Rise of the mummies

When I made a game with zombies in it hit the Xbox Indies from Ska Studios, it was a smash hit. This success was deserved because it took a formula from Geometry Wars and made it completely their own. It was addicting, fun and it had an amazing song to carry you through the zombie massacre you were dropped in the middle of.

Rise of the Mummies looks identical to I made a game with zombies in it. Worst off, the music just leaves you numb. While it does offer players the ability to import custom music, at the end of it all you just want to put in Ska's hit track. That does not bode well for the game.

However, despite it's look, it is not exactly the same game. Your mummy killer has an actual health bar instead of a life system. Obviously this means you can actually take a punch while still shooting. This isn't all that helpful for that tricky situation because you don't get that little reset to get you back up to speed.

The major difference between the two however lies in the style with which they set up the game play modes. Arcade mode adds a small tweak to the standard mode. Instead of relying on only one weapon with limited power ups like Mummies' predecessor, the items can be stocked. So if you don't really want to use that Flamethrower in Arcade mode, you just keep it reserved until necessary.

Meanwhile Survival mode starts you off with all the weapons and a limited supply of ammo. The strategy is to save your big weapons until you really need them because that's all you really have. It's different enough from I made a game with zombies in it so that it's not completely insulting, but there still isn't anything compelling me to stay with the game other than the different strategy methods.

Rise of the Mummies is not a unique or interesting title when you compare it to the game it obviously ripped off. That's what really hurts when playing through this.