The Facts
- Third-person action-adventure in the style of Zelda
- Original property and storyline involving ancient Egypt mythology
- Play as demigod Sphinx or his unwitting accomplice the Mummy
- Travel on land or sea across a gigantic world that stretches in every direction
- Return stolen magical crowns to restore order to the land
- Gain compelling new powers and abilities throughout the adventure
- Solve clever environmental puzzles
- Advanced 3D engine draws gigantic, detailed environments at 60 frames per second
- Runs in 16x9 widescreen and 480p on GameCube; runs in 16x9 widescreen and 720p on Xbox
- Dolby Pro Logic II support on GameCube and PlayStation 2; Dolby Digital on Xbox
Gameplay
Sphinx travels us back to the slightly mythical world of ancient Egypt where pyramids and riches are just as commonplace as the influence of the gods and the dark magic practiced by some of them. The game's decidedly slim story details the exploits of Sphinx, a courageous half-man and half-lion demigod on a quest to restore order to the land by ridding it of evil. The title also highlights the tale of boy pharaoh Tutankhamen, a naive would-be leader who is captured and transformed into an undead mummy. The fates of the two characters intertwine along the way and they form an unlikely team.
Eurocom has definitely turned to Zelda for inspiration where game balance and design are concerned for its own adventure seems to share a lot in common with Nintendo's. Sphinx, like Link, is free to explore eye-poppingly large, sprawling environments, each filled with unique obstacles and challenges, some of them more entertaining than others. The character likewise starts off with virtually no powers and gains impressive upgrades and abilities throughout his quest and these items in turn allow him access to areas of the different locations that were previously blocked. Indeed, just as a boulder might have temporarily prevented Link from gaining access to a necessary cave, so does it Sphinx. It's smart design, actually, because we know that once we've equipped our hero with the right tools we'll need to come back to this sealed passageway, gain entry and discover its secrets, and we feel compelled to do it out of sheer curiosity.
You play as either Sphinx or the Mummy depending on the situation. Sphinx is the man of action. He brandishes a powerful sword, engages in combat with enemies, and carries a number of special items that allow him to do great and wonderful things. For instance, the character will learn to double jump, gain a blowpipe and shoot darts, unleash monsters to blow apart or light structures ablaze, super-speed run, fly with eagles, use a shield, discover special attacks, and much more. Each and every one of these enhancements allows Sphinx to interact with the environment in different, very satisfying ways. The Mummy, meanwhile, is in possession no real weapons, but can eventually turn invisible and sneak around the environments. Stealth, then, becomes a major factor in the levels that the Mummy makes his way through, and once more these are entertaining.
In our experience Sphinx starts off a wee bit on the slow side. This, no doubt, because the character is at first without any real attributes and the puzzles are too simple. However, those who stick with it will be hooked by the first hour, as we were. Later puzzles can be difficult and entertaining, though many revolve around adventure game cliches such as switching a flip to open a door or moving a heavy object over a pad to trigger an event. Some of the Mummy related puzzles are clever and amusing. In one mid-game dungeon, the Mummy is sliced into three by blades and we must individually control each one into the depths of the location to solve a puzzle. This puzzle, very well done, reflects some of the others to follow. That noted, there are some fetch quests too, and these aren't nearly as fascinating or well implemented.
Control is tight and intuitive. Both Sphinx and the Mummy can move about the environments quickly and agilely. The primary analog stick controls the characters movements while the second stick manipulates the camera. All sorts of movements are possible, from walking and running to crawling, hanging from ledges and strafing, swinging on and zipblading across ropes and more, and it's all easy to maneuver. One key control difference from the Zelda franchise is that heroes here can button-jump. Indeed, jumping and more precisely platforming play a much larger part into the adventure than they do in any Zelda game.
Another unfortunate difference relates to the battle system in Sphinx. While Zelda pioneered a fabulous lock-on technique by which Link could target an enemy and continually strafe around him in mid-fight, Sphinx has no such feature. As a result, battles in Sphinx are unfocused and messier. It can be difficult to perpetually center the camera on a single enemy in battle, let alone three or four of them. This is not to suggest that the battles in the game are unsatisfying. They are. The collision detection is spot on and that intangible sense of "umph" gained when connecting with Sphinx's sword is overwhelmingly present. But there's no doubt that the system could have been improved greatly -- could have been made far less malfunctioned -- with a lock-on camera.
The last gameplay gripe we have with the Sphinx barely relates to play so much as it does the connection of it. We're referring to the load times, of course. Just as in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, another Eurocom-developed title, there are extended load times between some rooms and areas, especially in the hub-area of Abydos. The load times are shorter in the GameCube and Xbox versions of the adventure, but they are still ever present, which is disappointing because they disrupt the flow of the title.
Sphinx delivers a refreshingly lengthy quest that will keep most busy for 15-20 hours, if not more, in our estimation, and most of the time had with the game is entertaining and even dazzling despite some of its drawbacks.
Graphics
Sphinx is a very pretty game in most respects. Eurocom has created an impressive 3D engine that easily spits out gi-normous, detailed environments at 60 frames per second on GameCube and Xbox. The PlayStation 2 version runs at the same fluidity, but is hampered by more slowdown. The title serves up a beautiful selection of sprawling city landscapes, canals, beachside huts, vast desert pyramids and cryptic dungeons, and all of these are littered with ambient colors, lighting effects, shadows, transparencies, reflections, and more.
Character models, particular Sphinx and the Mummy, look great up close and are brought to life with fluid animation. Sphinx has a bounce in his step and his tail wags as he runs. The character's double jump looks realistic and when he smashes down with his sword we can feel it, all because of the believable motion. When the hero uses his blowpipe, the view zooms into first-person mode and we can actually see his fingers grasping on and around it. These subtle additions go a long way. Meanwhile, the Mummy is drenched in different amusing animations that help illustrate all of horrible acts that befall that undead character. He can catch on fire, where he will run around and try to put himself out; he can be electrocuted, where his body will zap in and out; he can even be flattened and here his model becomes a thin strip that resembles a piece of paper. Finally, all of the characters feature facial animation. It all looks fine.
Now we get into nitpick country. The structures, big and vast, are low in polygons, perhaps so that the game can output so many of them at any given time, and as a result the architecture can appear to lack roundness. And while many of the textures in the game are defined and appear very clear and detailed up close, there are some, especially ground skins, that don't share the clarity and instead look decidedly blurry, which is a little disappointing. Also, the game fades in backgrounds, and anybody with a trained eye will notice it.
Even with these minor visual uh-ohs, though, the game is gorgeous. And it doesn't hurt that it runs in 480p progressive scan and 16x9 widescreen mode on GameCube and 720p and 16x9 widescreen mode on Xbox. The PlayStation 2 version does not run in progressive scan.
Sound
The game runs in surround sound (Dolby Digital on Xbox) and the effects are deep and fitting. Swords smash into walls with loud bangs, enemies cry out in a wide variety of odd, but pleasing growls, blow darts connect with objects with thuds and explosions boom. No doubt, were we reviewing sound effects alone, Sphinx would score just fine.
However, we're not, and Sphinx unfortunately features no voice dialogue whatsoever, an absolutely glaring omission especially since all of the characters in the game proudly boast full facial animation in support of it. The lack of voices is a big oversight as far as we're concerned because it's noticeable -- it calls attention to itself. And these characters would have come to life with colorful speech instead of text.
The music in the game, always crisp, can hit just right depending on the environment. Some of the tunes are fitting and catchy while others seem almost mute and exist as little more than background noise. There's definitely some good and bad here.