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The Mummy’s Curse review

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The Mummy adventures continue in this one. I wouldn’t say its as strong as the second installment but is very close with the third. I was impressed at the heroine showing up again from the last film as I just had the feeling that she wasn’t going to be brought up. Instead the film actually finishes up her plotline. It may not be in a very satisfying way but at least its acknowledged.

So there are a bunch of engineers working on a swamp but they’re all very scared of the whole Mummy rumors. Legends say that a Mummy is still buried under here somewhere and it doesn’t help that a bunch of guys from the nearby museum show up to try and find the Mummy as well. The boss is outraged at the whole thing but his secretary has fallen in love and won’t support him in throwing these men out. Perhaps that will be for the best though as the Mummy is very real and has started his rampage once more. Can the heroes take him down before it’s too late?

I said some of the earlier main characters were bland but this one may take the cake. The main character James has no real character to speak of. He wants to get to the Mummy for the museum but it’s hard to say much more about him than that. He seems like a nice enough person but certainly gets crushed rather easily when it comes time for a fight. He just didn’t fair too well in the climax and got off easy with Kharis really doing all of the work here.

As for Ananka, well she looks pretty bad here. Whenever someone is in trouble she runs off so that they will be doomed against Kharis. You can actively blame her for most of the deaths in this film. I mean Kharis should take the direct blame but she is really not being a good character in leaving them to their deaths. It was not a wise move. The new villain Ilzor is just like the others who follow Kharis. At first he is commanding the Mummy but then gets greedy in going after the heroine so Kharis does not like that. The villain made a big mistake in running to the prison though. That’s just not a good idea here. Why lock yourself in against a monster like this?

If you try to run you at least have a shot since the Mummy is so slow. Just don’t faint, if you do that then you’re really in for a bad time. The Mummy itself doesn’t do a whole lot here. It still flails around and chokes people but that’s about it. You’ve seen it all before and it’s why I say that he desperately needs a power up. Something that will really help him turn the tables and be more of a threat.

Beyond that, the movie really plays out how you would expect it too. Kharis takes out a bunch of fighters here and there until they eventually catch up to him. The whole place caving in and burying him is quite the way to go. It may not be the most exciting climax but it does the job. You’ll be entertained from start to finish and a good reason for that is really the solid writing. I dare say that if the writing was not up to par then this movie would not work.

It’s one of those titles that only works because it’s so old and the writing was so solid back then. If you remade this in the modern day it would absolutely need to compensate with a lot more action to keep things interesting. This one can afford to be more of a slow boil film with not much happening because those fundamentals are on point. The movie is short and never drags on either so I would even say that it has a decent amount of replay value. If you just want to turn your brain off and watch something entertaining then this is a good film to pick up. That said, you could certainly do better so you may not give it the re watch.

I still say the main thing to take these films to the next level would be to make the Mummy itself a little fiercer. Alternately what you can do is give him an enemy to fight. Throw in another Mummy, wouldn’t that be a nice wrinkle? Kharis wakes up but another Mummy like Imhotep says this is his domain so they have to duke it out. That would be excellent and I’m always surprised that we don’t get more fighting among the monsters. It would make for a very compelling story and as long as they don’t cop out on who the winner is, it would also be a good way to get both fanbases engaged and eager to watch the solo follow ups to track the power-ups. I have to imagine there were still a lot of vs debaters back in the day.

Overall, The Mummy’s Curse is a good film. There’s nothing all that unique about it though. Aside from the setting being different it plays out in almost the same way as the last film. I did like the engineering boss though. At least that guy didn’t buy into the whole Mummy thing from start to finish as he kept making jokes and insulting everyone. You feel bad for him because he definitely lost a lot of time on this whole adventure. Hopefully he can make it all up now that people shouldn’t be worried about the Mummy anymore. He’ll need a new secretary but as he pointed out in the ending, she hadn’t been helping him much throughout the entire film anyway so it wouldn’t change much.

Overall 6/10

The Mummy’s Ghost Review

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Right off the bat I know what question you’re going to have here. Is the Mummy a little more powerful this time than last time? Well, unfortunately the answer to that is no. It’s still only got the speed of an old man with a cane and only has 1 arm with which to attack people. That’s a shame but for the most part the movie plays out the same as the last one. It’s not quite as good in just about every respect though so while it’s a good movie on its own, it doesn’t end up actually living up to the previous one. I’m afraid it’s just a step down this time.

