I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.
First and foremost, to me, the Mummy movie will always be the one starring Brandon Fraser. Weirdly, I bought this game BEFORE I tried watching the reboot that spawned this game in a sale. When I finally did watch it, I could barely finish since the characters were so unlikeable, the story so nonsensical and the dialogues so awful they were giving me a headache.
Luckily, weirdly, The Mummy Demastered is a straight up Metroidvania that is short, REALLY short but quite efficient and actually fun to play.
If you can count on Wayforward for something besides delivering adorable genies, it will be delivering gorgeously animated pixelated games. And this is no exception. The inspiration here was clearly Castlevania, and it shows by color palette and enemy design. Your agent has a whole range of carefully animated and detailed motion. The backgrounds are equally detailed and pretty. The color palette leaves a bit to be desired, since everything is a tad too dark all the time, but the art team still did a good job.
Gameplay is a basic Metroidvania with its tried-and-true formula being followed far better than Metroid Dread, even if this game is shorter and smaller in scope. You have room to breathe and a good pacing to the action, and left to your own devices to explore a labyrinth composed of rooms and corridors, until you find a barrier or some sort of spot where you won't be able to traverse without some sort or power or gadget, forcing you to explore other corners. There is the usual items to collect (health & ammo expansions, etc) Sadly, this game commits a harsh sin of not telling you where you've found what, so if you're trying to go for 100% completion, you might end up ripping your hair in frustration trying to find that last piece. The quick-travel spots could be better placed though.
Combat is nice and simple, even if there are way too many enemies in weird angles at times (they require more patience and punish going too fast), and while the shotgun was lackluster and the initial gun is a peashooter, this title has one of the best flamethrowers I've seen in games in a long time. Boss fights also evolve as you unlock more skills, so if you just got the ability to climb ceilings, you can bet your rotten mummy's wraps that the next one will have spiked floors or something of the sort, which is good!
Lastly, the only complaint I can make about the soundtrack is that the best and most fitting song for the final stage was placed in the stage before it. Monomer really dished lots of really good creepy tracks based on chiptune, the kind that you download for your personal list.
So yeah! I do recommend this!
... wait, what? 'Story'? What story- Oh, yeah, uh... since this is a movie-tie-in without the main stars of the show, its sadly just 'there'. No development, no characterization (since the main character is a replaceable grunt), nothing. The only communication you have with anyone is with the director of Prodigium, 'go to x', 'x went somewhere else' rinse and repeat till final boss. But hey, I got a fun game AND no Tom Cruise! I see this as an absolute win!
VideoGame If I had a nickel for every bad Mummy Movie that spawned a good game...
I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.
First and foremost, to me, the Mummy movie will always be the one starring Brandon Fraser. Weirdly, I bought this game BEFORE I tried watching the reboot that spawned this game in a sale. When I finally did watch it, I could barely finish since the characters were so unlikeable, the story so nonsensical and the dialogues so awful they were giving me a headache.
Luckily, weirdly, The Mummy Demastered is a straight up Metroidvania that is short, REALLY short but quite efficient and actually fun to play.
If you can count on Wayforward for something besides delivering adorable genies, it will be delivering gorgeously animated pixelated games. And this is no exception. The inspiration here was clearly Castlevania, and it shows by color palette and enemy design. Your agent has a whole range of carefully animated and detailed motion. The backgrounds are equally detailed and pretty. The color palette leaves a bit to be desired, since everything is a tad too dark all the time, but the art team still did a good job.
Gameplay is a basic Metroidvania with its tried-and-true formula being followed far better than Metroid Dread, even if this game is shorter and smaller in scope. You have room to breathe and a good pacing to the action, and left to your own devices to explore a labyrinth composed of rooms and corridors, until you find a barrier or some sort of spot where you won't be able to traverse without some sort or power or gadget, forcing you to explore other corners. There is the usual items to collect (health & ammo expansions, etc) Sadly, this game commits a harsh sin of not telling you where you've found what, so if you're trying to go for 100% completion, you might end up ripping your hair in frustration trying to find that last piece. The quick-travel spots could be better placed though.
Combat is nice and simple, even if there are way too many enemies in weird angles at times (they require more patience and punish going too fast), and while the shotgun was lackluster and the initial gun is a peashooter, this title has one of the best flamethrowers I've seen in games in a long time. Boss fights also evolve as you unlock more skills, so if you just got the ability to climb ceilings, you can bet your rotten mummy's wraps that the next one will have spiked floors or something of the sort, which is good!
Lastly, the only complaint I can make about the soundtrack is that the best and most fitting song for the final stage was placed in the stage before it. Monomer really dished lots of really good creepy tracks based on chiptune, the kind that you download for your personal list.
So yeah! I do recommend this!
... wait, what? 'Story'? What story- Oh, yeah, uh... since this is a movie-tie-in without the main stars of the show, its sadly just 'there'. No development, no characterization (since the main character is a replaceable grunt), nothing. The only communication you have with anyone is with the director of Prodigium, 'go to x', 'x went somewhere else' rinse and repeat till final boss. But hey, I got a fun game AND no Tom Cruise! I see this as an absolute win!