The Egyptian Prophecy Review

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The Egyptian Prophecy

Review by TogerApril 2004

What is it about Egypt that attracts gamers and developers? Is it the food? Could it be the duty-free shopping? Or is it simply because no one in the present world can figure out how the ancients accomplished the construction of their massive monuments without modern machinery? Regardless of the reasoning, games taking place in Egypt or with an Egyptian theme abound. I’d promised myself that I wouldn’t go back to Egypt. It’s always too hot and there’s far too much sand. Not to mention the bugs. Yet, here I am, again …

The Egyptian Prophecy is a new adventure by French developer Kheops Studios, who, along with Earthlight Productions, developed Crystal Key 2. This is the third in the series originally begun by Cryo/Canal+ Multimedia. Not having played the other two games in the series (you call yourself an adventure gamer!?), I can’t offer any sage advice as to which game is the best of the three, nor can I tell you if it would make a difference if you played them in order. So I’ll try to make it up to you in other ways.

The Egyptian Prophecy tells the story of Maya—clairvoyant and skilled magician in the employ of Pharaoh Ramses II—as she attempts to uncover the strange goings-on and accidents that plague the construction of an obelisk to Amun-Re. If the obelisk is not completed before the season of shume, then Pharaoh will surely die and Egypt will be plunged into chaos. As the game begins, the chief architect, Paser, has been stricken with a mysterious illness and no one else has the knowledge required to complete the project.

Gameplay is mouse-driven, traditional point and click with 360-degree panning, including up and down. With the exception of cutscenes, players will always view the world in first person, through Maya’s eyes. Most actions are accomplished with left-clicks—moving from each node-base scene to the next, picking up and using various inventory objects, chatting up people that you meet—while a right-click will cancel an action and bring up or close the inventory/action bar, where you can save and load games, view the in-game journal and encyclopedia or take a closer look at current inventory items.

Normally, I wouldn’t make such a big deal about left and right mouse clicks, except I have a nit to pick with this game. I mouse left-handed. I’ve also reversed what button does what on my mouse—just like a right-handed mouser, I use my index finger to “left-click.”  Are you still with me? Every game I’ve ever played has allowed my mouse set-up to work in-game … until this one. The Egyptian Prophecy actually reset my mouse buttons in-game so that what is normally a left-click for me became a right-click. You can imagine my annoyance while trying to pick up and use inventory items during a crucial timed sequence.

Oops, did I let the cat out of the bag? Yes, Virginia, there are a couple of timed sequences in The Egyptian Prophecy. One involves locating and mixing the ingredients for a snakebite antidote, which I thought was very well done. Not only do you see a “health” meter for Maya, but the view through Maya’s eyes turns red as she runs out of time. I’ve never been bitten by a snake, but it was a clever way to simulate impending death. Oh no, another dreaded “feature”—death! Not to worry, Virginia, this game is very forgiving. So, not only can you save anywhere, if you should die the game will magically plunk you down at the beginning of said sequence so that you may try again.

Considering that you’re in the desert and the main colors are shades of white, brown and grey, The Egyptian Prophecy is a pretty game. The outsides of the houses (huts, actually) are sand-colored, but the interiors are alive with color. Fire torches cast a warm glow, baskets filled with colorful herbs or foods are stacked on low-slung tables and papyrus scrolls litter the floors. Wooden doors appear roughly hewn, while woven mats seem scratchy to the touch.

Osiris’s Book of the Dead is ablaze with color. There you’ll find the dark night sky filled with stars, vibrantly colored woven mats that depict Egyptian scenes and strange symbols that appear to fall from the sky.

As pretty as the game is, the sad thing is you won’t find a lot of people populating this world. The most you’ll see at any one time is three workers ceaselessly toiling on the columns in the temple. In view of the fact that the obelisk and temple need to be completed fairly quickly, you’d think that the temple and quarry would be overrun with workers. Alas, this isn’t the case, and it made me wonder how the heck they’d complete the work with so few artisans.

