the majority of movie-related disappointments.

Pro: Some Nice Puzzles, Good Use of the Touch Screen.
Con: A Little Repetitive, Not Enough Save Points, Too Short
Final score: 6.1

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