The Egyptian Prophecy

The Good
I thought the first game in the Egypt Series (Egypt: 1156BC) was horrible, so I skipped #2, which I read was equally bad. The reviews around the internet professed that #3, The Egyptian Prophecy, was much better. And they were right. I was pleasantly surprised. Not only is the game pleasing to look at and listen to, it is a pleasure to play.

Even though there are only several different tunes, they are beautifully orchestrated and long enough so you don't grow tired of hearing them. In addition to the main score, I was glad to hear music of "impending danger" as well as a "victory salute" when something important was accomplished. Sound effects are minimal. In fact, I can't remember a single one!

The world you explore is limited to several locations, but those locations are graphically good - clean and simply drawn to give you a sense of what Egypt was like back then. You explore in 360 degrees and are able to look in all directions to get the full effect of every location. Although there are too few characters for my taste, those are drawn realistically enough - Maya being the very best. She's a real Egyptian beauty! The animations are exceptional and outshine everything else but the main musical score.

The interface is simple and easy to use. Some of the pluses include: subtitles, unlimited save-game slots, and a clean directional cursor which "lights up" on interactive areas. Right-clicking with your mouse opens the bottom bar, the center of which holds access to the menus and reference encyclopedia. Inventory objects are to the left side and magical spell icons appear on the right side. Selected inventory or spells appear at the top left of the screen so that clicking your normal cursor on the appropriate spot uses that object or magic there. When a character asks you to show them an object, however, you must close the conversation so you can select and click it on them. Then talking to them again resumes your conversation. This is the only quirk I noticed in the interface.

From answering riddles to item-finding to object manipulation .. the puzzles are a mix of old and new. I recognized several of the riddles from previously played games. Several of the logic puzzles are fairly difficult, but the majority of the others can be categorized as easy-to-medium. Finding objects is almost too easy sometimes since Maya stops in the middle of walking to look and say "What's that?".

Maya can die in several places, but the game immediately returns you to the point right before your mistake.

The Bad
Very few of the actual puzzles have clues. One riddle in particular has you name a deity who has never been mentioned within the game and cannot be found inside the reference material. And speaking of the encyclopedia, it is arranged terribly. It makes for interesting reading, in a textbook sort of way, but it is nearly impossible to find something relevant to your current situation. I would have preferred searching it by keyword.

The overall length is very short. I completed it in a mere 8 hours.

The Bottom Line
The Egyptian Prophecy is indeed a -huge- improvement over the first two in the series. While I prefer longer games, the shortness of this game made it a nice weekend distraction.

The story is interesting with believable characters in a realistic, graphically pleasing environment. Puzzles are integrated into the plot well, are varied in type, and range in difficulty from easy to difficult.

As an "edutainment" title, the in-game reference does teach the player about Egypt, its culture and beliefs, although the material is not all-inclusive and is hard to search.

Not great .. but decently good .. The Egyptian Prophecy soundly holds an "honorable mention" from me.