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At last Universal's blockbusting bandage-ripper of a horror adventure has made an appearance in the videogames world. With versions now on PC, PlayStation and Dreamcast full of terrifying 3D worlds, we now have a fitting tribute to the movie starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz and John Hannah, with a Game Boy game that could almost be any puzzler with Spectrum graphics. But then, it's a superb puzzler, and I reckon Spectrum graphics were great!

3000 years ago in a place called The City of the Dead, Humanaptra, he was buried deep beneath the desert sands. Burned alive, never to be disturbed. It's the year 1923. Battles were fought in the Sahara Desert. Of course, some fool's bound to walk right into the tomb of nasty old Imhotep and bring the ten plagues back to mankind, aren't they?

That fool turns out to be you, Rick, the adventurer. Along with Evelyn, the girly archaeologist and her brother Jonathan, you must all fight against the forces of evil to stop Imhotep from getting his revenge by getting hold of a book... or something.

Each level sees you at a different stage of your mission, where you must avoid nasty spirits, scuttling scarabs and ghostly figures in your bid to collect all of the precious artifacts. From the museum in London, through Egyptian prisons, mighty ships, right down to the lowest level of Imhotep's eternal purgatory; it's an awful big adventure. As you swap between the three main characters to complete each mission (Evelyn can jump high, Rick can push and shoot, and Jonathan's very handy with a stick of dynamite) its an extremely taxing job avoiding spikes, blowing up walls and opening ancient doors, before finding your way out.

It can take a lot of practice to get each level finished, and many attempts (which means the endless continues are very useful, as are the simple passwords). To be honest, there are quite a few silly aspects to the game, such as collecting whole camels (how do they fit in your pocket?), shooting people right in the face without killing them, and not being able to pick things up because you're the wrong character. But the point is, it's a puzzler! And it's a really great challenge - even when you've completed the game, you can still re-play any mission and thoroughly enjoy solving all the riddles of the ancients!

The game graphics only serve a purpose, but in between chapters, you're treated to quite atmospheric renders from the movie, and chilling plot points. Add to this effective music and sound effects, plus challenges that make you shake with exhaustion once they're completed, or determined rather than angry if you fail, and you've got yourself an instant classic! Join in the struggle to prevent the ten plagues of Imhotep from being released today! Then perhaps you can go and have a play on this game.

What a cool game! I really enjoyed the film, but was a little weary of seeing a rip-off tie-in game with no quality (there's so much of that around).

But no fear, this is a quality game right from the very beginning. It's exciting and challenging, with cool little 'in-betweeners' to watch and plenty of puzzles to solve. A great big thumbs up from Total Game Boy!

Graphics 80%
Simple game graphics.

Sound 60%
Plinky-plonk Egyptian style.

Playability 80%
Classic puzzle style...

Lastability 80%
Some nightmarish challenges!

Overall 90%
A tricky but classic mission.