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| | Gameplay
Sound
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Value
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| | Genre: Puzzle & Trivia | | | Min OS X: 10.5 |
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GraphicsAs with other elements of the game, the graphics are what you would expect if you’ve seen one of these games. Each level presents you with a screen containing your whole environment, and gameplay is presented in an isometric pseudo-3D fashion. The introduction and cut scenes feature standard good-quality two dimensional illustrations and the cartoony characters moving around in each level look like they do in almost all games of this type. I will say another disappointment was that at the end of each level each city looked pretty much the same. Usually in games like this your final scene gets more complex and better looking. Not so here; even when you built a pyramid it didn’t really stand out much. This might seem like a little thing, and in some ways it is, but with so little room to differentiate themselves, developers should take every opportunity to provide easy eye candy to players. Sounds Sounds again are pretty standard, and if you keep the volume up you will have the game music playing through your head in your off hours. That said, it isn’t bad, just repetitive. You get the repetitive background music, hissing cobras, crocodile sounds and appropriate building noises and alert sounds as you should. The sounds are fine and I never felt the need to turn any of them off, which has certainly happened with other games. Value As I’ve stated before, I didn’t feel like Fate of the Pharaoh offered much different to make it stand out. I also didn’t think it offered a particularly large number of levels to play. With no real replay value unless you want to make the Time of Ra in every level to receive all the bonuses, the game only offers a few hours of gameplay. On the other hand, as with many casual games these days, it only costs $6.99. If Time Management games are your thing and you’re always looking for a new one, Fate of the Pharaoh should fit the bill. Just be aware you’ll be looking for another one pretty soon. Conclusion There’s obviously a big market for Time Management games these days or developers wouldn’t keep making them. Many of the most popular have a 2, 3 or 4 after their names now, indicating an eager and attentive public. In that vein, Fate of the Pharaoh has a 1.0 after its name, and presumably if it’s popular enough we’ll see 2.0 eventually. If we do, I hope the developers take the time to add some more variety in gameplay, make sure everything that’s available needs to be used in different levels, and makes the game more challenging. Oh, and lose the aliens. Pros • Nice enough graphics
• Good sound
• Ancient Egypt is a fun place to play
• Cheap & family friendly Cons • Lack of variety in levels
• Not enough levels
• Nothing really new here Steven Marx has been playing games on the Mac since his brother brought home a Mac 512K. Actually he started with Apple games when his best friend set up an Apple II. He then spent his graduate school years studying Educational Technology, giving him an excuse to spend hours with SimCity 2000, Civilization III, Marathon and the like. While he designs and develops websites and multimedia for a living while being a stay-at-home dad, he loves writing for IMG because it “forces” him to continue playing games on the Macintosh.
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