The movie starts with the old guy from last time explaining to the next successor in line that he needs to awaken Kharis once again and also find his bride among the people. Yousef believes the delusions and decides to act as he gets the Mummy to start bumping people off. The town is hesitant to believe in a Mummy showing up, particularly the inspector. Will they be able to ready themselves and launch a counter attack soon or is it already too late for them?

The main guy here is Tom and the main heroine is his girlfriend Amina. A nice little part to their subplot is that they’re planning a trip to New York to get out of this crazy town once the Mummy topic shows up. Amina is Egyptian after all so people are starting to take notice of that. Unfortunately the Mummy attacks right before they left but I like to think that they would have escaped his range. I’d like to see the Mummy try to get into New York. It’s just so far after all and would be risky for Yousef to transport him in the sarcophagus or something like that.

As always the human villain gets a bit greedy here though. Things were going just find for Yousef but then of course he fell in love with Amina so instead of delivering her as Kharis’ bride, he wanted her for himself. Not a very smart move on his part. Naturally this leads to his inevitable end and he made a lot of very poor decisions the entire movie. You can’t let your feelings get in the way of things, that’s never a good idea.

As for Kharis, he’s as slow as ever. I guess it seems like the Mummy wants romance more than anything here. I suppose to an extent that was always part of his character but here that is his only character and it’s not a very compelling one. So he’s not a scary or likable villain at this point which hurts him on both accounts. If anything you feel like his ending was a little too happy.

Then you have the main two characters who were decent. I think Amina is a little too easily mind controlled though. I always tend to feel like the person being mind controlled just needs to focus a bit more and they should be able to overcome this feeling. Instead it happens in an instant whenever Yousef appears. You’d think it would just be with Kharis though, why for his sidekick? As for Tom, he makes sure to stick up for Amina each time which is good. He doesn’t let anyone mess with her and he’s even got a nice little dog who is always helpful and wants to do his best to protect them.

In general you do get the feeling that this is a very nice town with kind people who just want to help. The movie has a nice atmosphere and the writing is strong. On its surface it may just be your average creature feature film but that’s part of what makes it work. It’s a very simple title that has strong fundamentals. I wouldn’t say it has any glaring flaws. The weaknesses are more about what the film does not do like it could have been longer or given Kharis a bit more to do aside from just hobbling around a bit.

Making Kharis more formidable would really be a good idea for the film. Also he needs to stop effectively working as the villain’s lackey and be his own master. It’s always odd to see the Mummy playing the sidekick role rather than being the big cheese. It just doesn’t make sense to me is all.

As a final note, I also wasn’t crazy about the ending. I thought it was a little mean spirited towards one of the characters. She definitely didn’t ask for this and it just didn’t get the level of sadness from the cast that you would expect. The film just kind of ends on what I’d consider a really sad scene but it just seems subdued in the film. Certainly an ambitious ending, I’ll give the film that even if I didn’t like it all that much.

Overall, The Mummy’s Ghost is a solid sequel. It could have been better but at the end of the day I guess I’ll just be satisfied with it being a good film. One thing that is always impressive is how the films keep building off each other. The time skips may ensure it’s usually a different cast but the Mummy always being the same is pretty intense. If they had kept going with the film it could have even gotten a little sci-fi by the end. Now that would have been hype. There is one more Mummy film to go though so I’ll have the review for that one up shortly as well.

Overall 6/10

Earthworm Jim 2 Review

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This is one of those games where I can’t say that I knew a whole lot about it but I definitely knew the name. Earthworm Jim is one of those names that just sticks around in your mind from start to finish. You can’t forget it because it’s just way too intense. The game lives up to the hype and is definitely a blast even if the ending starts to get a little on the crazy side. Certainly a very difficult game as well.

The game starts off with Jim on another adventure to save the princess or at least I think she’s a princess. Along the way he has to fight with a lot of different creatures. Get ready for some big plot twists by the end too. This is not a game that spells everything out for you. At times you will really have to connect the dots on your own and also decide how real the ending is. Personally I like to think the whole ending is completely real and just how it appears to be. It’s an ambitious way to end the game and I can definitely approve of that.

