Previous Next

Amstrad's policy of marketing conversions of games from other machines involves high standards: Oh Mummy would be worth playing on any machine.

The main objective is to walk an archaeologist around a series of blocks within a pyramid to reveal their hidden contents. If this sounds reminiscent of the game Painter, it is: which makes it different is a number of bright yellow mummies, determined to exert maternal pressures, preferably around the neck of your hapless scientist.

The cassette loaded first time (I've yet to use a cassette on the Amstrad which caused any loading problems). A good animated title sequence has mummies making fools of each other around the border of the score card.

Options include speed, mummy meanness, background music (monotonous after a time) and sound effects.

The game screen consists of a simple maze composed of five rows of four blocks, around and between which you steer your man. As you move, a track of footprints shows where you've been.

Once a block has been completely surrounded, it reveals its contents; thin air, a treasure chest, a scroll, a key, a royal mummy or another of your pursuers. The treasure chests and royal mummy score points, the scroll protects you from one mummy-attack and the key is your passport to the next level.

Each pyramid has five levels of identical mazes and each is a bit more difficult than the last. In between pyramids you are awarded either an extra man or bonus points.

By choosing your route carefully, you can achieve some very satisfying results by making a final run to turn every block over in quick succession.

The mummies start off acting fairly stupidly and may sometimes be seen amusing themselves in corners, but as the game progresses they begin to get the idea and start paying attention to your tomb-raiding activities.

Although the game is fairly simple in concept, it is nevertheless addictive. The archaeologists and mummies are well defined and smoothly animated and the sound effects are a definite bonus.