Cameron Files 2

Pharaoh’s Curse
by
The Adventure Company

Minimum:
Windows 98/2000/Me/XP
Pentium II 233 MHz or Equivalent Processor
64 MB Ram
DirectX Compatible Sound and Video Cards
16x CD-Rom Drive
Mouse

Well, well we are back in Egypt to point and click our way thorough the wonders of the ancient civilization seemingly with an experienced archeologist disguised as a though Chicago privet eye…

The game opens with a tasteful main menu and we hear a very nice voice singing a melody reminiscent of old hits. Stop here and listen to the whole song, it is the best part of this game.

The story is a watered down version of the Raiders of the Lost Ark. We have here our obnoxious Nazis, the museum personnel some are even alive, a missing damsel in distress and of course a mummy who is very much alive. Will we ever run out of mummies you ask, somehow I don’t think so. Original is not the word I would use to describe this story line.

There is a famous museum to visit but you can never really get close enough to see the interesting artifacts. It is a great pity.

The graphics are good where attention is paid to detail; the hotel is nicely done, I will not mention the crazy bird in the bar. The music is very good, the sound effects are appropriate and the voice acting if not brilliant does not grate on the ear.

(I heard that some gamers had trouble loading the second disk. I did a complete load, the game played very well on my system and without a glitch. The cursor got sluggish while Cameron was descending into the pit, was it intentional to extend the game or just an accident it is hard to say).

The trip up the Nile takes place in a nice boat where we have the opportunity to check out the decks and do some investigating. This is a really good thing because the ride as a site seeing trip is a complete loss, the banks never change. In spite of this little omission (cutting corners) the boat chugs along and we get to a little island with a sailboat in site. Is it another interesting trip? Do not get too excited, you will not have to figure out how to sail the boat. In you get, click on the rudder, the horizon shakes twice (really cutting corners here) and you are across the water.

Now comes the interesting part. Someone must have thought that that game was too short so they planted a few red herrings. I do not mind if I have to look for something I loose in a game but pleas let me have at least a little clue. Do not send me to look for a thing that is not there and is never needed for the play. That is down right annoying.

The puzzles are not hard they are mostly logical and pertinent to the game. Some are timed and you can die in interesting ways. There is no maze as such but you wonder around in a fog and have to find your way out just the same.

I feel the game is unfinished, what happens to the assorted comatose victims and why oh why do we have the psychic Russian countess who after uttering a few cryptic warnings is never heard of again?

As far as I can see Moira and Cameron deserve each other he is no threat to Indy and she has thick legs. In this game everybody has thick legs!

Unless Cameron gets a better clientele he will never make it to the Private Eye’s Hall of Fame.

I played this game with:

Windows XP
1600 MHz Intel Pentium 4
8 KB Primary Memory Cache
256 KB Secondary Memory Cache
Nvidia GeForce4 Ti 4300 Display Adapter
VIA AC'97 Enhanced Audio Controller (WDM)
Logitech USB Marble Mouse

Thanks for this review!
I agree with you on many points. The game did seem unfinished. Particularly the story did not seem polished. As Lasanadine mentioned, there are characters who just seem to disappear from the game and have no point to them. Other characters appear to have various ulterior motives to their actions, but we never find out what they were. While you are wandering about on the boat, where are all the people? You never really get a chance to interact with the other characters. You can't ask them questions. All interaction is accomplished through cut-scenes.

Also, I thought the story could have used filling out with more documents and such. These could have provided answers and closure to various story lines that are started but never finished. I got to the end of the game and said, "What? Is that it?"
Overall, I thought Loch Ness was better.

Paul

The title is misleading too. There is no Pharaoh, no curse just the conflict between the evil Isfet and good Maat. The area of the tombs is nicely done except for some wall paintings that look like they were colored with lipstick.

I am glad I dont buy games based on peoples reviews.I happened to love the game and will play it over again. Cameron's job was to find and help Moira and he did that.Both games were great and satisfying to me..I loved the cut scenes and played them over a few times..I rate the game an A..

I just finished this game and, although I enjoyed it, I was very bothered by the mysterious countess and the loose end the story left there. But then, perhaps she will show up in the next installment...

<img border="0" title="" alt="[Confused]" src="confused.gif" />

Marion

I just finished the game last night. Overall it was fun and I would recommend it.
The Countess & the guy I guess was supposed to be a French secret agent both seemed to me to be ideas the game creators had that were later "left on the cuttingroom floor", probably due to budget shortages.
I had the same opinions as you when I played Amerizone, where the game ends with me being stuck inside a volcano and a crashed plane. I guess I'm just getting used to the fact that it seems the game creators run out of money or time or something and just throw some parts of the game together at the last minute.
I might have been more upset with Cameron II if it was a $50 game, but at $19.99 I think I got my moneys worth.

I just finished this game and honestly couldn't wait to be rid of it by the end. I was snagged by the fact that I had to constantly go back to places I'd already searched, then WHAM got sent to limbo by screwing up near the end with no way to get back except by redoing everything on the Nile +. This was truly my own fault for saving over my previous saves in the area I was in, but SCHEESH! why would anybody even think to go back & forth through a supposedly locked door? The cut scene even schoos you through to the next spot, there's no way to reverse direction in the smoky room, so BLAM you're stuck for good. I just didn't like the sentiment behind that...

I also had mucho trouble w/my cursor getting squishy in the final timed sequence. I had this trouble w/Loch Ness a couple of times, too. On the bright side - I ran this perfectly on a PI instead of a PII which is the supposed minimum. I did have to use the software rendering but heck, it ran great after that. Also on the bright side I did pick this up pkgd w/Loch Ness at Walmart for $9.54 so I really shouldn't complain. Would I play it again? Not likely.