The challenge is in the form of the puzzles themselves, as each level can be looked at as large Rube Goldberg machines which you must explore, study, and eventually crack. As you learn new tools and acquire new abilities, you can explore the levels deeper, find secrets, do side quests, and of course, progress the main storyline. The overworld is fairly large and contains different structures set in a fictional version of ancient Egypt. What separates Sphinx from other 3D games of its day are the level of complexity in the puzzles. They exist on the same timeline and so, as you control Sphinx and gradually find parts of Tutenkhamen’s soul, you are transported into the Castle of Luxor where you will uncover new information and tools, which are transported back to Sphinx to further his expedition. But the NPC animations and the wigglyness of the movement all wraps up a very fun game that harkens back to the charm of the Playstation 2 and even Nintendo 64 days of gaming.Īs far as the actual gameplay goes, you find yourself controlling not one, but two protagonists with different abilities: Sphinx, and Prince Tutenkhamen, who has been turned into a mummy. The game’s antagonists are your typical slap-sticky goofballs, the closest comparison I can draw is with Jafar and Iago from Aladdin. Speaking of charm, despite the aforementioned audio (or lack thereof…), there is still loads of charm present in the cutscenes and overall atmosphere of the game. It also was what I consider to be a huge source of the charm found in the Banjo titles.

One thing that struck me as odd was just how silent and uncomfortable the cutscenes are without any sort of sound effects.īanjo-Kazooie had garbled sounds for voices, and it worked – if you mute the game during conversations, you experience uncomfortable silence akin to a blind date gone awry. I do wish, however, that some voice acting was added into this remastered release. I do care about sound design, and the music in Sphinx is excellent. I don’t care about graphics, but I’ll throw it out there first and foremost – the game looks great.

Sphinx and the cursed mummy walkthrough