Cheap Cameron Files 2: Pharaoh's Curse (Software) (Windows 98, Windows 95, Windows Me) Price

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Customer Reviews of Cameron Files 2: Pharaoh's Curse

So linear it should be a ruler
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>I didn't care for the first Cameron Files, so I didn't expect much from this, the second one -- and I was right. It is so linear that it's boring and illogical (you can't leave the hotel without first finding certain items in your own room -- what sense does THAT make?) <
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>Plus, the movement is tedious and repetitive. You end up going around in circles trying to figure out what the game wants you to do next (not what makes any sense). <
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>I managed about one hour's game time before I uninstalled it. Well, that's an hour of my life I'll never get back! <
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>On the plus side, it installed -- and uninstalled -- without a glitch. Big deal.

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Buyer beware!
I could not even get this game to install. After about an hour perusing The Adventure Company website, and doing everything they recommended, I called their tech support. They gave me about 5 minutes of their time, asking questions, saying "Try this, try that..." before giving up. They recommended I contact the seller for a refund. They were not willing to do anything further until I sent them the disc for "testing" -- to Canada, at my own expense. If you do buy this game, SAVE YOUR RECEIPT! There is a good chance you will need to return it.

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Not as inventive as the first Cameron Files
Our hard-boiled detective, Alan Cameron, goes to Cairo to help his old friend Moira McFarley with an archeological problem. Not surprisingly, Cameron's task involves pyramids, mummies, and pharaohs. Cameron turns in his 30s suit and hat for an Indiana-Jones outdoor outfit, complete with the scarf tied around his neck. You will spend your time tracking the curse of the recently awakened evil pharaoh, and at the same time find Moira and redeem her from the pharaoh's grasp.

An interesting story, admittedly, but unfortunately it is precisely this storyline that was a disappointment for me. What I liked about Secrets at Loch Ness (the first Cameron Files installment) was the 30s film-noir/Peter Gunn feel to it. It is rather difficult to obtain that same feeling with Cameron looking like Indiana Jones and kicking up sand and pharaohs. Perhaps Moira McFarley is not necessary as a motivating factor for Cameron. He is a P.I., after all: should he not have some other cases to solve?

I fear this sequel is attempting to extend the Cameron Files saga while relying on the fairly safe recently-awakened-pharaohs storyline. There are a few stories that explore Scottish myths (Beyond Atlantis is one), so Secrets at Loch Ness is not unique in that regard; but the Egypt/pharaoh story is rather common. And finding a 30s P.I. in a pyramid is just a little too much of a stretch. I put a premium on discovery in the adventure games that I play; there just wasn't much here to surprise me--there'll be hieroglyphics, a few stones, scarab beetles, wending paths in a pyramid, and so forth. While I didn't like Riddle of the Sphinx personally, it deals much better with discovery in a rather overworked setting. If I were to imagine a better case for Cameron, it might be in the Northwest Territory (think Twin Peaks), or Alaska (who's done that?), or even, heaven help us, Nebraska or Montana. No one ever goes there--there are, then, things to discover in those places.

But if Moira McFarley, an old family friend to Cameron, is to be the motivating force behind all that Cameron does, then the ending should be more responsibly developed. As other reviewers have noted, the ending is very short, barely a cut scene, and it really makes little sense. Character and story development are as important to me as the puzzles and the graphics; in this regard Pharaoh's Curse leaves much to be desired.

The puzzles are mostly logical, but as other reviewers have noted, there are timed puzzles, and more than just a few of them. There were timed puzzles in Loch Ness, but not nearly as many. Timed puzzles should really be judiciously used, and in Pharaoh's Curse I don't think they are. Moreover, there are a number of characters that don't have anything to offer--not even particular entertainment value--and, unlike Loch Ness, I found it necessary to get through some particularly and unnecessarily aggravating parts of the game with a walkthrough.

The graphics are good; but again, Pharaoh's Curse seems to have promised more than it delivered. The pre-release trailer was really beautiful, and I was under the impression that the game would sustain this quality of cut-scene; there are some very good ones, but the absence of a meaningful one at the end was pretty disappointing.

And yet, while I grumble, I cannot at all say that I am sorry I played the game. The tongue-in-cheek, self-conscious humor about Indiana Jones is amusing and satisfying, and Cameron still has his great, cynical, worldly attitude. It would have been better for me if Cameron had been a little more self-conscious about the silliness of his plumbing an Egyptian pyramid--he is not Indiana Jones, and thankfully--but he is still a great character. I will absolutely play the third Cameron Files, if there is one, and I would not want to do so without having played this second game. If nothing else, I want to absorb the whole storyline. And, thankfully, the pharaoh-Egyptian story may be out of the way now for a little while.

I give Pharaoh's Curse 3 stars because it is on the whole a fun game to play, as long as you leave some expectations at the door--do not expect it to be as inventive or logical as Secrets at Loch Ness; do not expect a great deal of development of the story in this installment; do not expect a game free of timed puzzles. It's fun to hang out with Cameron for a bit. And perhaps he'll be back soon.