As for the gameplay, it’s Fairley standard for a shooter. You blast away at your enemies and keep on moving. Your ammo may not always be great but you slowly recover some if you’re ever totally out. I recommend not wasting your ammo though as it is extremely useful for every part of the game. You don’t want to be running low against a boss or you’re really in trouble. You have different kinds of guns around here too so try and learn how each one looks and feels. The best one is the machine gun style but all of the guns are useful for something or another. Mainly you also just can’t to be good at jumping and dodging so you don’t just eat every attack. Do that and then you’ll really be in a jam.

One level that gave me a lot of trouble is the final level so here’s something to keep in mind about that. You have to stay ahead of your opponent at all times here or you lose. If you make it to the end of the level but he was first then the level just ends with you being stuck until you run out of health. So you have to move really quickly here and it cost me a ton of tries to get that far. Trust me, it definitely was not easy at all especially because you’re never given any indication that the rules around this level were different than the rest. Seriously it just comes out of nowhere which makes the whole thing a bit surprising.

Aside from the gameplay, the soundtrack and graphics are all solid. This is what I would call the complete package because it looks and sounds good while also being a very satisfying play. It’s hard to go wrong here. It’s aged incredibly well for the SNES, you could probably get away with thinking this could even look like an N64 title. Throw in the fact that it had more of a real story than the others and it really seemed to be ahead of its time.

I’m a little surprised there weren’t more 2D platformer shooters back in the day. I suppose Mega Man cornered the market there but they always tend to be a lot of fun and satisfying. This one just proves that even more. It’s probably the last Switch Online game for a bit but I was definitely thrilled to get a chance to play this one. Hopefully the console keeps on updating with more and more solid games. Who knows what other gems are hiding out there just waiting to be played!

Overall, Earthworm Jim 2 is definitely a solid game. I had a lot of fun with it at least and the title really embraced how crazy the whole thing was. It was definitely not trying to be your average shooter game. I’d really be down with a remake of this game at some point. There’s a whole lot you can do here for the future. Some of the gameplay mechanics should be explained better so you aren’t walking around in circles or anything like that but those are easy fixes to make. (Finding out how to open up the flowers to throw around took me forever!) Pull that off and you’re in a good spot!

Overall 7/10

The Mummy’s Tomb Review

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It’s certainly been a while since I saw the last Mummy film. It wasn’t exactly one of the most interesting universal movies but it’s always nice for any movie to get a direct sequel like this. Showing the incredibly long recap was a bit much though. I’m not even opposed to showing old footage as a recap since it’ll have been a while since people saw the original but only if it doesn’t affect the actual runtime. In this case the movie is only 60 minutes and that includes the recap which is too bad. You’ll be done with this film as soon as it has begun and it’s a shame because it’s actually reasonably good. With a longer length this could have been the definitive Mummy film which may not be saying a ton but it’s a start. Right now the trilogy involving the Scorpion King would take that title.

So the movie starts by recapping the last film with Steve explaining to everyone how it went down. It’s a bit hard for people to believe though so Steve’s audience treats it more like a story than anything else. Meanwhile Andoheb gets Bey ready to take over as Kharis’ master. Bey decides to destroy everyone related to Banning and his expedition so he sends out the Mummy, Kharis to destroy everyone. One by one he starts to bump off people in the town so they are forced to acknowledge the grim reality that this Mummy may be real. Is it all too late though?

When the mummy first appeared, humanity received a grim reminder that there were forces beyond their comprehension at work here. This movie doesn’t really go into the horror elements much though. I would argue that even as Kharis is murdering people it never actually goes for a very scary vibe here. Perhaps it’s the way he murders them. See, his arm is rather busted by this point so all he can do is move with one arm to choke people. Mix this in with the fact that he can barely move at all and it’s a rather unimpressive way to die.

It’s hardly out of the norm for this to be the case in these old movies but even more than usual it’s just hard to buy into this all happening. At most you could say the old lady isn’t strong enough to resist. For the rest there is no excuse though. When someone has super strength that doesn’t mean you should just instantly be taken down for the count. You still have to be able to resist, use some judo, or just run. The mummy is slower than a normal person walking at a brisk pace. He’s also rather loud so you can always tell that he is on the way. Makes your job of surviving that much easier.

