#pcreviews

Luxor is back yet again to bend our minds and make us watch out for scarabs.

Developer: MumboJumbo Publisher: MumboJumbo Platforms: PC

When Luxor was released in 2005 from MumboJumbo, it became an instant hit for casual gamers. The premise of the game was simple, a scarab pushes a row of brightly colored balls toward your pyramid, and you must create chains of 3 by shooting other orbs at the chain. Get rid of the chain before it reaches your pyramid, and you’ve won! It was a fairly simple game without a whole lot of bells and whistles.

As the game evolved into it’s various incarnations, they added additional aspects to the game: power-ups, stores, and even different versions of play. With their newest addition to the series, Luxor 5, MumboJumbo continues to add to the classic game that so many play in order to keep it fresh and playable.

The normal version of Luxor is just what players have come to expect. The game rules haven’t changed, but they have added some neat power-ups to the game. One of my favorite ones is the scorpion power up which will destroy some of the orbs that are on the screen making it easier to complete the level. Aside from the power-ups that you can collect, there are also ankh tokens which will help to give you more lives, and gemstones which will help you to get additional bonuses to your score. Another aspect of the game that I enjoy are the achievements. If you complete a level in a certain way, or accomplish a goal, the gave will give you a trophy which you can view in your trophy collection.

Also included in the game is a Blitz mode, which gives the player 2 minutes to score as many points as they possibly can. If you’re in the mood to just play for a short period of time, then this is the mode for you. The chains keep coming, and you just have to keep scoring.

The final gameplay mode is the player’s choice mode. This mode includes levels from the other Luxor games in the series that players selected as their favorites. If you haven’t played any of the other games in the series, it is a nice way to look at some of the other maps that were available. I didn’t encounter any bugs while playing the game, which is a good thing. MumboJumbo has the formula for Luxor down, and it is evident with the crisp mechanics and easy to navigate interface in this title.

All in all Luxor 5 is what players will come to expect from the series. There are no severe changes to the game, so it appeals to people who already play the franchise, but it also appeals to new players by allowing them to get a glimpse into past titles.

Score: 8/10