The characters that do exist for Maya to question (think of her as the ancient Egyptian version of Nancy Drew) are an interesting lot: Tuya, the famous and self-assured (read: condescending) healer, doesn’t think much of Maya as a healer and insists on testing her before offering her help. Ouni, Tuya’s husband and assistant to Paser, is whiny and has pretty much given up on finishing the obelisk in time. The bricklayer and Djer, the building foreman, are convinced that the entire project is cursed and Egypt is doomed.  Maya will also interact with several gods and goddesses, a snarky basket-maker who’ll get his just desserts, an all-knowing little girl and others.

Most of the denizens of The Egyptian Prophecy are fully 3D and somewhat animated. They will strike a specific pose while they answer questions. They may wave an arm or turn their head while they speak but will then revert to their mannequin’s pose.  As they speak, characters’ mouths move, but don’t expect any synchronization of the two. Everyone suffers from “talking head” syndrome.

The Egyptian Prophecy’s ambient sounds are fairly good.  Torches snap, crackle and pop as they burn, wooden doors creak as they open, papyrus rustles as you turn the pages, the wind gently sighs, Tuya’s white stone pestle scrapes against the herbs and mortar bowl as she grinds them into powder and frogs sing their night songs. In Ptah’s underworld of lava, you’ll hear lava “burble” as it bubbles, metal workers banging their anvils as they work the molten lava and giant stones grinding as they move.

I liked the voice work in The Egyptian Prophecy as it was very well done. The woman who voiced Tuya offered up enough honey-sweet compliments to make my teeth hurt, which promptly made me suspicious. Her husband was annoying enough in his pessimism that I wanted to slap him. The goddesses Sakhmet and Isis were warm, soothing and comforting to Maya as she went about her tasks.

Music was appropriate to the time and place, if not overly abundant.  Most of the time there isn’t any background music until you’ve accomplished a task, at which point, a full symphony springs into being. The music also increases in tempo, to ratchet up the tension, while you’re working on a timed puzzle.

The Egyptian Prophecy’s puzzles are varied and not too difficult. The majority of the puzzles are inventory-based and somewhat confined to the location that you’re currently visiting.  A few items—such as all of the spells—carry over to other sites, but most are used not too far from where they’re found. With the exception of the spells, once an item is no longer required it will disappear from Maya’s inventory.

I’ve mentioned it already, but let me reiterate: the game is very forgiving. In some cases, if you should fail to notice a particular inventory item lying on the ground, Maya will remark with a “what’s this?” and turn to face the item in question.  No pixel hunting allowed here!

Puzzle types range from the simple: locating a bowl for a temple ritual or searching for a cartouche to open a crypt door, to the frantic: finding and mixing the ingredients to cure a snake’s bite before time runs out, to the sublime: aligning five disks in order to open a perfume coffer or figuring out a unique slider mechanism on a crypt door. I think my favorite was the double maze—the path is clearly marked, but the kicker is that not only does Maya need to negotiate the path, her ka (ethereal double) must travel a slightly different maze at the same time, and both must exit the maze as one.

All told, The Egyptian Prophecy is a nice little diversion.  Even though the game is amazingly short—I clocked about eight hours, maximum—and very linear, the game is still fun. Not even my annoying mouse problem could completely ruin it. If you’re looking for something to push the boundaries of adventure gaming, then look elsewhere; however, if you’re looking for an afternoon’s entertainment, then why not spend it traveling the Nile of a bygone era? Anoint yourself in perfumed oil, don your ankh and linen shift and join Maya in her quest to discover the fate of Ramses II. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Kheops Publisher: Dreamcatcher Release Date: March 2004

Available for: Windows

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Screenshots

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System Requirements

Windows 98/ME/2000/XP 600 MHz PIII or equivalent (800 MHz recommended) 16X CD-ROM Drive (24X CD-ROM Drive Recommended) 32 MB DirectX compatible 3D video card DirectX 7 compatible sound card 64 MB RAM

Where to Find It

Links provided for informational purposes only.  FFC makes no warranty with regard to any transaction entered into by any party(ies).