So in a lot of ways the movie ends up being rather funny but that works for me. I always manage to have a good chuckle when this is going on. The deaths are never all that violent or anything, they just happen and things move on as normal. The characters are very reluctant to actually believe in what’s happening though. At one point John has witnessed almost every member of the original team get murdered and he still persists in believing in science. Sure, you don’t have to believe in the Mummy but shouldn’t you at least be taking the threat seriously?

It felt like there was a bit of a disconnect with how nobody was really taking the string of murders as seriously as they should. This is really a big deal if you think about it especially for a small town. I know the sheriff/police captain said he was on it but it wasn’t until the very end that the town really got involved. In the meantime they were just picked off like it was nothing.

In particular Steve goes out in a very sad way. I’m using sad more in the sense that he looked bad though because I can’t say that I got very emotional here. So Steve goes into a bar to get drunk because he has no situational awareness and then after that he ends up running into an alley somehow. How did this happen? We saw how he got to the bar and how he left, there was no alley anywhere in sight so it just didn’t make any sense. He struggles a bit but should have been able to have escaped. The geography just didn’t make sense.

I wouldn’t be shocked if that was a plot hole but I can’t say I was quite invested enough to do a really deep dive here. Isobel made for a solid heroine and in the end she gets a happy ending with John. It would have been nice if there was more time to really develop their characters but again the film was just too short for that. All you really know about John and Isobel is that they’re good people. Seriously it’s hard to really talk more about their personalities beyond that. They do the right things and always keep moving to their goals but that’s it. They have a quick wedding and all at the end but it’s really just an after thought.

The reason this film is good is really because the writing is solid and also because the characters are just fun. It’s a movie that goes by quickly and not just because it’s only an hour long. I think the Mummy should get a power boost for a sequel though. Even if it removes some of the more campier elements of the title, I think it’s worth it because the Mummy should be able to do more than just choke people with one hand. I also think the cult members could be more interesting. It feels like the same guy in every film even if the mantle is always turned to someone else.

Overall, The Mummy’s Tomb beats the original and works out pretty well as a thriller title. Just go into it with a bit of a grin on your face and you’ll have a blast. If you’re expecting to take this film seriously then you will not have a good time. Seriously, this film just isn’t nearly as serious as it thinks it is. (Because I do think the film was trying to be serious) I’ll have a review for the next installments in the series pretty soon and we’ll see if they can match this one.

Overall 7/10

Dig Dug II Review

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Dig Dug II is a pretty fun game. I wouldn’t say it quite holds up to the first one but it’s hard to say how much of that is just pure levels of quality and how much is nostalgia. If I were put to the ultimate test though I would still say the first just wins on merit. The underground levels worked perfectly for the series and same with how the gameplay was set up. There’s a reason why it became an all time classic after all. The sequel is still good though and it was certainly good enough where I kept going until I beat all 75 levels.

There isn’t really a story here though so just go in and start blasting all of the enemies. Your objectives will be clear from there. Now there is a tip I found out while going through the levels that will help you out. So you know from that start that you just press A to start plugging the enemies full of air so they pop right? Well, you may feel like pressing A as fast as you can is the way to go but that’s not quite right. It’s actually more effective to be pressing A while moving forward. For some reason that speeds everything up really quickly so you can potentially take out several enemies before they get to you.

The reason why this is huge is because in the latter levels you need every second. You have numerous enemies rushing at you and a single touch will mean that you lose a life. So every enemy you can knock out is one less that you will have to worry about later on. To clear a level you have to beat all enemies so it stands to reason that destroying them all as fast as you can is the way to go right? Beyond that you can also use your drill to make little barriers that the enemies will have to navigate around or try to dig under. Both options still buy you some more time as well.

Just play as fast and hard as possible. Your instincts will quickly catch up and then from there you will know what to do without an issue. The game is very intuitive after all. While I didn’t think the levels or gameplay style beat the original, it’s still a fairly high quality game here. There was a lot of dedication put into the title so you know from the start that this one’s a keeper. It is easy to just plug in and play plus it has a lot of replay value in trying to beat your high score. It may be a little more slow paced than some other arcade games so it can take a while to get to your turn if you’re sharing at an arcade but if you’re just trying to beat yourself then it’s perfect.

