Secrets of the Luxor

Okay, I'll admit it, I'm torn. Well, maybe turned into twins. The good twin says that Secrets of the Luxor is why I got into adventure gaming to begin with—fresh and beautiful, extremely well-designed, someone put some serious time, money and love into this puppy. Now, the evil twin says ... but why are the puzzles so incredibly mind-boggling?

And to be fair, here are the perks: you can die like crazy, but don't bother saving as the game takes you back to the point just before death, so there's no distracting redundant saving to worry about, and dying becomes fun. There are a couple of fun Easter eggs, such as a man holding a gun you can see in the Constellation room only by wearing the VR goggles, and a great sequence showing the game designers in a secret room under the bridge in the Power Link room. Finally, it packs a lot of punch into a small package and manages to accomplish in two disks what took Timescape five to get done.

If you like puzzle solving-based multimedia games, Secrets of the Luxor is a good choice. It combines puzzles integrated into an interesting plot line with good graphics, animation, and sound. Note, though, that some of the puzzles are quite difficult, especially without the proper clues, and can make the game quite frustrating at times.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that all adventure games need to have a strong story. But it’s a big mistake to make a game that depends so heavily on a story that never gets delivered. Beautiful graphics, thrilling first third of the game is off-put by the second and third parts of game; puzzles in search of a story. Recommended for its spectacular Egypt section and tough, chewy puzzles throughout.

Auch wenn man die "Secrets of the Luxor" gelöst hat, bleibt dennoch ein häufig beobachtetes Phänomen ungeklärt: Was treibt ein Programmierteam dazu, aus Macromedia, Quicktime und 3D-Grafiken den 59. Myst-Clone zu basteln?

Secrets är dock ett snyggt försök som bådar gott inför framtiden.

The first part of the game is really quite enjoyable, well, it appealed to me, but ultimately the rest of the game failed to sustain my interest as I progressed through it. The second part involves exploring remnants of the advanced (possibly alien) civilisation and it was here that I started to become disenchanted.

Here’s a strange sort of game that I could write three different reviews for. Secrets of the Luxor is divided into three sections, and the three parts are so profoundly different in tone, ambience, and player enjoyment that I’m a bit puzzled as to how to review the game as a whole.

Despite all the crabbing I've done about it, I thought the game was worth playing. I wouldn't recommend paying a huge amount for it, but if you can get it for $20 or less it's probably worth it. The first level is certainly interesting and I enjoyed the occasional touches of humor in it. I don't think the end of the game lived up to the promise of its beginnings, but you can say that about a lot of games.

Die Entwickler dieses Spiels haben vorher ein 3D-Programm für den Macintosh geschrieben. Also wimmelt es in Luxor von durchaus schöner 3D-Grafik. Aber das Spiel, das Spiel... Gut, es gibt überdurchschnittlich viele Räume und einige durchaus knackige Puzzles, aber trotzdem wird man dieses Déjà-vu-Gefühl nicht los, das alles schon hundertmal gesehen zu haben.

Die Entwickler dieses Spiels haben vorher ein 3D-Programm für den Macintosh geschrieben. Also wimmelt es in Luxor von durchaus schöner 3D-Grafik. Aber das Spiel, das Spiel... Gut, es gibt überdurchschnittlich viele Räume und einige durchaus knackige Puzzles, aber trotzdem wird man dieses Déjà-vu-Gefühl nicht los, das alles schon hundertmal gesehen zu haben.