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

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16 Responses to Screw the Internet

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    God damn, Scout, I’d never heard of this Lanier fellow, but that’s pretty profound.

    Information is not a manufacturable item… as you said, we are making less and less. This is either indicative of a larger-scale societal transformation, or a bad thing. I’m afraid I’m inclined to assumed the latter.

    Thanks!

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    Steerpike, that was exactly the argument Lanier was having with callers on the BBC. Lanier was all fatalistic about society’s drop in real productivity while his opponents claimed that this was a huge transformation and that he was just too old to grasp the coolness of it all. If you notice, the web address of that first Lanier link is well.com. I mean, that is old! The Well?

    Lanier’s thoughts were pretty much echoed by David Simon, one of the creators of The Wire. Here he speaks with Bill Moyers about the fate of paid journalism in the face of the web.

  • Spike

    I’ve read many criticisms of Facebook et. al.  I’ve also read contradictions of those criticisms, namely, that social sites are making people more connected than ever.  I think that that connectedness is an illusion.

    For several months at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 my daughter badgered me to join FB.  I could connect with her and some of her friends that I know as well as renew old acquaintances with some of her friend’s mothers.  I finally signed up so she’d quit the badgering. I used to check in every day to see what daughter and friends were saying because if I didn’t she’d ask if I saw her post, or a friend’s post. 

    What I’ve learned is this:

    1.  “Karen Likes John’s photo (or post)” IS NOT communication.

    2.  The reason I lost contact with some of these “friends” in the first place is that we no longer had anything in common.

    3.  I am bombarded with so many ads in so many places that I can do without more.  My policy is to never click on ads on FB or on many other sites. 

    4.  While FB’s original mission was connectedness/communication, I think it has become “Let’s make as much money from these fools as we can.”  “Wanna have gobs of fun playing a free game on FB?”  That game is gonna cost ya big, folks. 

    5.  Social sites are just more places where your personal info can be stolen.  There’s enough risk out there as it is.  Additional risk is not providing any valuable payoff for me.

    6.  Why do I want to “friend” a certain handbag manufacturer?  Why do I want to take a quiz that tells me what my personality is?  FB content providers tell you up front that if you click the link to take their quiz (goes for other types of content as well) you are giving them permission to access your profile info.  That’s ok.  I’ll also give you my SSN, bank account number and the key to my front door.  Not.

    7.  Don’t even get me started on the number of people who start an account in a pet’s name, and even have the pets making friends and posting.

    “…he was just too old to grasp the coolness of it all.”

    No, it’s just that most of us get to the age when we demand a bit of wheat with our chaff.

    At 38 my daughter is older than the average demographic of social sites although I know that that demographic is skewing up.  She seems to be cooling on FB.  Some of her 221 friends are as well.  Many of them do want some wheat.  When more cooling has taken place I will unjoin.

    I wonder, though, what new fad will come along when FB, Twitter and others run their course?  MySpace, anyone?

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    My favorite line from the BBC interview was when Lanier was comparing MySpace and Facebook. He admitted that MySpace had some eye gougingly bad pages but said that he liked the “strangeness” of personalities that you get with it. With Facebook, he claimed that it was like looking at a tax form. A boring, watered down, bland presentation of people.

    I joined Facebook almost exactly a year ago. Apart from sparking up a new friendship with a very dear buddy, I’ve gotten about zero back from it. I sort of read with bemusement the activities of people I hardly know and could care less about. And when you consider how much information the devs harvest there…it’s scary. Lanier claims that the information is so far worthless to the investors and that the whole thing has become a sort useless ritual serving no purpose. He claimed that Google’s ads on the other hand will probably turn out to be the greatest advertising model ever created. He also thinks Google should stop before it’s too late but says they probably won’t. Just a glance at the side bar reveals about 4 ads for advertising agencies. Heh.