As for the graphics, they hold up pretty well. The game is nice and colorful with good minion sprites as well. You always know what is happening nd I wouldn’t say anything is blurry. It’s just a solid experience. The soundtrack is less memorable though. While you’re playing you probably won’t notice a thing because you’re just concentrating so hard. Not necessarily a bad thing though, just means that you’re really invested into the game the whole time.

If there’s something I would have liked to have seen in this game, it would be boss fights. I think a solid boss fight would have been really fun and if you spread them out to once every 10 levels or something, it would be a nice way for you to feel like you’re really making progress. I’m not exactly sure how you’d program the boss fights but feel like there is a lot of potential with how the gameplay is. That may have been the thing to help this one beat the original.

Overall, Dig Dug II is a fun game. There isn’t a whole lot to say about it because of how straight forward the game is. You either get it or you don’t but it’s not like there is a lot to learn or describe. It’s really just the same move that you used over and over again to get to the end of the level or to block off the enemies. Once you’ve learned the ropes then it all comes down to your reaction times and planning. I want to say you’ll get pretty far even without using the access points but defeating all 75 levels without restarting or rewinding once would be extremely difficult. Definitely not a challenge for the faint of heart.

Overall 6/10

Mappy-Land review

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Mappy-Land is a fun game and one that manages to have a fairly unique gimmick to it. Instead of jumping on all of the enemies or heading to the goal, each stage is a mini collectathon. You have to grab all of the parts in each level to proceed. Some levels even have a second set of collectibles to grab as well so you’re always on the move here. At times the level’s goal can be a bit too vague for my liking but on the whole this is definitely a fun game that you should enjoy. It’ll be over in a breeze but the level designs are all solid and I have to imagine that if this was before the Switch Online version it would have been extremely difficult to complete. I would have died so many times if not for being able to alter my fate.

There’s not much of a story here but what we do have is told through little cutscenes like Pac-Man. It even follows some of the same story beats as we meet the wife and kid. Definitely an emotional kind of moment right there but it’s safe to say that you’ll really be here for the actual gameplay either way. So with that as the main hook you should have a good time. My advice would be to learn the attack items right away since those help when you’re in a pinch. Also, you can actually jump over the minions which is extremely handy.

At first I would just run away from them whenever they showed up so being able to keep going where you wanted was a game changer. Naturally the risk is a lot greater since if your timing is up even by an instant you will lose a whole life there. You definitely gotta be careful about that but otherwise you’re all set. When you’re on the balloon for the aerial levels, just try not to get too close to the enemies. You can blast them from afar and then move forward. Your weapon has a lot of range.

This tricked me a bit at first so once you get the usual collectables you need to go inside of the Church. That’s where you will find the key item that will let you go further. Without it you will end up being essentially stuck in place so you definitely want to keep that in mind. I remember wasting a bunch of time on the train in one level because I wasn’t sure what to do next.

When you wait too long, an unbeatable enemy will appear. It’s like a floating plate that keeps going after you and any contact means defeat. Of course, that is true of any enemy in this game since Mappy has 0 durability but this thing is extremely fast and can fly so jumping won’t cut it. If you see this enemy in a level it’s fair to say that it may already be over for you. Dodging it or staying our of the way are both incredibly difficult and nearly impossible to actually pull off.

Meanwhile the graphics are pretty fun here. I thought they were nice and colorful and the art style really holds up even to the modern day which I find impressive. It’s not easy for a game to hold up over decades but it is absolutely possible if you play your cards right. The soundtrack is more on the forgettable side though. Not bad…just good luck actually remembering any of the tunes. It’s not as iconic as Pac Man or as energetic as Mario which leaves it in a bad spot. It just doesn’t excel the way that it could have.

The game is reasonably short so you’ll probably beat it in a day or 2 if you’re focused up. Either way there is some replay value. This game keeps going on loop after you beat it so you can still try to work on your high score as you go through. That’s at least something to aspire to right? I don’t see you sticking around for too long on this one as there are just so many other big titles to check out but all in all it’s just a well balanced title.

