Egypt: The Prophecy

Egypt: The Prophecy seems to be the result of a rather curious trade-off: the more elaborate the setting, the worse the adventure.

Anuman was first out of the block with Return to Mysterious Island, which arguably set the bar with its beautiful island paradise and challenging, engrossing gameplay.

Dracula: The Path of the Dragon didn't rise up to that standard, despite its creepy setting and now Egypt: The Prophecy goes a notch lower by teasing an epic, magical adventure that's actually defined by tired, derivative gameplay.

It's unlikely you'll make it past the flashy introduction, since the opening cinematic will be enough to ward you off.

Said introduction places you in the shoes of a magician named Maya, sent by the pharaoh to investigate the accidents happening to those working on his new obelisk.

Touching arrows lining the sides of the screen allows you to move from one static screen to the next. Items you can interact with, pick up, or characters you can chat to are similarly highlighted by on-screen icons that require nothing more than a quick tap.

It's these forms of investigation that dominate your time – certainly in the first two chapters, the first of which can be downloaded for free – with most problems you encounter easily overcome by picking up objects when you see them, or talking to each and every NPC that you pass.

Pole to pole goals

While the chambers that make up the obelisk are visually stunning in places, walking around opening corridors is a soulless experience. Most rooms, which are essentially split up into a series of pictures that you move between, are empty.

Furthermore, it takes too much time to move from one scene to the next. At points there appear no end to the arrows that mount the borders of each screen, moving between them like flipping the pages of an enormous photo album.

There's too much to explore without regularly losing your bearings. Compounded by the wait time when moving between scenes, playing feels like a chore instead of fun. Aimless exploration is essentially what Egypt: The Prophecy is about.

It's a shame, too, that all the dialogue is drab and delivered via a series of voice-over artists who sound like they're slowly being gassed with nitrous oxide.

Even worse are the puzzles themselves. Though Maya has magic at hand – most notably the ability to hypnotise people simply by saying their name – the physical tests, which tend to focus on set orders or patterns, are comparatively dull.

It's the guides you meet along the way that spoil the party, usually telling you exactly what you need to do before you've even encountered the task at hand.

Although things get a touch more interesting by the time Part 3 rolls into town, Egypt: The Prophecy is a sign of a formula being run firmly into the ground, sadly failing to deliver the big, ballsy adventure it might once have promised.