Puzzling fun in Ancient Egypt
Placing the player in the role of the creepy beast that is a scarab is a move not often seen in the world of gaming, but in this case it's something which works surprisingly well. The Curse of RA is a clever little puzzle game that should appeal to followers of Chip's Challenge and the Mahjong and which provides plenty of head scratching fun. The game sees you trying to escape a pyramid in the form of a scarab and which is achieved by removing matching stones from a board. You can only remove two stones at a time and they must be positioned horizontally or vertically from each other. Littering the board are also a number of traps and things which might assist you in your quest. These range from arrows which only allow you to move in one direction to teleporters. There are also two modes of gameplay on offer here, Logic and Arcade, which allow you to play the game according to your mood. Logic is the more relaxing option, as there are 100 levels but which are played without a time limit, while Arcade ramps up the tension by including a strict time restriction. Throw in some special abilities, like flying, randomly generated, and a neat level editor and you're pretty much good to go. The Curse of RA really is quite the unexpected treat and while it may sound simple on paper, in practice it proves to be both highly compelling and very challenging. The random nature of the levels means that you can always come back for more, while the level editor is a nice addition which allows you to test your friends with you own creations. All in all, this is a fun little diversion that should keep the old brain cells working.
