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Intro Despite the fact that the Scorpion King did well at the box office, I wasn't one of the many who saw it. I had learned my lesson with The Mummy and The Mummy Returns and opted to not see The Rock swing a burning blade around while screaming something about vengeance. Was that a mistake on my part? Well, if the movie was anything like the game then I'd say I'm the luckiest man alive. Gameplay: 3.5/10 I knew The Scorpion King was going to be a painful experience when after the first 30 minutes I could only sigh and think, "I can't take anymore of this." This thought permeated throughout my entire experience with the title and pretty much sums up my thoughts on the game. I haven't played a game this repetitive, frustrating, and poorly developed in such a long time, and it really made questionable recent offerings like Blade II seem ground-breaking titles. I would love to end it there so that I won't have to relive my painful experiences with said title, but if I could stick out the game, then I can stick it out with the review. Now then, what makes Scorpion King so bad? Well, it's not like there isn't a solid premise for an action title here. You have The Rock - who is still huge as one of the supposed next breed of action heroes - who takes on the role of an assassin in ancient Egypt, and the leeway to include magic, thanks to its movie counterpart. Unfortunately, these positive elements were merely touched upon and not taken advantage of. It's not that this title isn't lacking in action; on the contrary, there's entirely too much. With a decent array of swords, spears, and special gauntlets at his disposal, Mathayus can dispatch mounds of enemies using a basic combo system that uses a quick punching attack and a slower, stronger kick attack, as well as a stomp that briefly stuns the enemy. Using an easy selection system, weapons can be switched on the fly, which changes his combos accordingly. What should have been an impressive arsenal to assist in Mathayus' plans turn out to be more of a hindrance than anything else. It takes him so long to use his weapons that most enemies can move before the weapon is close enough to impact them. Two enemies in particular, archers and dogs, those damn, damn dogs, prove to be two of the most frustrating opponents in any game as they were coded with the special task of being cheap bastards. The archer is the main human culprit guilty of cheap tactics, as he moves before a strike is in reach and can reload so fast that, by the time he has side-stepped the tip of the sword, he has already reloaded and shot. Since weapon-based combat is so rigid, canceling moves or blocking and swinging is made nearly impossible as Mathayus will charge headlong into the arrow or be in the middle of swinging at thin air when the arrow makes impact. While the archers are irritating, the dogs are the ultimate in annoying enemies; they are extremely agile and tend to stay under the quick swinging attack, which leaves a slow overhead swing as the only method to hit them, and like the archers, they tend to be gone before the sword makes it in their range. What's worse is that the dogs just keep advancing as the game continues. Not realizing that they had one of the most infuriating beings to ever exist in a game, the developers decide to pound them out constantly in mass numbers to offer up some sort of demented 'challenge.' Luckily, the other enemies
aren't as teeth-grindingly irritating and can be dealt with using standard combos.
Although unimaginative, it was refreshing to see one of the generic baddies spawn
out of nowhere instead of a dog or archer. Using a horde mentality, enemies attack
in groups and can be unarmed or wielding a variety of weapons. The fact that they
can be brain dead is also a plus; I've seen soldiers run into walls for the duration
of an entire battle while others just run in circles. To help fight off these
inbred foes are various objects such as pots lying around that can be thrown to
stun them, burn them, or even tar them; there are also large torches that can
be knocked down to light someone on fire, but more often that not, it'll be you
running in circles with a flame trailing your back. Mathayus can also perform
special attacks that drain his stamina, which can be regained by special power-ups
and also by successfully punching or kicking the enemy - but due to the horrible
hit detection, performing a special move right next to the enemy won't guarantee
a hit. When
I play a game, I tend to find a few things that I like about it, no matter how
much I dislike the game itself. The Scorpion King had a few appreciable
items: an easy menu system, the lifebars above the enemies, as well as the number
left to kill before proceeding. The fact that they tosses in a little RPG element
helped to boost the score, although it's basic fare - he can power up, hold more
life, become stronger, etc. - it's about the only thing done to make the game
seem unique in any way. I certainly don't mind a title for which I can turn off
my brain and just enjoy the ride of bodies being thrown and stuff being broken,
but this was just absurd. One defining moment was when everything on the screen
stopped, and seeing a blessing, I dispatched the dogs and men, only to jump on
a table and fall over dead for no reason. The best way to summarize The Scorpion
King is by saying that it provides an entertaining experience about as well
as Mathayus is an assassin - anyone else wonder why an assassin had to take on
entire armies by himself?
Graphics: 2/10 Sound:
6.5/10 Control:
3.5/10 Overall:
3/10 [ top ] | |||
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