Edutainment adventure for the undiscerning
A point-and-click mystery adventure, Tomb of the Pharaoh falls into that much maligned category of 'edutainment', a mixture of game and education, and while it is initially intriguing, it ultimately fails to either entertain or educate in any great measure. The story revolves around a break-in at one of the Pharaoh's tombs and, as the head of the Madji, the ancient Egyptian police, players must investigate the crime and bring the culprit to justice. Complicating matters is the fact that your own father is the prime suspect and that you only have three days to solve the mystery. This is done by examining the scene of the crime, picking up on clues and solving puzzles to lead you on to the next. These puzzles are generally not overly taxing but veer wildly between being logical and illogical, which can prove frustrating and also lack variety, merely requiring players to place the right inventory item in the appropriate place. The story too suffers from poor dialogue, wooden voice acting, and a lack of overt thrills and while the graphics are atmospheric enough, recreating the grandeur of Ancient Egypt quite nicely, they are often poorly lit, rendering it tricky to see the details. Even in a specialised field, Tomb of the Pharaoh lacks anything to make it special and players in search of edutainment are advised to try out Versailles 1685, while Broken Sword, Myst or Grim Fandango are just better games all-round.
