When professor Imes goes on an expedition to some Mayan
ruins, not everything goes according to plan. In fact, of the seven men that
went with him only the tour guide returned alive. What's more, according to the
notes and artefacts found it seems that the professor has accidentally
unleashed a group of demons that was sealed in the ruins by the ancient Mayans.
Since its summer vacation and you are a friend of his daughter, the two of you,
along with the tour guide decide to go back to the ruins and attempt to solve
the mystery.
Tombs and Treasures is a nice break from the usual platform
and shooter games found on the NES. While it might at first look like a Role
Playing Game, the closest thing to describing it would be a graphical version
of a text adventure. You still have all your verbs like Look, Take, Put, Use,
Move, Push, Pull, Smash, Join, Wash, Wait, Fight, Change and Go but instead of
having to type them, you just select the appropriate action from a command
menu. The outside areas look like your average Top Down RPG as you wander from
location to location. You don't do anything on this map except find your next
location and the area that the game takes place in is also relatively small.
Step inside a building though and the view switches to a first person adventure
style interface.
This is where you'll spend most of the game collecting
clues, solving puzzles and fighting creatures. Unlike a Role Playing Game, each
building you enter only have one or two creatures to fight and it's usually
either a case of you kill them or they kill you. Solving puzzles gives you more
experience levels resulting in more health but wander into the wrong place
before your ready for it and you'll usually die. Although you have health it's
filled up completely after each battle so you don't have to worry about healing
items or resting. Combat is also usually resolved by just pressing the attack
button. There is some strategy involved as some creatures are weak against
certain items but throughout the whole game you'll only fight with one sword.
The puzzles in the game can be quite fiendish at times and
taking careful notes is highly recommended. You can do things wrong and do
stupid things which can result in you being unable to complete the game. You
can save your position at any time via a 32 digit password but this thing is
huge and cumbersome to write down. Fortunately if you die, you can just press
continue to go on from just before you died and don't have to input the
password. Turning off the power means you have to input the password next time
though. A good idea is the password confirm where you can type in the password
to let the game confirm you have in fact written down the right thing. Trust me;
this can save you a lot of frustration if you accidentally wrote down a wrong
digit.
The graphics in the game is good but nothing really special.
The outside map is filled with pyramids, tombs and ruins to explore while the
interior graphics is small but detailed. You get lots of items along the way
and some of them can be combined to form new items. The demons you encounter don't
really look that scary and all the rooms are just static pictures with no animations.
There are lots to do though as things can be moved around to expose secret
doors and all kind of keys and gems has to be found. Having three characters,
which you can switch between also makes for a few interesting puzzles. The game
also has a few nice twists although conversations with other characters are a
bit limited.
The sounds in the game are nothing special, with only a few
background tunes. There are a few eerie songs but overall I think more could
have been done to enhance the spooky nature of the game. A few more sound
effects would also have been nice. The controls take a while to get used to as
you have to scroll through hordes of icons. After a while though you get used
to it and search each room like a pro. Combing items is easy and most action
can be performed with a single command.
Adventure fans should really get a kick out of Tombs and
Traps although more traditional RPG fans will probably be a bit disappointed by
its length. If you would like to try a game where the emphasis is on puzzle
solving and exploration, not combat then give Tombs and Traps a try. It's got a
good storyline, some nice puzzles and will keep you guessing for quite a while
to unravel all its secrets. It can also be a highly frustrating experience so
if you don't have the brainpower or patience for this game it will all end in
tears.
[8]
