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Review for Ankh

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

A priest, a rabbi, and a penguin walk into a bar, and… Oh, you have? Probably just as well, as I always blow the punch line. Besides, I'm sure some of you are wondering what on earth a joke is doing in an adventure game review, right? Did I not get the memo that dictates the genre is to be a no-fun zone where comedy is strictly forbidden?

Okay, so maybe there was no such memo literally, but for all intents and purposes, there may as well have been one issued ten years ago or more. Long gone are the days of Discworld, Monkey Island, Space Quest, and Zork. Funny is out, grit is in. Reality sells, laughter flops. At least, that's how publishers read the "marketplace realities", and what they see is what we get.

Fortunately, there are still a few developers that believe there's as much future for comic adventures as there is history. Among them is a German team called Deck 13, who are defying the longstanding amusement-free industry trend with their latest release, Ankh. So is this the game that will drag the genre thigh-slapping and side-splitting out of the dark, foreboding shadows and back into the light? As it turns out, probably not on its own, but it's bold in its attempt, and there is much to enjoy for those who don't require an adventure to take itself too seriously.

As the title might suggest, Ankh is set in ancient Egypt. Now, I had previously vowed to eat a plateful of live scarabs before I played yet another game in the land of pharaohs, so if you're anything like me, you're probably groaning at the return to such an overused location. But hold your camels, because this is an Egypt quite unlike anything we're accustomed to. Remember, Ankh represents not the dry, solemn sort of adventure that's as much fun as dust in your eyes and stones in your shoes, but the new, zesty version that makes you want to get jiggy with the game cast in the opening song-and-dance number. So while you've been to Egypt before, this trip sure won't seem the same as the other times you visited.

Nowhere is this refreshing distinction more evident than in the game's aesthetic display. Ankh possesses a delightfully stylized, whimsical appearance with enough charm to fill a Great Pyramid. Like most good comic designs, the art is simple but clean, and best of all, presented in rich, vibrant colours. The latter may seem a throwaway detail, but for a game based in the desert, it's not. Let's face it, one of the dangers of any Egyptian setting is that it becomes all about sand. And while I'm a great admirer of sand in, say… beaches and miniature castles, my appreciation starts waning when seeing nothing but 632 shades of beige in my games. Not so with Ankh, whose scenic vistas include a sparkling blue Nile and lush green oases, with plenty of other bright hues sprinkled throughout its small slices of Cairo, Giza, and surrounding regions. Rendered entirely in 3D, the game's vivid graphics provide a solid foundation for a playable cartoon, and create an ideal atmosphere for a lighthearted caper.

With tongue planted firmly in cheek, Ankh tells the story of a young man named Assil, who inadvertently brings a mummy's death curse upon himself while having an illicit soirée with his friends inside a pyramid. In the process, he comes into possession of the titular ankh, which of course he keeps as the very thing his party was missing: a bottle opener. Like any good ankh, however, the sacred artifact will prove to be the key to life and death for our unwitting hero. But if life-threatening affliction provides a morbid-sounding backdrop for the story, that's exactly where it stays, allowing Ankh to focus on the crazy shenanigans required for Assil to overcome his predicament.

In the course of seeking an audience with the Pharaoh and ultimately Osiris, the god of the underworld, Assil meets up with an eclectic cast of characters, including a jive-talking ferryman, a half-blind tailor, hungry assassins, and Israelite hippies waiting on the Exodus. Throw in a retired genie, a limb-eating crocodile, and the ever-present threat of revolutionary banana throwers, and the stage is set for the game's various hijinx. Along the way, you'll help Assil rescue a beautiful but feisty girl named Thara, who accompanies you for part of the journey. Thara becomes a playable character at times, and also serves as the romantic interest that provides the requisite flirtation-through-fighting.

If there was ever any doubt of the game becoming too serious, it is quickly dispelled by an early dialogue where Assil asks whether his adventure will contain a typical laundry list of genre conventions. Such self-referential commentary is indicative of Ankh's approach throughout, poking fun at anything and everything, including itself. Unfortunately, in what is easily my biggest complaint about the game, the writing simply isn't particularly funny. Cute, yes. Entertaining, sure. Funny, no. I snickered at some sight gags, chuckled a few times at some of the banter, and smiled at such cultural references as Indiana Jones and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but more often than not I found myself wishing the game provided more actual yuks. Of course humour is often subjective, and perhaps this says more about my expectations going in, but the end result is the same. A comic adventure it is, but a comedic adventure it's not (or at least, only sporadically). Set your sights accordingly, and you'll play Ankh with a silly grin on your face. Hope for more, and you might find yourself disappointed.

Now, about those adventure conventions Assil was asking about… Aside from its 3D graphics engine, Ankh is pretty much all old-school. With its point & click interface and third-person perspective, players will feel instantly familiar with the control scheme of Ankh, whether you're an adventure veteran or complete newcomer. Except for the reversal of dominant functions of the left and right mouse buttons, that is. For some reason, right clicking performs the context-sensitive actions on hotspots, so expect to find yourself "looking" excessively at a lot of things until you get the hang of it. When you've mastered that, you'll find no dead ends, timed sequences, or any of the other time-honoured but player-hated activities.

