‘Ankh: The Lost Treasures’ Review
Intro
Ankh: The Hidden Treasures is all about a girls adventure through Egypt to find the sacred Ankh of Eternal Life to save her terminally ill father. Ankh: The Hidden Treasures is basically an object finding game where the aim is to find hidden objects throughout many sceneries in the foreign land. This very much reminds me of the long-loved Where’s Wally books which everyone loved. Will Ankh: The Lost Treasures capture the original love for Where’s Wally, but in iPhone form?
The story is mediocre, but you are accompanied by some dialogue to keep things rolling.
Gameplay 1/10
Ankh: The Hidden Treasures’ gameplay is based mostly around finding objects in certain scenery. This could include a broom, some soap or even a scorpion. By the end of each level you have to find missing pieces of your next destination for which you will have to put together (like a jigsaw) and then continue in that scenery. The jigsaw is not very good as you just have to tap a piece (out of about 17 pieces) and then just tap until it fits.
The story is not compelling and rather unoriginal. It certainly doesn’t make the game any more enjoyable and doesn’t play a big part in the gameplay itself.
You can either play in ‘Relaxed’ mode or ‘Normal’ which involves a timer while playing. It may just be a personal preference but I hate being timed and so normally go with relaxed.
To me the gameplay is quite repetitive and it would have been extremely helpful to have a picture of what you are looking for so then you know what is the object and what isn’t. This therefore leads to what I call a tap fest. Where you just constantly tap around the screen until you hit something. Although I may feel slightly guilty when I do this, I always end up resorting to this cheating tack-tick which does ruin the whole game, especially when timed. Now, before you all shout and jeer at how useless and pathetic I am, this leads me onto a second issue. The difficulty. The game seems to be taking the piss when it states that you have to find a freaking elephant that you just can’t! Furthermore, some areas are so cluttered that you just can’t help tap all around it because you can’t make anything out. I would have preferred a gentler introduction, but more importantly a guide to show you what you are trying to find.
One of the main features of Where’s Wally that I just loved was the hilarious graphics and sceneries that made it a joy to just flick through and explore. Ankh: The Lost Treasures lacks this and even though the levels are amazingly drawn, without some sole base of either comedy or some other interesting aspect, they become boring.
Graphics 10/10
The graphics are amazing and despite the lack of an interesting theme it is still interesting to scan a new level for it’s shear attention to detail. Each level is a work of art and it looks brilliant on my iPhone. Disappointingly, I have experienced a few crashes but no lag, not that you can experience lag in a game such as this.
Controls 5/10
The controls are simple, yet not effective. As already explained, you are able to just tap wherever you want to find an object. The tapping is reasonably responsive with a few minor hitches where the object wouldn’t select. Overall however, the controls did what they are meant to do, and do it well.
As you can see the artwork is fantastic!
Sounds 9/10
The sound is excellent. It matches the theme of the game well and is also interesting. It helps combat some of the monotonous boredom experienced whilst playing. Furthermore the sound is simple and doesn’t interrupt or take away from the gameplay at all, however I would have liked to see more variety in the music.
Menus 9/10
The menus are sweet and simple. You are presented with a reassuring click when you select an option which makes the menus responsive. They are surprisingly limited and so therefore easy to navigate.
The menus are well designed and the theme of the game with a detailed graphic in the background.
Longevity 3/10
It is not so much the longevity that counts in this case, it is just the will to play on. After a while you begin to realize that it is basically the same gameplay with a different colored wrapping. Even though the game may be long, it got boring quickly as the novelty of exploring and experiencing Egypt wore off. This certainly didn’t last long on my iPhone.
Cost 1/10
If Ankh: The Lost Treasures were a piece of art then I might consider it’s price point. But, it is not. It’s a game and with the extremely cheap and crowded market we have already, Ankh: The Lost Treasures will not survive with a price point of $5.99/£3.49. For such simple, yet flawed gameplay this is no where near worth it.
Conclusion 38/70 – 2/5
Ankh: The Lost Treasures might look and sound good, but falls flat on everything else that makes a successful iPhone game. Your better off looking somewhere else.
