Eye Of Horus

Walk like an Egyptian...

I've been trolling through my old videos and found Logotron's Eye of Horus. I remember this platformer thanks to its confusing labyrinths and peculiar enemies. I was impressed, but oddly, left feeling a little cold too. Sure, it looks, sounds and plays great, but it has relentless enemies. Kinda like Black Lamp in this respect.

We are the hawk-headed God, Horus, a good fella for the ancient Egyptians. Our task is to explore the labyrinths of Osiris' burial chamber because he was murdered by Set, who scattered his body parts everywhere. We need to collect them and rebuild him. It sounds cool and quite gross, but it's time that I revisited this peculiar platformer for a second go. (And now that I'm thinking about Osiris, I need to rewatch Stargate SG-1 !!)

Let's waste no time talking, and get him rebuilt like the six-million-dollar mummy...

Eye of Horus nails the ancient Egyptian theme perfectly, using awesome visuals.

Hard as nails

I can see why I originally felt overwhelmed: the level design is confusing, which isn't helped by the repetitive backgrounds. The mechanics behind the elevators/coloured keys are unnecessarily rubbish, plus I think that there are far too many amulets. All enemies are unique, and it's peculiarly funny when the fixtures and fittings begin wobbling in anger. At least our demigod is armed with a paper gun! No, really, we are lol

The ancient tomb is massive and contains many monsters and traps. Heck, even the background decor appears angry and reactive to our presence. So finding all of the body parts is not going to be easy. Thankfully, being a demigod means we have the ability to morph into a hawk, even if birds don't have any hands to carry things... Keys and Amulets can be used to operate particular elevators that summon other so-called gods.

Sounds rather strange yet uniquely intriguing? Well, at least the graphics suit the theme...

If ever there was a Stargate game, years before the show, this is it!!

Aesthetics

Graphically, it's gorgeous and reminds me of how a game of Stargate might have looked. It also reminds me of Death Trap and the intro whiffs of Ice Palace. Anyhow, the scrolling is super-smooth with gorgeous animations, and the hieroglyphic backgrounds are stunning. A lot of love went into its pixel design.

Sound effects are very zesty and accompanied by gorgeous Whittaker music. Not his best, but superb.

The CryptO'pinion?

This is a cunning platformer, and I loved exploring the tomb, but the ability to flip into a hawk is a genius move, albeit with its own restrictions. Just have a pen and paper ready to make a map (until the right amulet is found). The only way you're gonna enjoy this game is if you are willing to put in the hours (geddit?)

Otherwise, don't bother because this platformer demands your time and respect. I hope you play it.

• Budding Daniel Jackson wannabes can download Eye of Horus for floppy or hard drive.
• Don't play without a pen and paper...
• Unless you're willing to endure the pain of viewing maps on an Amiga website? :^)