Adventure games don't appeal to as many people as most other genres anymore. Typically there's very little action and lots of talking to people looking for clues and searching for items. Dreamcatcher Games' solution: an adventure game that plays like a third person shooter. Curse: The Eye of Isis has the storyline and looks of an adventure game and the zombie-splattering action of Resident Evil. Along with a decent story and setting that reminds me of The Mummy movies without the annoyance of Brendan Frasier, it's a winning combination that breathes some new life into a genre that's fallen out of favor in recent years.
At the center of the plot is The Eye of Isis, an ancient Egyptian artifact recovered by archeologist Dr. Stanley Dane in the mid 19th century. The Eye gained a reputation among superstitious collectors for bringing its owners misfortune over the years. Dr. Dane himself went mad and was committed to a mental institution where he died years later. Nevertheless, The Eye is considered priceless and is highly sought after by black market collectors and thieves.
The player begins controlling Darien Dane, the son of the late Dr. Stanley Dane, as he enters the British museum where The Eye is about to go on display in 1890. Stopped by police, he's told that the museum has been sealed off. Determined to find his childhood friend Victoria Sutton, the curator of the Isis exhibit, Darien ignores the police warning and enters the dark museum anyway. Inside, he finds a gang of thugs, a mysterious cat burglar, and of course an evil yellow mist that reanimates the dead and bears a grudge against the Dane family.
Helping Darien along the way is Abdul Waheed, the Egyptian government's liaison to the museum and loyal friend of Darien's father, who acts as a guide, save point, and inventory storage. At certain points in the story the player controls Victoria Sutton while Darien is under the influence of the Curse. Playing as Victoria is identical to playing as Darien, though she does get a fancy jewel that glows when danger is near which comes in handy when dealing with the numerous traps in the Egyptian tombs. It can sometimes be frustrating if you forget to keep both characters well armed. Several times I had a small arsenal with Darien but then was switched over to Victoria and had to fight off mummies with only a police baton and her British charm. It's always a good idea to leave a weapon and some ammo with Waheed, who can be accessed by either character.
In addition to your standard issue life meter, Darien and Victoria have a Curse meter. The Curse meter goes up when you come in contact with the swirling yellow mist that possesses zombies and mummies. You'll run into it when fighting enemies, who breathe it at you like fire, and spew a cloud from their bodies upon death. It also shows up in floating clouds that obstruct your path. The Curse works like poison- the higher your Curse meter goes, the faster you lose life. You can cure your Curse affliction with a dose of ethanol (which just goes to prove that you can solve all the problems in life with alcohol) and restore your life meter with smelling salts, and later in the game amulets dropped by mummies cure both at once.
The weapons available include a baton, pistol, rifle, shotgun, crossbow (with three kinds of ammo), flamethrower, and mortar gun. They are all 19th century versions, so you have to reload a lot with most of them- they didn't have fancy banana clips and belt-fed ammunition back in the day. You also have to take your time aiming. There is a targeting reticule that appears when you lock on to an enemy, and unless you hold still and let the crosshairs line up you'll shoot wild.
There is a fairly cool feature where you can target various parts of enemies' bodies. You can shoot thugs and zombies in the chest or head, with head shots doing slightly more damage. Mummies are a little more fun- you can actually blow parts like arms and heads off of them. Unfortunately, the system is underutilized when fighting most enemies, since it doesn't make a whole lot of difference where you shoot them. The only place it's really used is when fighting some of the larger boss type enemies, who are only vulnerable in certain spots.
The most striking features of Curse are the environments. There are four different areas in the game: the museum, the sewers/train station, a cargo ship, and an Egyptian tomb, all of which are beautifully done with an eye for detail. Lighting and shadows are relatively impressive and add to the creepy atmosphere, which is topped off with good weather effects like rain and fog. The only problem with the environments is the bare minimum of interactivity. Things like chairs and other small items are built in to the map and are completely unmovable, and there are no bullet holes or burn marks left on the walls after you shoot or fry them. It really does give you the feeling of being in a museum where you can look at all the pretty things, but not touch. So even though the environments are rendered in real time, they still feel pre-rendered to a degree, not unlike Resident Evil.
Most of the gameplay is typical of adventure games- find a key to get to the next area, and then find a key to get to the area after that. The levels are well enough designed though that you don't really get sick of searching for keys- behind every locked door is something new and interesting. There are occasional block-pushing puzzles, but fortunately they're not overdone. We've all had plenty of that kind of thing, thank you very much Tomb Raider.
The character models are decent but not spectacular. One major problem is the facial animations - more often than not the lip synching is totally off, if the mouths move at all. Still, while not the most technically impressive models, they do have their own charm, with their slightly cartoony appearance. The enemies' transformations into undead zombies are a little cheesy but nonetheless cool, as are their throbbing, exposed hearts, but the single death animation gets a little repetitive- there are no rag doll physics and skeletal animation here. The game moves at a brisk framerate, but this isn't really a surprise as there isn't that much going on onscreen. Overall the graphics work, but don't expect grade-A quality, or an abundance of special effects.
Unfortunately the enemy AI isn't too bright. Zombies and mummies will simply walk towards you, occasionally getting stuck on obstacles, and then attack in a very predictable pattern. Mummies are just like in the movies, walking slowly after you at a lethargic pace- you can usually just run right past them if you want. But then again, how smart are the walking dead supposed to be?
There is not a whole lot of voice acting, but when there is it is done fairly well. However, there are some problems with the volume of the voices, as if the sound source is moving too far away to be heard. There is some fight music that fades in when enemies come near, but for most of the game all you hear are footsteps and creaking doors. That's not really a bad thing though, since a couple of times rounding a corner and running into a loudly growling zombie made me jump, and this is a horror game after all. Still, the clopping of your footsteps on the hard floors can get a bit grating if you play the game for a long period of time. Also, while the voice acting is decent for the main characters, some of the baddies have this distorted "horror" voice that sounds, well, a little too budget.
Control, unfortunately is a little clumsy. It's not as clunky as, say, Resident Evil, but it's far from perfect. See, you have full 3D control of your character, but the sudden camera changes often cause the directional orientation to get reversed. So, if you're holding up on the analog stick to move forward, you can suddenly be moving the opposite direction when the camera changes. This has always been a problem in games without user-controlled cameras, and Curse is not different. Also, there were more than a few occasions where the main character would start moving the other way, even in the same camera angle. Letting up on the stick for a moment fixed it, but it sure doesn't make the game any friendlier. Overall, the controls aren't super responsive, but they work just about as well as any other horror game.
Verdict
Once you've adjusted to the unaccommodating controls and camera, Curse: The Eye of Isis is a fun, creepy, good looking horror game. A little more emphasis on the combat system, like making good use of the bodypart-specific targeting, would have gone a long way towards truly enjoyable gameplay. It's a little on the campy side story-wise, especially the ending, but what ancient Egyptian curse story isn't? That's just part of its charm. It took around 10 hours to play through on the normal difficulty level, which is a reasonable amount of time to spend on an adventure game. However, because it's so linear, there's no point in playing through again.
