Every now and then I think about the statistically determined average age of a gamer – what is it now, 36, 37? Please keep it under 40 – and am horrified to realize that many of the people reading this probably have children. Ugh, children! Excuse me while I go stand on a chair with a broom in my hand. I’ve never understood the obsession with creating smaller versions of yourself. It’s one of those weirder subcultures that you read about in the newspapers but rarely see in everyday life.
However, I understand the appeal of co-op games on the same screen as Run From Mummies – which, as bloodless, comical dungeon fun, seems like a great choice for anyone burdened with loud self-emerging. Don’t worry, the “mummies” of the title are regular old disemboweled corpses wrapped in cloths, rather than those creepy, unembalmed “mummys” you’ve heard about in the supermarket.
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Run From Mummies is a game about archaeology, much like Whack-A-Mole is a game about moles. You and up to three friends are tourists trapped in a giant pyramid full of roaming undead, spike traps, and statue bosses with laser beams. Your only weapon is a camera—you can stun the inhospitable relics and mess with other objects by using the flash, which is probably a viable metaphor for the impact of tourism on archaeological sites in general. To take a picture, however, you have to stand still while an AOE triangle extends from your feet, so try not to do this while running from a rolling boulder.
There’s a demo for Run From Mummies on Steam. The full game is spread across seven regions connected by hand-drawn cutscenes with appropriate Two Point energy. There are apparently “secrets” and “lore” to discover, but while I can get comfortable with scouring layouts for sliding walls, I’m not sure a game like this is about poring over the codex. It reminds me a bit of the Sega Dreamcast classic Power Stone, except it’s top-down and 2D. No doubt half the fun will be getting in each other’s way.
Too cartoonish for your taste? I can only assume you have older kids between the ages of ten and twenty, “teenagers” if you will, who think 2D is totally uncool, Ma. Maybe they’ll be happier with the new Indiana Jones game. It’s fully 3D and features the finest polygons Microsoft’s money can squeeze out of all the programmer brains they have stashed in the basement. It also has a photo mechanic that actually involves taking photos of stuff instead of giving hungry skeletons a fit. A little crazy, but let’s see where it goes.