  • lokimotive

    Has anybody read Anti-Oedipus? I’m slogging my way through it (the third attempt I believe), and Deleuze and Gauttari’s ideas seem relevant to this in a way that I’m not sure I can articulate. This probably has something to do with a conversation I was eavesdropping on that, coincidentally, mentioned a lot of Deleuze and Gauttari’s theories. Someone was talking about another theorist (whose name I didn’t catch) who was defending “Generation Y” essentially. The argument went that Generation Y is an example of a “de-Oedipalized” cultural group (that’s Anti-Oedipus jargon, just stay with me). Apparently this meant that they made connections in a different manner than other generations, the idea of bricollage was brought up and things were generally mired in a lot of reasons why I don’t have my Masters in English. What I got from it was this Generation Y shoots out connections everywhere and attempts to make up a whole idea with them as opposed to relying on predefined pathways. In Deleuze and Guattari’s language: the schizo as opposed to Oedipus. In language that probably makes sense: Peer to Peer as opposed to client-server.

    So, of course, no one’s really right. I’m skeptical of the idea that Generation Y (full disclosure: I’m 29 so I’m part of that group) has enacted some sort of paradigm shift in how to operate in social systems, but facebook has changed how I connect with people. Then again, it’s not like I don’t value face to face communication.

    The future is somewhere in between. I’m really not cynical enough to believe that we are at the end times of civilized society because of Web 2.0. Instead society will change and stay the same because that’s what it does. Facebook is not the future; it’s probably a rung up the ladder though.

  • kaythomas

    To me, Facebook and Twitter are 0’s. They are not worth my time.  I do not care what someone I know or don’t know did a half hour ago or will do next.  I have met up with people on facebook I had lost contact with.  But, in truth, the reason I had lost contact was I was not that interested in staying in contact.

    I think for many people the Facebook/Twitter world is great.  For me it has nothing to offer. 
    kay

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Tap has an automated device that twits… tweets… whatever whenever someone posts a new article. Just in case it draws some visitors.

    To be honest, though, I’m on Kay’s side of the fence, I don’t understand Twitter and I don’t understand why it’s so popular. I barely care what I’m doing from moment to moment, why should anyone else?

    I don’t get Facebook either, though I’m a member to keep track of all the girls who wouldn’t give me the time of day in high school.

  • Lewis B

    Tweets are great for giving me snippets of news.  If I like what I’ve read in the short paragraph tweets give, then I will visit the main page for that tweet. (Very good for following world news, favourite columnists, etc.)

    However, reading tweets from people such as “Just woke up, Madonna is giving me a massage while I shave my nuts” is not my idea of a good read.

  • Toger

    I use tweets the same way Lewis does. Of the people/things I follow, if the tweet is interesting I’ll follow the link to read the entire article. I follow fairly intelligent people, so I’m not subjected to the idiocy of “Just brushed my teeth while sitting on toilet”.

  • Gregg B

    @loki: I’m afraid I’ve not heard of them. I’m a couple of years below you so that puts me in the same Generation Y as well. I read through a few of those links Scout posted as well as a few more on Lanier’s new book “You Are Not a Gadget” and it took me a fair while to get to the crux of what he is saying and he has a lot to say, most of which I find very confusing.

    As a graphic designer the whole “everything is becoming advertising” thing has been bothering me for years. The incessant barrage of advertising is like fingernails on the chalkboard of my soul, which sort of makes me a hypocrite. After all the years of tuning my art and design skillz my creative abilities have amounted to nothing more than crafting pretty ads that sell things. Non of it speaks any truth or has any sort of ‘beauty’; it’s just stone cold mechanical capitalism. Granted there are ads out there that are beautiful, clever and visionary but the front line stuff is as dull as it gets. I’m sure this isn’t strictly what he’s getting at but it’s definitely something that irks me in relation to Scout’s last remark.

