Ankh: Curse of the Scarab King - Nintendo DS

The game’s hero and the role you take on is Assil, a young and somewhat naïve daredevil.

Your quest is to save Assil and help him get rid of a potentially fatal curse which he has picked up.

The caper involves wandering around old-time Cairo, interacting with other characters, solving puzzles and using objects you find to progress through the mission. It’s a kind of cross between Aladdin and Zelda.

The game is a conversion of a PC game which has been squished down into the DS handheld format.

The compressed DS version lacks some of the colour and graphical quality of the original. The 2D viewpoint with the flat backgrounds and scenery makes it harder to explore your surroundings and identify objects than the full 3D landscape offered in the PC game.

But overall Ankh does transfer well on to the DS.

One of its main strengths is the intuitive control system which allows you to guide Assil around with ease.

Great use is made of the DS’ functionality, using the stylus as a mouse to direct Assil and clicking on icons such as an eye to look at something.

It’s a simple yet clever control system.

The game doesn’t take itself too seriously and there is a good dollop of humour throughout, which will put a smile on your face.

Another strong point of the game is the amount of dialogue between characters as Assil gathers clues.

This offering from Xider is by no means going to become a classic on the DS or the definitive click-and-point adventure game. But it is a very likeable game with a lot of good qualities which make it a solid if not spectacular game to try.

Verdict: 7 out of 10

The good
- Fun, humorous adventure which offers a good challenge
- Excellent control system which makes guiding the main character very easy

The bad
- Some of the puzzles do not make a lot of sense
- The 2D background can make it hard to find certain objects and clues