Ankh: Curse of the Scarab King review

This conversion of a point ’n’ click PC adventure seems to have been in limbo for about the best part of a year. It’s a comedy set in ancient Egypt, following our irresponsible hero’s attempts to rid himself of the mummy’s death curse that he accidentally unleashed while trying to impress his friends by sneaking into a forbidden crypt.

 
The script is full of self-referential touches and it never takes itself remotely seriously, but it’s not exactly funny. We never laughed once. In fact, we just turned down the volume so as not to hear the constant overlaying of voice samples as we tapped the screen searching for the one active pixel needed to solve the next obscure puzzle. “That doesn’t seem to work,” we’re told 20 times in 30 seconds. We know!

Being shrunk down to the DS screen does it no favours – it still looks reasonably good, but the precision needed to find and do exactly what you need to has been lost. If the idea of crazy Egyptian pratfalls takes your fancy, we suggest tracking down the 2006 PC original. That said, there’s not much else like it on DS. As long as you’re prepared to endure some graphics-induced frustration and you don’t require many laughs, you might enjoy a bit of Ankh.

Oct 1, 2008