    Anyway, I remember Twitter just exploding in what seemed like the space of a week and I still can’t fathom the allure of it aside from providing a direct stream of consciousness from famous folk to their ravenous fans. I wish I’d thought of it to be honest. I can see the creators sitting around a table staring at Facebook and then saying “I know! We make a website that’s just about status updates! You can even update them with your mobile phone!”.

    With regards to Twitter news snippets, unless it’s for a phone, I don’t see the point because RSS feeds do a great job. At present too great; I simply can’t keep up with my subscriptions. There’s too much information on this super highway.

  • Jen

    Twitter is officially the dumbest thing ever.

    That said, it looks like I will have to be the official “tweeter” for my day job before too long. I can’t wait! (roll eyes)

  • xtal

    I’m with everyone else here. I’m glad to say I’ve never signed up for Facebook; I fear that if I ever had I would have long ago died from loss of brain cells due to reading moronic status updates. It’s as Kay said: ninety-five per cent of people with whom you lose contact are probably no longer in your life because you have nothing left in common. And echoing Steerpike’s comment, me eating toast and jam on a Sunday morning watching Fawlty Towers is not interesting, not to me. Why the hell would anyone else give a shit?

    Twitter I signed up for about a year ago, not really understanding what it was. I now understand it…but don’t care to use it often. I have made 58 tweets over that year. I suspect for some that is a daily or weekly average. It’s just Facebook status updates without all the drunken photographs. I admit it can be mildly useful for following, say, a news site. Usually when I hop on my twitter (once every two weeks??) it reminds me that I should read The Onion more often. That’s about it.

    Let’s see… looking at the actual humans I follow, um… Wil Wheaton is happy that the LA Kings have won 9 games in a row, my sister-in-law thought our dinner tonight was “delicious,” and Kevin Smith’s batteries are recharged … or something.

    Wow, my life is already getting better!

    p.s.  <—– Gen Y'er (can we call ourselves that?) and proud that when I Google my own name a real estate company pops up.

  • Fraser

    Twitter is exactly as useless as the person who’s writing it. If someone is telling you boring shit over Twitter, it’s the person wasting your time, not the delivery channel.

    MySpace is the same, but it seems more intrinsically garbage because for some reason almost everyone who used it was an intellectual embryo with a fetish for unreadable hyperneon text on top of garish uninteresting photos. Facebook’s great trick is that it prevents you from realising that most of your friends would make a brutally hideous homepage for themselves if they could.

    That’s the argument against the whole of this post: the internet isn’t evil, but the people who use it might be. It’s people who make business models successful; people who make money flow to advertisers instead of artists, by buying into the advertising.

    This has been a pretty didactic post, so let me compensate by saying VIDEOGAMES WOOOOOOO!!!

  • Gregg B

    Good point about not blaming the delivery channel Fraser. I seem to recall Lanier saying that he preferred the personality that MySpace has over Facebook despite its Craptastic Pages of Illegibility. I’m trying to think of something intelligent to follow that up with but my brain is failing me at the moment, so…

    VIDEOGAMES WOOOOOO!!!

  • Jason Venter

    Fraser, I really loved your following comment:

    “Facebook’s great trick is that it prevents you from realising that most of your friends would make a brutally hideous homepage for themselves if they could.”

    I think that may just be one of the most hilariously true comments I’ve read in a comments area on any video game web site ever.  That sounds overly dramatic, I know, but I actually mean it.  Kudos to you!

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    Yeah but don’t you miss all the ugliness of MySpace? All those hideous pages at least had personality or what Lanier called the “strangeness of the person” to them.

    I actually don’t agree with a lot of what Lanier says esp “the hive mind must die” stuff. But I do think he is right about the spirit shriveling blandness of Facebook.

    I also suspect that Twitter is going to be around for a while. It will be more and more influential. People are simply not as willing to ingest huge amounts of information in the form of pages of text anymore. The delivery systems that succeed will be those that can communicate a lot of information in a short amount of time. Most days we want “glimpses” or “snapshots” not total immersion. Lewis, Toger and Fraser are correct in that you get out of it what you decide to follow.

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