Sphinx and the Shadow of Set Impressions

We met with THQ's Rob Loftus for an in-depth look at Sphinx and the Shadow of Set, the upcoming third-person action-adventure game for the PS2 and Xbox.

In Sphinx and the Shadow of Set, you'll play as one of two characters: Sphinx, a young Egyptian adventurer, and the mummy of King Tut. Throughout the course of the game, you'll play about three-fifths of the game as Sphinx, and the rest as the mummy. The two characters will play very differently.

Sphinx will be a hale and hearty youngster armed with a blowgun and a great deal of natural athleticism. Though he'll begin the game with only a pouch full of standard darts, he'll later be able to pick up and use new kinds of darts, such as fire and acid darts, along with various other items, such as remote-control explosive beetles, or magical beetles that can capture monsters and free them later, under Sphinx's control. Sphinx will also learn new physical abilities over the course of the game, such as the ability to swim or swing across a series of handholds. He'll also be able to engage in easy-to-use melee combat that will let him perform simple combination attacks to dispatch his enemies up close.

The mummy of King Tut, whose mummification Sphinx witnesses at the beginning of the game, will be much slower and much less brave than the young adventurer. In fact, Loftus went so far as to describe the mummy as being "cowardly," despite the fact that the mummy is already dead and can't "die" through normal means. Though the mummy, whose clumsiness is actually intended to provide comedic effect, will be extremely slow and won't be able to perform any feats of physical prowess, he'll be able to endure severe punishment, subjecting himself to burning flames, electrocution, and even getting squashed flat by traps in a pyramid. These conditions will actually be necessary to solve several of the game's puzzles; for instance, he may need to light a particular torch, or charge an electrode, or squeeze through the cracks of a barred door, though if he's squashed flat, he may also get carried away by a gust of wind.

Sphinx and the Shadow of Set won't be a pure action game, since you'll need to use your brains, Sphinx's brawn, and the mummy's immunity to permanent damage to solve a variety of puzzles. Over the course of the game, Sphinx may gain new abilities, and both he and the mummy will interact with over 200 different characters, each of which may either give out quests to perform, or simply provide hints as to what they should do next. The mummy's and Sphinx's stories will eventually converge over the course of the game.

Though we were able to see Sphinx and the Shadow of Set only for the PlayStation 2, the version we saw looked surprisingly clean for a PS2 game. The game will feature colorful outdoor levels with a fairly long draw distance, as well as expansive indoor environments for the game's various pyramid and cave levels. Sphinx and the Shadow of Set will be released later this year on the PS2 and GameCube.