Puzzles are almost all inventory-based, forsaking conundrums the game mocks as "boring" in favour of logical item application. Logical by the game's own standards, of course. Like all comic adventures that came before it, Ankh does feature some solutions that stretch the imagination beyond any degree of real world believability. Fortunately, the degree of abstraction is kept to a minimum, though there are a couple instances that will have you scratching (or pounding) your head. And you will still resort to pixel hunting and find yourself engaging in the brute force "try everything on everything" method on occasion. For the most part, though, the game's puzzles are fairly well clued and reasonably straightforward, and won't present much of an obstacle to what is otherwise a fun, fairly brisk, 8-10 hour experience. If I have any issue at all with the game's puzzles, it's that they're a little too basic with not enough variety. While I'm not a supporter of arbitrary puzzle padding, the rare times Ankh breaks free of its usual challenges come as a welcome change of pace. Most notable are the activities requiring both Assil and Thara, allowing you to switch between them to work in tandem. Regrettably, such flashes of creative inspiration are few and far between.

In other areas of Ankh, there seems to be one step back for every two steps forward. (For those a little weak in math, that still ends up on the positive side of the abacus, just not nearly as convincingly as it could have.) The game's audio, for example, is just such a mixed bag. Ankh features a very nice ethnic, instrumental soundtrack, albeit a little underused. Voicework is generally solid, including the key role of Assil, though there are a few over-acted misses to go with the hits. What bothered me while playing Ankh, however, was the sound editing. Too often the voiceovers seem unnaturally spliced together, with odd pacing and volume. On various occasions, Assil will interrupt NPCs having the same stilted, endlessly repeating conversation, only to have the two voices overlap in an unintelligible garble. Then there are the lines intended for Thara that are spoken in Assil's voice, while still others aren't voiced at all. And while the game does include helpful subtitles, the frequent typos don't afford much relief from the mounting audio oversights.

The visual cracks begin to show from prolonged exposure to Ankh's desert sun, as well. Generally speaking, the cinematic quality is quite impressive. The characters are surprisingly expressive, cameras move fluidly to follow Assil's movements, and since everything is rendered with the game's engine, there are plenty of seamless animations to maintain immersion in the story. But again, the implementation is frustratingly inconsistent. Some NPCs move about (though on a pre-scripted track which itself becomes hopelessly limited), while others remain permanently rooted to one spot the whole game. Picking up items, meanwhile, involves a half-hearted character effort completed by (adventure) magic retrieval. And while the animations work for shorter events, the game's longer cutscenes are sometimes interrupted by load screens until the next segment kicks in. So much for immersion. Adding to the feeling of disconnection, the most important dramatic sequences occur so quickly that I frequently replayed them to understand exactly what had happened. Ankh certainly isn't alone in making players passive spectators of the most interesting parts, but the cinematics here feel less like a reward than they should.

A few other quirky glitches and questionable design decisions also impact the experience somewhat, though it's likely you'll forgive some and not others. Pathfinding is a little sloppy on occasion, screen exits and scrollable areas can be difficult to locate, and the "to do" list is essentially useless. More troublesome is that many of the funnier dialogue options result in being forced to start the entire sequence again from the beginning, or being kicked out of the conversation completely. This is no way to encourage experimentation, and may cause you to wonder just how much you care to hear the next less-than-hilarious gag. And to cap off your experience, the entire end sequence is riddled with technical issues, and is solved purely by trial and error, leading to tedious repetition until guessing your way through. These are anything but deal-breakers, but they're the kinds of flaws that show how rough around the edges the game often is. Pardon the pun, but the game needed some additional sanding to smooth it all down.

I know that some will take exception to the game's length, but I stand by my ongoing assertion that any game is better served by working within its limitations. And while Ankh does feel a little confined at times, recycling a fairly small number of locations throughout, the pacing and relative ease ensure there's rarely a dull moment. And that has a value that's much harder to measure.

Like many good games that fall just short of greatness, it's easier to dwell on the negatives than celebrate its positives. But while the criticism is not unwarranted, make no mistake: Ankh is an endearing, enjoyable title that I liked better than more polished, serious games of recent years. In fact, given the scarcity of comic adventures, it's tempting now to overlook its flaws and rate the game higher than it truly deserves. But really it belongs somewhere in the middle. When all is said and done, Ankh is a lively, charming 3D cartoon romp that will remind you fondly of the comic adventure classics of old, yet fail to be quite funny or creatively diverse enough to stand among those elite. Still, given the dearth of lighthearted escapades in the genre these days, this game stands out like an oasis in the desert. If you're parched and thirsting for just such an experience, then grab your sandals and sunscreen and dig into Ankh.

WHERE CAN I DOWNLOAD Ankh

Ankh is available at:

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Our Verdict:

Ankh falls short of the comic adventure classics of old, but keep your expectations modest and you'll find an engaging little romp that makes ancient Egypt fun again.

GAME INFO Ankh is an adventure game by Deck13 released in 20062006 for PC. It has a Comic cartoon style and is played in a Third-Person perspective.

The Good:

  • Delightfully stylized 3D graphics
  • Charming, lighthearted atmosphere
  • Brisk pacing
  • Nice soundtrack

The Bad:

  • Not particularly funny
  • Little puzzle variety
  • Needs more polish
  • Fairly short

The Good:

  • Delightfully stylized 3D graphics
  • Charming, lighthearted atmosphere
  • Brisk pacing
  • Nice soundtrack

The Bad:

  • Not particularly funny
  • Little puzzle variety
  • Needs more polish
  • Fairly short
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