Sand-swept and smelling slightly like camels, Egypt has captured the imagination of adventurers for an age. From Indiana Jones to Sid James, all the greats have trodden its barren soil.

Games developers have often called upon Egyptian mythology for inspiration, but none have ever made the act of heart pickling, infant sacrifice and enforced embalming so accessible.

Enter Eurocom. They're old hacks at turning the soft-focus lens on everyday terrors. Remember their nightmarish, dirty old man romp called 40 Winks? Sweet as cherry pie. Sphinx And The Cursed Mummy is the tale of one boy and his withered, vacant-eyed corpse friend, Mummy (actually a young prince usurped from the throne by his elder brother). Cursed, embalmed and wrapped in bandages, he's cast into the dungeons to rot forever, saved only by a sprinkle of Eurocom magic dust and the need to make the game longer than ten minutes in length. Sphinx and Mummy embark on a quest to secure the throne and restore the peace that's inevitably lost when larcenist loonies take over.

The backbone of the game is the episodic nature of its missions, a real strength that defines Sphinx amongst its peers. Once either character has completed their objective, the story shifts to the other, and into a different genre. Mummy relies on stealth and puzzle solving, while Sphinx takes the more hands-on approach of murdering everything demi-god style (with a pinch of RPG thrown in for good measure). This interchanging of rules keeps the pace and story vibrant. Using cliffhangers to sew each episode together also keeps you hanging on and eager to progress.

After eight hours of play you'll still find yourself learning and discovering hidden talents. Sphinx earns a blowpipe for offing enemies from afar, plus the ability to capture and train animals for his own ends. Equally, Mummy learns the arcane art of invisibility, or douses himself in fuel, only to become a walking torch, as in Voodoo Vince. Although both characters eventually end up as contenders for the undead Olympics, it takes an age for them to get there. The earliest levels are poor and too explanatory. They chew over every aspect of what you're supposed to do before letting you get on and do it. These levels are devoid of imagination, too. There’s something distinctly last-gen about them that doesn't sit right with the rest of the game, and this could put you off. Do try, though. You'll be wandering the halls of Mummy's palace dumbfounded at the pretty vacuity of it all for some time before you chance upon a secret panel or revolving door. Like we said, stick with it, you'll find them.

Another grumble is the lack of vocal talent. Grunting and moaning instead of speech is lazy. It would have added so much more zest if the dozens of characters you encountered actually spoke, but then, who's going to want to spend time with a dead guy whose eyes are being eaten by maggots? Well, chances are, despite the earlier levels, you'll want to do just that. It's not the most ground-breaking, tomb-shattering treat to grace the Xbox, but what it does, it does with constant flair. Look beyond the slower-than-slow start and you'll find yourself gazing upon a wonder. Perhaps not a wonder of the ancient world, but a wonder nonetheless.

1. Varied gameplay
2. It's gorgeous!
3. It's huge!
4. Very inventive

1. Too slow to start
2. No voice talent
3. Too condescending and simple at times

Power
No pop-up or fogging even where you would expect it. Stretches the Xbox very slightly!

Style
Amazing flavour of Egypt and a real sense of wonder when new areas and secrets are revealed.

Immersion
Once you get into deeper waters you'll be bathing in milk and walking funny, mark our words.

Lifespan
To buy and see everything will take ages. Just getting from A to Z will take a couple of days max.

Summary
An above-par adventure that starts slowly but impresses midway through with some nice surprises.