Overall, Mappyland is definitely a game that I can recommend. It’s just a fun little experience and one of those games that is extremely easy to plug and play at any time. I certainly had fun with it at the very least. A modern remake of this game could be a lot of fun and it’s also a good way to show people how to do a collectathon. A proper one should have the collectibles built into each level so you can’t proceed without them. That way you aren’t suddenly blindsided by having to go back and grab them later. I feel like this series is so forgotten that a remake is unlikely but never say never right?

Overall 6/10

Driver 2 Advance Review

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I don’t recall how old I was when I was first told that I was the Wheelman but it was definitely a while ago. The original Driver game was a blast as you drove around town in the huge open world environment. It was fun to work on the story but it was also neat to just have fun in free roam. I’d spend hours following the law there and then hours running from the police. It was really an ambitious game with a really intense final level involving the president. This game is a lot more low key and a step down in all areas but still a good title in the end.

Tanner is still as involved in the underworld and mafia business as ever. It’s definitely not the safest job and you’ll see a lot of people getting shot all the time. Well, some big gangsters have run off with more money than their fair share so Tanner is going to take them down. It won’t be easy since these guys have a lot of connections but that isn’t scaring the lead here. He’ll still jump right into action and take down anyone who stands in his way. He has the skills to back it up so the villains better be worried.

There are around 30 levels here and most of them are pretty short. You can easily beat this game in around 2 hours if you don’t lose but I think it’s safe to expect that you will lose sometimes. I wouldn’t say the game is super hard or anything like that but it’s not a cake walk either. You will occasionally get defeated by RNG a few times as well.

See, the gameplay initially starts off like your average driving game. You have to get to the destination located on your map to beat the level. Other levels will have you trying to take down an enemy car instead of running to a different car. The levels where you have to go out on foot are few but they do happen. It’s a mechanic that doesn’t seem to have had any point being here by the end though. You could take it out and things wouldn’t really change.

Now where does the RNG come into play? Well, the police cars will randomly appear at times to get in your way. If they happen to teleport right in front of you then you’re doomed from the jump. Sometimes they would appear as soon as the level started and I had to quickly restart because there was no chance of making it through. I wouldn’t say this is an issue too often but you always feel a little fear when turning the corner because a car may suddenly be there. It’s clear that this one did not have a whole lot of processing power. Things would disappear right when they are out of sight and a lot of times what you see isn’t really there. There are countless times you will see the ocean ahead before the buildings load.

The game is also quite glitchy in general. I lost 2-3 levels because of glitches. One involved the computer being unable to move and since it was one of those “Tail the villain” missions, that meant I couldn’t win. In another one the enemy fell into the ocean which counted as a loss for me since I was supposed to take down all of the health points myself. Those glitches would always be quite unfortunate. The game’s fairly short so at least even with all of that I didn’t have to replay too much of the game but there should have been more polish here.

On a technical level the game just isn’t very impressive. The GBA graphics are some of the weakest ones I’ve seen in quite some time. Definitely on the weaker side for the console, no doubt about that. The way the story cutscenes go is also not very inspired. The text is very slow as it auto scrolls and it just follows still images which aren’t stylized at all. The story isn’t super engaging but the way they put this in did not help matters at all. The only thing I could say that’s really good about the game from a production perspective is the soundtrack. I actually thought that was really catchy the whole time. I had a good time with it at the very least and while they tend to replay the same tunes a lot, they still really get to you.

The gameplay is also pretty good. It’s nowhere near the level of the first game but it does still manage to capture the essence of what this is all about. The game is short so you won’t get to enjoy this for long but while you’re playing you will have a good time. So in the end what does this really mean? Well, Driver 2 is a game that I can recommend if you really like driving around but there’s no real good reason to pick this one up in particular. There are countless amounts of better titles in the genre to pick up after all so no reason to stick it through here. In a vacuum it can hold its own but it won’t be winning any awards.

Overall, I think Driver 2 could and should have been a little better. At the very least the story should have been more engaging since the first game had its fun moments. There is absolutely no replay value in this game which is unfortunate. That could have at least been a way to spice things up and keep you here for the long-haul. Instead that also shows how this game will be one that you complete and then forget forever. I’m hoping Driver 3 will be the game that really takes things up to the next level because I know the potential is here for the franchise. It just needs to live up to it and soon.

Overall 6/10